Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Burny Mattinson

Writers:

Burny Mattinson (story) &
Tony Marino (story) ...

Release Date:

16 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Fantasy | Short | Animation

Tagline:

He's back! Mickey Mouse - in his first new motion picture in 30 years...

Plot:

The classic Disney animated characters play the roles in this animated retelling of the Charles Dickens masterpiece.

Plot Keywords:

Spirit | Scrooge McDuck | Christmas | Victorian Era | Ghost

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Alan Young	...	Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck) (voice)
Wayne Allwine	...	Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse) (voice)
Hal Smith	...	Jacob Marley's Ghost (Goofy) / Collector for the Poor #1 (voice)
Will Ryan	...	Collector for the Poor #2 / The Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant) / Ghost of Christmas Future (Pete) (voice)
Eddie Carroll	...	Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket) (voice) (as Eddy Carroll)
Patricia Parris	...	Belle (Daisy Duck) (voice)
Dick Billingsley	...	Tiny Tim (voice)
Clarence Nash	...	Nephew Fred / Donald Duck (voice)

Runtime:

26 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:U | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:F (Ontario) | USA:G | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec)

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

This animated special contained three Disney shorts. The first was about Donald Duck fighting a snow war against his three nephews. The second was about Mickey chopping down a Christmas tree where Chip and Dale live in, and Pluto terrorizes the tree and the chipmunks. The third short was about Goofy on a ski trip, being instructed by a narrator.

Goofs:

Continuity: Goofy is suppose to play the role of Jacob Marley, but he appears in a Santa Suit after the "Oh, Merry Christmas Day" song as an ice wagon drives by.

Quotes:

Marley: Ebenezer? Remember when I was alive I robbed from widows and swindled the poor?
Scrooge: Yes, and all in the same day. Oh, you had class, Jacob.
Marley: Ha-yuk. Yup. Er, no, no! I was wrong. And so, as punishment, I'm forced to carry these heavy chains for eternity! Maybe even longer.

Movie Connections:

References Three Little Pigs (1933)

Soundtrack:

Oh, What a Merry Christmas Day

Worth digging up

Mickey's Christmas Carol is not a full-length movie, which is to it's merit.

As with any adaption of a Christmas Carol, the less seen of annoying Tiny Tim, the better.

Carl Barks' Scrooge McDuck plays Ebenezer Scrooge as various other Disney Characters teach him to be kind and not miserly with the tried and true 3-celebrity ghosts formula.

The true entertainment isn't in the plot but in the nuances of the character behavior, for example, Scrooge's first encounter with the ghost of Jacob Marley.

Since it's a half-hour Christmas special, Mickey's Christmas Carol moves at a rather fast pace, free of songs or other distractions that may bore those with short attention spans.

All in all, I highly recommend this piece of work.