MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL - REVIEW


With all the many movie versions of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" out there, it's rather difficult to pick one to talk about but, growing up, one of the most stand-out versions for me personally had to be Mickey's Christmas Carol, a 1983 Disney short feature with, obviously, Scrooge McDuck (voiced by Alan Young) taking on the role of the iconic grump Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Of course, many other classic Disney characters portray key roles from the story: Mickey is Bob Cratchit, Goofy is Jacob Marley, you've got Donald Duck as Scrooge's nephew, Daisy Duck as Scrooge's old flame (which is weird when you think about it), Minnie Mouse as Cratchit's wife, Jiminy Cricket as one of the ghosts, even Chip and Dale show up for a cameo. Pete pops up near the end as the ghost of Christmas future, mostly to terrify younger viewers. As a kid, that last part, Scrooge falling down a fiery pit inside his own grave as a hooded Pete laughs his butt off, nearly gave me nightmares, it was pretty dark for Disney.

The short feature hits all the right notes and, surprisingly, doesn't include any songs, something you'd usually expect from the Mouse House. It's actually pretty respectful of the source material, the only time some slapstick humour is allowed being when Goofy's ghost trips and falls down the stairs. Otherwise, the Tiny Tim moments are appropriately as depressing as ever and Scrooge's newfound joy on Christmas morning is a delight. A few little scenes are shortened or left out, Scrooge ordering the turkey for example, but although this isn't a long one, which means it rushes a little overall, it still captures the spirit of the story perfectly and makes the most of the time it has.

Fans of Disney and Dickens' classic tale should love this take on it and everyone else should have a lot of fun with this short and sweet Christmas treat which boasts fantastic animation, voice work and music, not to mention duck-loads of Christmas spirit.

Humbug?

I think not.

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