Kicking off my countdown is a special ensemble short that brings together all five of our principal Disney characters for a series of misadventures out at an ice rink. Mickey teaches Minnie how to skate, Donald Duck inflicts his practical jokes on Pluto, and Goofy is having trouble catching fish when the catch of the day seems a tad smarter than he is. In general, I like these anthology shorts, in which characters can overlap into another’s story, and it’s fun to see what kind of antics can ensue in a single setting like a frozen lake. One questionable bit of content is seeing Goofy using tobacco as a means to bate the fish, and Donald is surprisingly unlikable in the way he pesters poor Pluto. Aside from that, there’s enough warm winter atmosphere, and fun moments to make this a memorable little Disney outing.
So, we've gone from the music of the Nutcracker in "Fantasia", to a strait forward story variation, just with our favorite Disney characters in the roles. The jokes in this short are hit and miss, and there’s some moments that make me cringe, but still, seeing Micky Mouse in the role of the Nutcracker is appealing, and there’s just enough charm to the whole set-up. John Cleese is the narrator, and he never fails to bring the laughs. I also like seeing Donald Duck in the role of the evil Mouse King. The highlight is the energized remix of the classic music, which fits along with the animated action sequences. While not without faults, I just couldn’t keep this silly little Mickey Mouse adventure off my list.
In this
Oscar Nominated short film, Chip N’ Dale find themselves stumbling into the
house of Donald Duck on Christmas … and they like what he’s got. What starts as
light theft in munchies soon escalates into a full-out combat situation, with Donald’s
decorative living room gradually becoming a battle ground. The concept of
Donald and our favorite mischievous chipmunks waging war inside the house is
already a fun concept, but having set among all the gifts and decorations makes
it a lot more fun, and opens the door for a number of enjoyable slap-stick and
set pieces. Funny enough, both concepts of Chip N’ Dale entering a house on
Christmas and Donald waging war against a holiday back-drop will be covered again
in two other shorts on my list, but this one combined them both fairly well,
and is an enjoyable Disney Christmas treat.
Set on Christmas Eve, Mickey and his dog Pluto are out on the street, and trying to get food. However, despite being stuck in the cold, Mickey feels even more sympathetic for a family whose home is in rough shape, and a number of kids won’t be getting anything for Christmas. Being the kind soul that he is, Mickey dose the unthinkable, and sells his dog Pluto for money to provide both supplies and toys to the kids in the rundown house. This was one of the original Black and White shorts, has sense been colorized, and despite some questionable imagery … this is still quiet the Christmas episode. It’s great to see Mickey act so selflessly, and there’s an effective level of pathos on display for an animated Disney short. While some of this episode can be hard to watch, it clearly still has a heart, and shouldn’t be overlooked.
The 1999 Disney Christmas anthology titled “Mickeys Once Upon a Christmas” was a great way for me and my little sister to be introduced to various classic stories. In the case of this short, neither of us knew of the formula from “Groundhog Day”, but we’ll always remember it first from this charming little Donald Duck cartoon. It’s Christmas morning and Donald’s three little boys couldn’t be more excited. Unfortunately, the fun has to stop somewhere, and their favorite holiday is over all too soon. Itching for more, the boys make a magical wish that it could be Christmas every day. Thus, the next morning they find nothing’s changed, presents still wrapped, no meal eaten, and no one else has any recollection of the previous day. At first, it’s a dream come true, but the longer this endless Christmas loop continues, the worse things get. In the end, the boys need to learn a valuable lesion, and put aside their self-centered nature by treating everyone else in the family to the greatest Christmas they’ve ever experienced. All around, this is a delightful little short, with a great premise, and a meaningful moral to expose to kids during the holiday season.
When a massive snowfall hits the area, Donald Duck finds himself eager to enjoy the winter landscape. Naturally it doesn’t take him long to get into trouble with his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, but this time we’re rooting for the kids to fight back against Donald, who’s spoiling their snow day. It all culminates into the mother of snow-fights, to the point where they have ice-sculpted battle ships waging war against one another. When it comes to Disney’s winter themed offerings, I’ve always fond this one to be the most fun, with all kinds of creative animation on display depicting how the two parties battle each other. This one also puts me in the Christmas mood, largely thanks to the opening scene with Donald singing “Jingle-Bells”. It’s just a straightforward, fun winter themed, action-comedy offering from Donald Duck … and sometimes that’s all I need.
It’s Christmas time at Goofy’s home, and his son Max is itching to get a special gift from Santa. However, he’s also coming around to that age when children no longer believe in Santa, and thus he beings to slip into a little depression. The ever-optimistic Goofy tries all in his power to prove that Santa is real and aims to bring Christmas cheer back to his son. Sadly, all his efforts fail, and all the disappointment leads to Goofy himself falling into a glum state. Now the tables are reversed, as Max is now the one trying to make his dad happy. For a Christmas themed Goofy cartoon, this could have so easily resorted to nothing but comedic slapstick, but it also has a lot of quiet moments, and touching moments, and just a wonderful story about how a father and son try all in their power to bring joy to one another. Now there is some comedy present, but that too is also handled well, and there’s some legit funny scenes. I love this opening shopping mall sequence where Goofy’s attempts to retrieve a Christmas letter becomes the equivalent of an “Indiana Jones” adventure. This is also a gorgeous looking short, with lots of warm holiday colors, and Christmas decorations everywhere you look.
Once again “Mickeys Once Upon a Christmas” is responsible for introducing me and my sister to a classic tail at a young age, and for this short it comes in the form of “Gift of the Magi”. As one would expect, it’s the strait forward telling of the classic tail, just with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in the respected leading roles of the two lovers determined to give the other a special gift. The one catch is that they both have to make personal sacrifices in order to give something to the person they love. In general, Mickey and Minnie never did much for me as a couple, but this short alone makes me want to rank them both among Disney’s cutest couples. It’s so simple, so genuine, so heart felt, and they're just the perfect wide-eyed innocents to fill the role of this story. There’re also several individual highlights including Mickey Mouse putting on a concert for a charity drive, and a great scene in which Mickey stands up to his wicked boss Mr. Pete in order to aide a desperate family, even though he knows he’ll lose his job for it. Being perfectly honest, I’d rank this among my top 3 absolute favorite Mickey Mouse cartoons ever made.
In truth, this was one of the very first specials that introduced me to the Dickens classic at a young age, and what a great way for kids to be exposed to its incredible source material. It’s basically the strait forward telling of “A Christmas Carol”, but animated, and with all the classic Disney characters in the principle roles. Seeing Scrooge McDuck in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge is about as fitting as they get, and all the other famous Disney characters fit right in with the other roles. It gives children a fresh perspective of the characters from the book and allows us to fully appreciate seeing them in later live action renditions. I especially love how this special is only 30 minutes long, and it captures the atmosphere, tone and spirit of its source beautifully. Heck, this short even delivers all the right emotional moments, and that’s no small accomplishment. Bottom line, if you have kids that have never even heard of “A Christmas Carol”, this is a great version to introduce them to it. To call this my favorite Disney Christmas short might be a little too simple, because along with the likes of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, I think this is one of the all time greatest animated Christmas specials.
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