Day 14: The First Mouse House Version of "A Christmas Carol"

Tonight's post is going to be a short one, as I have little time and patience tonight. It wasn't a bad day, just long one and I'm glad to be done with it. I just want to make sure that I get a post up before bed. Anyhoo, before Robert Zemeckis used motion capture to capture Dickens' beloved Christmas tale on celluloid, Disney conceived another version of "A Christmas Carol"...this one with its animated stars at the front. Yes friends, tonight I am giving Mickey's Christmas Carol a shout out.  Its classic Christmas, comes straight from my childhood days, and its short which makes it even better.  It was actually the first version of "A Christmas Carol" that I ever saw and it still ranks as one of my favorites (because nostalgia is a sweet, sweet mistress).  Most of us already know the story, but for those who don't (all two of you) I'll summarize: A greedy old man, Scrooge, finds himself haunted by his old business partner and three ghosts of Christmastime (past, present, and future) so that he can learn to become a nicer, more generous, Christmas loving man.  I'm oversimplifying A LOT in that summary...but you can't get all the subtle nuances of a story into a summary.  Anyhoo, this version of Carol stars Disney's favorite kind-hearted miser, Scrooge McDuck, as the cantankerous Scrooge, Mickey and Minnie Mouse as Bob and Emily Crachet, Goofy as the dead Jacob Marley, Jiminy Cricket as Christmas Past, The Giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk as Christmas Present, and Peg Leg Pete as Christmas Future.  It works very well as a short, actually, and one wonders why they didn't make it a feature.  Then again, perhaps people give it more respect because its a short and thus, it doesn't have to try as hard.  It certainly tells the story in a breezy and quick way (not unlike Zemeckis' Carol, which was an hour longer...covered the same story...and still felt rushed) and never feels like its butchering the story.  Sure, a lot is left on the cutting room floor, but what's here is a charming short worthy of the Mouse House's glory days (which seem to be back with The Princess and the Frog....go see it, I'm telling you).  So if you want a classic story and a nostalgic walk down memory lane, give Mickey's Christmas Carol a whirl.  You'll like it, I promise.

Comments

Jess @ Frugal with a Flourish said…
Awh I love this cartoon!!! So cute!
December 14, 2009 at 9:58 PM
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