Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

In this Disney short film adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, the role of Ebenezer Scrooge is played by none other than Scrooge McDuck. Makes sense, really. The film is only 26 minutes long, but yet it manages to pack in all the essentials elements of a Christmas Carol, as well as a lot of good humour, touching drama and excellent Christmas spirit. Frankly it amazes me that they manage to juggle all these differing elements so skilfully. The film can go from joyous joke cracking to an honestly scary moment and from there straight to plucking your heartstrings.The voice acting and animation are both superb Disney quality. The film is colourful and has aged barely any at all. It's also rather interesting to see Scrooge and Mickey, playing the role of Bob Cratchit, sharing a screen together. All in all the film is called Mickey's Christmas Carol and the character cast leans more towards Mickey and his supporting characters. They probably went with Scrooge because, well, he's named after the original character. There's really no other possible choice.When a film works, it just works. This film isn't very long, but what it lacks in runtime, it more than makes up in charm, heart and sheer quality. Easily recommended.

This is probably one of the shortest versions of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". But for such a short run time they really do the book justice.Playing Scrooge this time is none other than Scrooge McDuck. His lowly underpaid accountant Bob Cratchit is played by Mickey Mouse and a lot of other Disney characters play a lot of other roles quite fittingly. Scrooge is visited in the night by his old partner Jacob Marley(surprisingly enough played by Goofy) who tells him he'll be visited by three spirits. These visits only last about three to five minutes each but they sum up Scrooge's transformation from greedy miser to compassionate old man really well. They don't sugarcoat it either. There are no songs sung by the characters themselves and the last visit with the Ghost of Christmas Future is pretty dark. But by the end of it the same message of being a good person and doing things for the benefit of your fellow man is shown just like any other version of the story. This version isn't very long and should entertain your kids or anyone just wanting to watch something Christmas related.

Delightful(if a bit too short, covering very little of the Dickens' story but the bare essentials)Walt Disney version of A Christmas CAROL features the wonderful voice of Alan Young of MR. ED fame as Ebenezer Scrooge McDuck, Bah humbugging those around him of good Holiday cheer until he is visited by deceased partner Jacob Marley(Goofy who makes a marvelous introduction and easily the character who steals plenty of chuckles such as his inability to keep from tripping over his chains)and three ghosts over Christmas Eve, one of whom is Jiminy Cricket(as Christmas Past). With Mickey Mouse as long suffering Bob Cratchet, Minnie his wife, and Donald Duck as Scrooge's jolly nephew who invites Ebenezer to a Christmas dinner. While a mere 24 minutes(it's just too much fun to end so soon), Scrooge only visits Fezzywigs dance in the past where he first met Isabella, his first love, and the counting house where he chose a life of greed over matrimonial happiness, Cratchet's home in the present to see how small the turkey was for their dinner, and the cemetery of the future where Tiny Tim and himself would be buried. As I mentioned this little cartoon adaptation is over before you know it, but I figure Disney and Scrooge fans will enjoy it. It was quite a childhood favorite of mine and seeing it again after nearly twenty years was a pleasure. Again my only qualm with MICKEY'S Christmas CAROL is the puny length, and that is actually a compliment since I didn't want it to end.

I haven't seen "Mickey's Christmas Carol" in probably twenty years, but I basically remember what happens. I guess that there's nothing wrong with it, although "A Christmas Carol" doesn't seem like the type of story that Disney should adapt. I always liked the Looney Tunes far better than any of the Disney characters; I can picture Bugs Bunny turning this story into a series of New York-style one-liners. The end of the sequence with the Ghost of Christmas Future was a little intense for a children's movie. My favorite adaptation of this story was "Scrooged", with Bill Murray as a mean-spirited TV executive.In the years since I watched these sorts of cartoons, I have learned that Alan Young (Wilbur on "Mister Ed") provided Scrooge McDuck's voice. It's weird to picture the talking horse's owner affecting a Scottish accent to voice a robber baron duck. I still prefer to remember Young as Wilbur, partly because I've always use "Mister Ed" as an excuse to see Connie Hines (who played Carol); now there was a HOT BABE!!!! Anyway, it's a worthy adaptation.Yeah, I would have expected him to be taller. Even Peter Dinklage is taller.