Review of Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) by Jeri P — 26 Dec 2012

"Mickey's Christmas Carol" is a good introduction to the Dickens tale for children but lacks a lot of the impact of other versions. The characters are all developed very well during the first half of the film, incorporating the Disney personas into the Dickens characters.

The "casting" of Scrooge McDuck, Mickey, Jiminy Cricket, and even Goofy (as Jacob Marley) is very clever. Comedy is added to the story (like Scrooge making Cratchit do his laundry and foreclosing on his fiancee's Honeymoon cottage) to keep it from getting too dark for kids.

Honestly, the film was set up for success but it is just too short. Once Scrooge is visited by the ghosts, the film goes into fast-forward. They almost completely glossed over the Ghost of Christmas Present (ingeniously portrayed by Willie the Giant) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come comes and goes so fast that the entire emotional impact of the story and transformation of Scrooge is lost.

"Mickey's Christmas Carol" had all of the tools to be great but misses its mark in favor of a shorter run-time.