Mickey's Christmas Carol

Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey Mouse series
File:The-rescuers-mickeys-christmas-carol.jpg Theatrical release poster with The Rescuers
Directed by	Burny Mattinson
Produced by	Burny Mattinson
Story by	Burny Mattinson Tony L. Marino Ed Gombert Don Griffith Alan Young Alan Dinehart
Voices by	Alan Young Wayne Allwine Hal Smith Will Ryan Eddy Carroll Patricia Parris Dick Billingsley Clarence Nash
Music by	Irwin Kostal
Animation by	Glen Keane Mark Henn Ed Gombert Dale Baer David Block Randy Cartwright Kathy Zielinski
Layouts by	Michael Peraza, Jr. Sylvia Roemer Gary M. Eggleston
Backgrounds by	Jim Coleman Brian Sebern Kathleen Swain Tia W. Kratter Donald A. Towns
Studio	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date(s)	December 16, 1983 (1983-12-16) (with The Rescuers)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	26 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	The Simple Things (1953)
Followed by	The Prince and the Pauper (1990)

Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 animated Christmas featurette produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, starring Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. Many other Disney characters, primarily from the Mickey Mouse universe, Robin Hood, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, were cast throughout the film.

Mickey's Christmas Carol was largely an animated adaptation of a Disneyland Records 1974 audio musical entitled An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol. The musical featured similar dialogue and cast of characters with the exception of the first and last Christmas ghosts.

This was the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical cartoon produced in over 30 years. With the exception of re-releases, Mickey had not appeared in movie theaters since the short film The Simple Things (1953). Many additional characters seen in the film had also not appeared in a theatrical cartoon for several decades. The film was also the last time in which Clarence Nash voiced Donald Duck. Nash was the only original voice actor in the film as Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse) and Pinto Colvig (Goofy) had died in the 1960s, Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket) and Billy Gilbert (Willie the Giant) in 1971, and Billy Bletcher (Pete and the Big Bad Wolf) in 1979.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1984, but lost to Sundae in New York. It was the first nomination for a Mickey Mouse short since Mickey and the Seal (1948). It was also the only Mickey Mouse short on which John Lasseter was involved as an animator (he later went on to work for Lucasfilm, Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios).

Synopsis

On Christmas Eve 1843, while all of Victorian England is in the merry spirit of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck) thinks only of the money he has made and of making more (apparently, he charges people 80% interest, compounded daily). While Scrooge's selfish thoughts cascade in his head, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse), exhausted and underpaid (a meager two shillings and a ha′penny per day), continues to work long and hard for him. Cratchit hesitantly asks for a "half day off" for Christmas, to which Scrooge replies it will be unpaid. When collectors Rat and Mole, along with beggars on the streets, kindly ask for a simple donation, Scrooge responds to Rat and Mole that if he does, the poor will no longer be poor and thus they (the collectors) will be out of work, "and you [can't] ask me to do that, not on Christmas Eve." Scrooge's cheery nephew Fred (Donald Duck) invites his crotchety uncle to a holiday feast fit for a Roman emperor—roast goose with chestnut dressing, candied fruits, and cinnamon cake with lemon glaze. Scrooge turns him down flat, stating that such rich festive cuisine gives him digestive and other health difficulties.

Later, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley (Goofy), Scrooge's greedy former business partner who had died seven years earlier. Due to his cruelty in life, he is doomed to wear heavy chains for eternity. He warns that a similar fate will befall Scrooge unless he changes his ways and that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits. Marley then leaves, falling down the stairs when he tries to avoid tripping over Scrooge's cane again (complete with the "Goofy holler").

At the stroke of 1:00, the first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket), shows Scrooge his past. His obsession of money led him to break the heart of his fiancee Isabelle (Daisy Duck) by foreclosing on the honeymoon cottage's mortgage (Isabelle's last payment on it was an hour late.).

At the stroke of 2:00, the second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant), arrives and shows Scrooge the poverty-stricken Cratchit family, who still keep a festive attitude in their home despite their hardships. Bob's young son, Tiny Tim, is revealed to be ill, and Willie foretells tragedy if the family's hapless life does not change. However, just when Scrooge is desperate to know Tim's fate, the Ghost of Christmas Present disappears, and the house goes into complete darkness.

And finally, the third and final spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Future (a hooded figure later revealed to be Black Pete), takes Scrooge to the future in a graveyard. When he sees Bob mourning Tiny Tim's death, Scrooge is horrified and asks whether this future can be changed.

Two gravediggers (Weasels from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad) are amused that no one attended someone's funeral while digging a grave. After the weasels leave to take a break from their work, the ghost reveals the grave to be Scrooge's by lighting a match. The ghost shoves him into his grave calling him "the richest man in the cemetery." Despite his pleas that he will repent, Scrooge falls into an empty coffin which bursts open to Hell.

However, Scrooge suddenly awakens on Christmas Day. Having been given another chance, he throws his coat over his nightshirt, puts on his slippers, dons his cane and top hat, and goes to visit the Cratchits, cheerfully donating generous amounts of money along the way (including 100 gold sovereigns to Rat and Mole; the charity collectors from earlier) and telling Fred that he will come after all. He tries to play a joke on Bob, dragging in a large sack supposedly filled with laundry and announcing gruffly that there will be extra work in the future. But to the Cratchits' joy, the sack is instead filled with toys and a big turkey for dinner. Scrooge gives Bob a raise and makes him his partner in the counting house, and Tiny Tim proclaims "God bless us, everyone!"

Cast

File:MickeysChristmasCarol.jpg

Opening titles for Mickey's Christmas Carol in sepia tone with Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit. This was the last piece of animation to feature full opening credits and end with "The End."

Main cast

Voice actor	Character	Role
Alan Young	Scrooge McDuck	Ebenezer Scrooge
Wayne Allwine	Mickey Mouse	Bob Cratchit
Hal Smith	Goofy	Jacob Marley's ghost
Eddy Carroll	Jiminy Cricket	Ghost of Christmas Past
Will Ryan	Willie the Giant	Ghost of Christmas Present
Will Ryan	Pete	Ghost of Christmas Future
Clarence Nash	Donald Duck	Fred, Scrooge's nephew
Patricia Parris	Daisy Duck	Isabelle ("Belle" in the novella)
None	Mr. Toad	Fezziwig
None	Minnie Mouse	Emily Cratchit
None	Millie or Melody Mouse	Martha Cratchit
None	Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse	Peter Cratchit
Dick Billingsley		Tiny Tim
Hal Smith	Rat	Collectors for the poor
Will Ryan	Mole
Wayne Allwine	Otto	Beggar
Wayne Allwine and Will Ryan	Weasels	Gravediggers

Extras

Opening street scene

• The Big Bad Wolf, collecting for charity (voiced by Will Ryan)
• The Three Little Pigs, caroling

Party at Fezzywig's

• Lady Kluck, dancing with Secretary Bird
• Rabbit children, clapping
• Uncle Waldo; clapping, later dancing
• Grandma Duck; clapping, later dancing
• Horace Horsecollar, dancing with Clarabelle Cow
• Gus Goose, dancing with Clara Cluck
• Angus MacBadger, dancing
• Chip and Dale, dancing
• Huey, Dewey, and Louie, decorating Christmas tree

Closing street scene

• Skippy Bunny and Toby Turtle, playing in the street
• Mother Rabbit and Grandma Owl, standing in the street
• The Practical Pig, chasing two of the Three Little Wolves
• Cyril Proudbottom, pulling Donald's cart

The film also includes unidentifiable dog, fox, pig, squirrel, bear, raccoon, goose, and chicken characters. The DVD print reveals that the graveyard scene also includes tombstones containing references to famous performers, including Gladys Knight & The Pips, Bob Mills, and Warren Oates.

Reception

Film critic Leonard Maltin said that rather than being “a pale attempt to imitate the past”, the film is “cleverly written, well staged, and animated with real spirit and a sense of fun.” Robin Allan stated that the film calls to mind the similarities between Walt Disney and Charles Dickens, in terms of both the work they produced and their work ethic.

However, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert of At the Movies gave it “two thumbs down”. Siskel felt there wasn't enough emphasis on Mickey's character and that it didn't rank with most of Disney's full-length animated features. Ebert stated that it lacked the magic of visual animation that the “Disney people are famous for” and that it was a “forced march” through the Charles Dickens story without any ironic spin.

Mickey's Christmas Carol was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Animated Short Subject of 1983.

Releases

Mickey's Christmas Carol premiered in the UK on October 20, 1983 alongside a re-issue of The Jungle Book, and was released in the US on December 16, 1983, with the 1983 re-issue of The Rescuers. It has been broadcast on various television stations throughout the years. It started on NBC (1984–1990), then on to The Disney Channel (1987–1999; 2002–2006), and CBS (1991–1996), occasionally on ABC (2000, 2003), before moving permanently to ABC Family (2001–present). It was aired on Toon Disney in 2008. The run on ABC Family includes Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too and was part of their "25 Days of Christmas", but with several abrupt edits including the "Chocolate Pot Roast with Yogurt" line. In Canada, it airs on CBC, and has been aired every Christmas season since 1985. It typically airs the Sunday before Christmas.

The short is also featured, without its opening credits, in the direct-to-home release, Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. It is also available on the ninth volume of the Walt Disney Classic Cartoon Favorites DVD collection, as well as in the Walt Disney Treasures set Mickey Mouse in Living Color - Volume 2; however, the latter is the only DVD to be released in its theatrical 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio, however it is simply cropping the 1.33:1 version. The short is also on the Disney Animation Collection Volume 7 DVD (1.33:1). On November 5, 2013, the 30th Anniversary Edition of this short was released on DVD and for the first time on Blu-ray; however, it was further cropped to 1.78:1 widescreen and featured a heavy use of noise reduction. Various other shorts were included in the DVD.

The aforementioned broadcasts in the 1980s and early 1990s spanned a full hour, with the first half consisting of the following older cartoon shorts: Donald's Snow Fight, Pluto's Christmas Tree, and The Art of Skiing. Each of the four items in the program was preceded by a narrative wraparound segment in which one of the Disney cartoon characters (Donald, Pluto (with Mickey translating), Goofy, and Mickey, respectively) would talk about his favorite Christmas, thus leading into the cartoon in question. From 1988 onwards, The Art of Skiing was excluded from the annual broadcast, replaced at the end of the hour by one segment or another. The 1993 telecast, for example, featured a behind-the-scenes featurette on The Nightmare Before Christmas. Later broadcasts simply reduced the timeslot to half an hour, showing Mickey's Christmas Carol by itself.

A clip of this film in Swedish was shown on Donald Duck's 50th Birthday to illustrate Donald's international appeal.

This short film was featured in Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse. The shot of Mickey holding Tiny Tim's crutch is also seen in the opening of Epic Mickey.

Production credits

• Story Adapted by Burny Mattinson, Tony L. Marino, Ed Gombert, Don Griffith, Alan Young, Alan Dinehart
• Based on the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• With the Voice Talents of Alan Young as Scrooge, Wayne Allwine, Hal Smith, Will Ryan, Eddy Carroll, Patricia Parris, Dick Billingsley, Clarence Nash
• Animators: Glen Keane, Mark Henn, Ed Gombert, Dale Baer, David Block, Randy Cartwright
• Effects Animators: Ted Kierscey, Jeff Howard, Mark Dindal, Jack Boyd
• Animation Consultant: Eric Larson
• And the Creative Talents of Richard Hoppe, Barry Temple, Dave Suding, John Lasseter, Retta Davidson, Tom Ferriter, Walt Stanchfield, Jane Baer, Sylvia Mattison, Douglas Krohn, Matthew O'Callaghan, Susan I. Craig, Jay Jackson, Terrey Hamada, Fujiko Miller, Toby Shelton
• Art Direction: Don Griffith
• Layout: Michael Peraza, Jr., Sylvia Roemer, Gary M. Eggleston
• Background: Jim Coleman, Brian Sebern, Kathleen Swain, Tia W. Kratter, Donald A. Towns
• Production Manager: Edward Hansen
• Editors: James Melton, Armetta Jackson
• Music Editors: Jack Wadsworth, Dennis Ricotta
• Assistant Director: Timothy O'Donnell
• Production Assistant: Don Hahn
• "Oh, What A Merry Christmas Day" Words and Music by Fredrick Searles and Irwin Kostal
• Music Composed and Conducted by Irwin Kostal
• Produced and Directed by Burny Mattinson

See also

• List of ghost films
• List of A Christmas Carol adaptations
• List of Mickey Mouse cartoons

External links

• Official website
• Mickey's Christmas Carol at IMDb
• Mickey's Christmas Carol at the Big Cartoon DataBase