DailyView: Day 232, Movie 320

One of the most classic Christmas tale is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It has been adapted into countless variations over the years, both live action and animated. This is one of the Disney animated versions of A Christmas Carol starring Mickey Mouse, Scrooge McDuck and other Disney characters.

Ebenezer Scrooge (McDuck) was a covetous old sinner, more concerned with his gold than people. He spent his days counting his money and tormenting his clerk, Bib Cratchit (Mickey Mouse). On Christmas Eve, he was approached by the ghost of his old deceased business partner Jacob Marley (Goofy), who claimed that, if Scrooge did not change his ways, he would spend eternity hauling around heavy chains, just as Marley has to do. Marley told Scrooge that he would be visited by three spirits and that these spirits were the only way to avoid such a fate.

Each spirit (which included Jiminy Cricket, Willie the Giant and Pete) showed Scrooge scenes from the past, present and future, including scenes from the family of Bob Cratchit and his family, which featured his sickly son, Tiny Tim.

These ghostly visits changed Scrooge, making him a caring, loving individual, who embraced all that Christmas had to offer.

This was a nice adaptation. They covered the story effectively despite having to edit out a lot of the story because of the time. Tis could have benefitted from a little longer run time as the 26 minutes felt a little rushed.

Truthfully, being familiar with the story, it is more apparent with what Mickey’s Christmas Carol left out than what it had. There were some classic lines of dialogue that always appear in the adaptations that had been removed from this version that minimize the impact of the tale.

Still, this would be a nice way to introduce the story to a younger audience (although I think the Muppet Christmas Carol would be even more effective). The music was interesting, especially the opening song.

This was fine, but I think a longer, more involved version would allow for more depth of story and character and less of, look who is playing whom.