Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas is a 1999 direct-to-video animated Christmas anthology comedy fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation.[3]

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
VHS front cover
Directed byAlex Mann
Bradley Raymond
Jun Falkenstein
Bill Speers
Toby Shelton
Screenplay byCharlie Cohen
Thomas Hart
Scott Gorden
Tom Nance
Carter Crocker
Richard Cray
Temple Mathews
Eddie Guzelian
StarringWayne Allwine
Russi Taylor
Tony Anselmo
Diane Michelle
Tress MacNeille
Alan Young
Bill Farmer
Corey Burton
Shaun Fleming
Jim Cummings
Jeff Bennett
Gregg Berger
Kylie Dempsey
Taylor Dempsey
Andrew McDonaugh
Pat Musick
Frank Welker
Mae Whitman
April Winchell
Narrated byKelsey Grammer
Music byJ. Eric Schmidt
Edited byElen Orson
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Home Video
Release date
  • November 9, 1999 (1999-11-09)
Running time
66 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film includes three features: Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas (featuring Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Scrooge McDuck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie), A Very Goofy Christmas (featuring Goofy, Max, Pete and the Beagle Boys) and Mickey and Minnie's Gift of the Magi (featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Pluto).[4] Other Disney characters also make cameos in the film.

The film won the Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 5th Kecskemét Animation Film Festival in 1999.[5] A sequel, titled Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, was released in 2004.[4]

Stories

Donald Duck: Stuck On Christmas

Inspired by the 1892 short story "Christmas Every Day" by William Dean Howells. Huey, Dewey and Louie wake up Chip and Dale one Christmas morning and open their presents, even though they are supposed to wait first for Daisy, Uncle Scrooge and Aunt Gertie to arrive. After the boys take their new sleds from their Uncle Donald (not reading the included card) they go sledding and have Christmas dinner in which Donald yells at them to learn their manners. While Donald, Daisy, Uncle Scrooge and Aunt Gertie sing carols, the boys play with their new toys.

Later, it is time for the boys to go to bed and having enjoyed the day immensely, the boys then wish for it to be Christmas every day. Their wish is granted and at first, the three are joyful. After a few days, however, they begin to get tired of Christmas and soon realize that every day will be exactly the same as the day when they first made their wish. They then decide to change the course of action of the next day by playing tricks and pranks, including swapping the cooked turkey with a live one for the dinner table. It turns out to be a terrible Christmas for everyone, especially Donald.

Shortly after, the boys read the card that was given to them earlier by Donald and Daisy. The card wishes them love and explains that Christmas is not just about presents, it is also about being with family. The boys feel guilty and decide to make amends by making the next day the best Christmas ever. At the end of the next day, the boys finally realize the true meaning of Christmas and the time loop ends, leading into the day after Christmas.

A Very Goofy Christmas

Goofy and Max are mailing out a letter to Santa Claus. However, as soon as they get home, Pete, the neighbor, tells Max that Santa does not exist, predicting that he cannot fly around the world in one night. Things get worse when Goofy poses as Santa for some kids and Max finds out that he tricked him. Goofy is determined to prove to Max that Santa does exist and even stays up all Christmas Eve to keep an eye out for him while Max, still bitter over Goofy's trickery, wishes for him to move on. But after a long time, and after mistaking a Beagle Boy (who was robbing Pete's house) for Santa and falling off the roof, Goofy gives up hope of Santa coming. Now, Max does everything that Goofy did to make his father happy, including posing as Santa. In the end, the real Santa actually comes and gives Max the gift he had asked for earlier (as well as blowing some snow on Pete's house when the cunning neighbor tries to flatter the legendary figure). When Max asks if Santa forgot Goofy's present, Goofy answers that, every year, he asks for the same thing and, every year, he always gets it: Max's happiness.

This segment of Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas chronologically precedes the cartoon series, Goof Troop. Max is voiced by Shaun Fleming.

Mickey and Minnie's Gift of the Magi

Based on the 1905 short story "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. Mickey wants to get Minnie a gold chain for her one heirloom, her watch, so he works at Crazy Pete's Tree Lot. Minnie wants to give Mickey something special for Christmas as well, so she works hard at her job in a department store to get a special bonus. When Mickey gives a short tree to a poor family who are unable to buy a Pete-10-Footer tree, his uptight and greedy boss Pete steals all of Mickey's money and dismisses him from the store. Then, Pete accidentally puts his still-lit cigar into his pocket with Mickey's money without noticing, which eventually sets himself, the money and his trees on fire, destroying his chance to sell his expensive 10-footers. Meanwhile, Minnie's bonus from her stingy boss Mortimer Mouse proves to be nothing but a fruit cake. After playing music for a toy drive with the Firehouse Five, Mickey has the idea that he can trade his harmonica for the chain. The shop closes by the time he gets there and the owner rejects it, thinking it is not worth anything, but changes his mind after hearing its music. Back at Minnie's house, Mickey gives her the chain for her watch and Minnie gives him a case for his harmonica. Of course, the irony is that Minnie no longer has her watch—just as Mickey no longer has his harmonica—so the gifts are essentially useless. However, Mickey and Minnie are still able to celebrate a merry Christmas. As in The Gift of the Magi upon which this adaptation—penned by O. Henry—is based, the thought behind each gift is what counts.[6]

The film concludes with a medley of various songs, "Jingle Bells", "Deck the Halls" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", featuring the main characters from the three segments.

Cast

Home media

The film was originally released on VHS and DVD on November 9, 1999.[4] It was later re-released on VHS and on DVD (as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection) on November 7, 2000. The film was released in a 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray and DVD with Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas on November 4, 2014.

Reception

The film holds a 40% indicating "mixed or average" reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.[7]

References
  1. Littleton, Cynthia (April 23, 1999). "Gurney, Price earn Disney promotions". Variety. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  2. "28th Annie Awards". annieawards.org. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  3. Littleton, Cynthia (April 23, 1999). "Gurney, Price earn Disney promotions". Variety. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  4. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 193-194. ISBN 9781476672939.
  5. "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas". Disney Movies. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  6. "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999)". Blockbuster Online. Blockbuster LLC. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  7. "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
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