Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Disney: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999)

Now here's a little known, direct-to-video Christmas film from Disney that slipped quietly into stores in 1999 and, ever since then, it's been a little hard to find people who've actually seen it even though it's easy to find on DVD and pops up on Disney Channel every now and again. I was twelve when it originally came out and was going through that phase where I decided I was too old for Disney but, as I've said many times, by my senior year in high school, I had regained my child within and sought this movie out. I'd actually seen it on VHS in a Wal-Mart the year before but I got something else instead (another Christmas-related Disney film, Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at The House of Mouse); this time, however, I scooped up the DVD when I saw it again. In fact, it was actually on my yearly Christmas list for my Mom and she got a little annoyed at me when I got it myself. In fact, I'd actually seen it on Disney Channel not too long before I actually bought it and I knew it was something I had to add to my collection from just that one viewing. I still think this is a very nice, heartwarming little Christmas film with the classic Disney characters. It's nothing groundbreaking, mind you, but it's absolutely charming and has its heart firmly in the right place.

The film is an anthology with three stories, each featuring different Disney characters in a Christmas tale, with a wraparound involving three gifts that relate to each story narrated by Kelsey Grammer. And so, rather than giving an overall synopsis like I usually do, I'll simply go through each story, talking about the characters and what I think of them. The first is Stuck On Christmas, starring Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who wake up on Christmas morning naturally excited, as all young kids do, and, also like most kids, they're more interested in having fun and getting their gifts rather than spending the day with their family. They immediately open their presents even though they're supposed to wait for the rest of the family to arrive, take the sleds Donald got them for a ride without reading the card included with them, pig out on Daisy's Christmas dinner, and play with their toys instead of singing carols with everyone else. Since they enjoyed the day so much and are bummed that Christmas is over already, they wish upon a star that it was Christmas every day. The next morning, they wake up to discover that their wish has come true and they're ecstatic... at first. After a while, though, they start to get sick of the same events happening day after day and do what they can to make it more fun for them. By the end, though, they learn what Christmas really means and why it can't be year-round.



Huey, Dewey, and Louie are the main characters of this story, all three of them voiced by Russi Taylor, who often voices them whenever they appear in contemporary Disney productions. When it's not her, it's Tony Anselmo, the modern voice of Donald Duck, who does them, and since I watched DuckTales a lot, I prefer Ms. Taylor's performance. Whenever Anselmo does them, he just does his Donald voice in a slightly higher pitch but Ms. Taylor is able to actually make them sound like young boys (and plus, I can understand them better when she does them anyway). In any case, their characterizations tend to differ from one cartoon to another: sometimes, they're characterized as just freaking mean little kids, which was the case in many of the classic cartoons, and other times, it's more like, "Boys will be boys." Their characterization here, as it often has since DuckTales, leans more to the latter: they're just very energetic and rambunctious kids who are excited about Christmas. They don't mean any harm by what they do but they also don't quite grasp what the holiday is really about and grow weary of it when they have to live through it day after day. However, they learn what it means when they decide to change things up one day by playing pranks on the family and end up unintentionally wrecking the house in the process. They're about to go sledding before Donald has a chance to get mad at them and that's when they see that, instead, of being angry, he's shattered by what's happened after the Christmas tree has fallen over onto him. They also finally bother to read the card that came with their sleds and discover that Donald and Daisy were trying hard to make this a special day for them full of love and family. Feeling guilty, they make the next day the best Christmas they can, having learned its true meaning and thereby breaking the time loop (very akin to Groundhog Day when Bill Murray stopped being a jerk and started being a good person).



Donald Duck, voiced, of course, by Tony Anselmo, is his usual hot-headed self here but, at the same time, he also wants this to be a great Christmas for everyone and especially for the boys to know how much he and the rest of the family care about them and what this time of year means to them. You wouldn't expect Donald to be this sentimental but, as I said in my review of Mickey's Christmas Carol, his mood tends to change from one appearance to another, as is the case with any character, I guess (ironically, in one of the segments in the sequel to this, his Christmas spirit is almost nonexistent). You've also got Daisy Duck (voiced by Tress MacNeille), Scrooge McDuck (voiced by Alan Young), and a character I'd never seen before this but may have been in the Donald Duck comics, Aunt Gertie (also voiced by Ms. MacNeille). Daisy and Scrooge are mainly just kind of there and don't do much significant: Daisy makes Christmas dinner, as well as tries to get Donald to kiss her under the mistletoe, and Scrooge often tries to get everyone to sing Christmas carols. However, there's a funny running joke with Aunt Gertie being one of those female relatives that kisses you to death whenever you see her and Huey, Dewey, and Louie end up soaking wet each time as a result. With each Christmas day, there's a new spin on it: they forget it's coming; they try to run from her but Donald forces them to let her kiss them; they put wetsuits on to avoid getting waterlogged; and finally kiss her themselves on the last day. Chip and Dale are also shown to be living in a birdhouse next to Donald's, playing with a toy train each time they're seen.

Out of the three stories in this film, I'd have to say that this is my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, but I like the other two stories about the bond between Goofy and his son and the love between Mickey and Minnie Mouse a lot more. This is a nice Christmas story, too, and it's important not only for Huey, Dewey, and Louie to learn what Christmas is really about, but other kids around that age as well, but when I first saw this as a young man, I gravitated more towards the other stories. Also, here's an unusual little tidbit that I honestly didn't think about until someone brought it up: all of these characters are ducks, right? Then, why are they eating turkey?! Again, I didn't even think about it for the longest time but, you have to admit that it is a little strange. For me, with these characters, they're so much like people that you tend to forget that they're actually anthropomorphic animals and just go along with it. But, yeah, ducks eating turkey. Weird, isn't it?

The second story is A Very Goofy Christmas, which, as you can gather from the title, centers around our favorite dimwitted dog and his son, Max. On Christmas Eve, the two of them rush to get a letter mailed to Santa Claus at the North Pole, causing a lot of slapstick havoc in the process. But, later that day, their neighbor, that big, blowhard jerk Pete, tells Max that Santa Claus doesn't exist because the idea of it is just so unbelievable. Goofy does his best to assure his son that Santa does exist but, when Max exposes Goofy dressing as Santa for some kids, he feels that his father has tricked him and now, Goofy must try to get Max, and later himself, to believe again.

If you've ever watched Goof Troop, you'll notice that this story follows its setup quite closely, with Goofy and Max living next door to Pete, and even I've heard some sources say that this story is supposed to take place a bit before it. That would make sense, considering that Max seems much younger here than he was in that show (his belief in Santa being a big part of that), but, at the same time, I'm not so sure because that show begins with Goofy and Max moving back home after having been away for a while. Could they really have ended up moving into the very same house they lived in before? Also, there's no mention of Pete's wife and kids in this story, particularly Max's friend in the show, P.J., who was roughly the same age as Max. You could argue that you just didn't see them but, taking into account that Max and P.J. meet for the first time in that first episode of Goof Troop, which, again, is supposed to take place after this, it just doesn't make sense. But, then again, Disney never really follows any kind of continuity with the shorts and TV shows featuring their classic characters (particularly in there being no mention of Max's mother), so it's not something you should rattle your brain over.



As is always the case in the modern era, Goofy is voiced by Bill Farmer, but since Dana Hill, the voice of Max on Goof Troop, had died from complications brought on by diabetes by this point, Shaun Fleming voices Max here. In Goof Troop, most of the comedy came from the fact that Max isn't as dim-witted or clumsy as his father and is actually a normal kid and that holds true here as well... for the most part. As usual, Goofy is a well-meaning father and an all-around good guy (he helps out a family that's been going through a rough patch lately) but he's dopey and clumsy, often causing his son a lot of embarrassment, but it's always clear that Max does love his father, even if he is an absolute idiot most of the time. As I said, Max is younger here than in Goof Troop (I'd say maybe seven or eight) and still believes Santa Claus is real, going to the trouble of having his Christmas list mailed to the North Pole. Unfortunately, mean old Pete (voiced by Jim Cummings) makes Max doubt Santa's existence and he starts trying to scientifically examine how Santa could possibly be real. Poor Goofy, who sincerely believes in Santa just like his son, does his best to explain away Max's fears but doesn't do a very good job at it. I do like this dynamic, as it feels like Max is approaching that age where most kids begin to doubt Santa's existence (it was a little later for me, though) and you also can't help but love Goofy for still having the innocence of a child even though he's an adult, no doubt due to his less than average intelligence.


Another interesting part of this story is how much Goofy and Max are actually alike. When Max uncovers his father playing Santa for the kids of that down on their luck family, he feels betrayed, that Goofy lied to him. Goofy tells Max that he was just trying to make those kids happy and also tries to convince Max that Santa is real since he's clearly lost his faith in it completely. Goofy puts sky-watch equipment on the roof and has Max stay up with him to keep a look out for him, but when there's a false alarm at one point, Max leaves Goofy on the roof and tries to go to bed. He can't sleep, though, and wishes that his father would just grow up... and that's when he sees something truly touching: Goofy shoveling the message, DON'T FORGET MAX, in the snow in his driveway. This makes Max realize how much his dad cares about him and that he's doing all of this for his sake. However, another false alarm, this time a burglar coming out of Pete's chimney that Goofy mistakes for Santa, ends up destroying Goofy's own faith in Santa. Now comes  an interesting role reversal where Goofy is just like his son in that he's devastated that Santa apparently isn't real and Max tries to cheer his father up, doing the same stuff that he did earlier, even dressing up as Santa, which Goofy does fall for at first. The ruse doesn't last long but it brings them closer by the end, with Goofy saying that he may have let Max down but Max didn't let him down.

The best part of the story is the ending, with Santa turning out to be real after all and giving Max the snowboard he wanted. You also see the bond between Goofy and Max that this ordeal has no doubt strengthened between them as Goofy says that he always simply wishes for Max to be happy every year which, despite his own innocent belief, is the main reason why Goofy was disappointed when it seemed like Santa wasn't real. Max has also learned about the gift of giving, as he goes to share his new snowboard with the ones of the kids in the family Goofy helped and played Santa for the previous night). Besides all this heartwarming stuff, you also have to snicker at Pete who, after having denied Santa's existence, tries to flatter him when he discovers that he is real.

I must say, I really like this story. I hope I didn't sound like I went too deep and philosophical on something very simple but that's what this segment stirred in me. I really liked the idea of it being about the bond between a father and son, made all the more effective in that it's a father and son that we're familiar with. Like I said earlier, Goofy, to me, has always been a good person despite his idiocy, exemplified when he takes food and decorations to that family that's hit hard times, and I also like Max, mostly when he's a kid and especially on Goof Troop. (I like him when he's a teenager sometimes, although there are moments there where he's kind of cruel towards his dad. That said, some of the stuff his dad does is pretty embarrassing). He's definitely a likable kid here, just as much or even more as he is on the show. You also got to love Pete, even if he is a big jerk (he's also in the third and final story and he's an even bigger jerk there, as we'll see). Anyway, I just think this is a sweet little Christmas story about a father and son.

The last story, and my favorite, is Mickey and Minnie's The Gift of the Magi. Based on the classic short story by O. Henry, it tells how one Christmas, Mickey and Minnie attempt to get special gifts for each other (Mickey intends to buy a golden chain for Minnie's heart-shaped watch, her only heirloom, and Minnie plans to buy a case for Mickey's beloved golden harmonica), even though each of them have very little money. Unfortunately, their respective employers screw each of them over in terms of their pay and they're both left with no possible way of getting the gifts they intended. If you know the short story, you know where this is going: when they meet up on Christmas Eve, each discovers that the other gave away their prized possessions for the gifts but, in spite of that, they still have each other and that's all that matters.


This is my personal favorite story in the film for many reasons. One, I love Mickey and Minnie Mouse to death. They're my favorite Disney characters. I know some may roll their eyes at that but I just can't help but find their relationship, in all its forms, to be very sweet and heartwarming, and I like seeing how much it's grown from their first appearances in the classic cartoons of the late 20's and 30's. It was mainly a love at first sight thing with them but it went on to become a slightly more complex one in some of the shorts in the 40's, which led to more sophisticated stories of their relationship like this one. Some may find it to be very saccharin (as with a lot of Disney's stuff in general) and that's fine, to each their own, but I've always really been drawn to these characters. Second, I really liked the way Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor played Mickey and Minnie. If you didn't know, the two of them actually became a couple and married in real life. Not only did that make for an odd coincidence, to say the least, but as a result, the chemistry between Mickey and Minnie always felt very natural and strong because it was being done by a real couple (which is why I was quite hurt in 2009 when I heard that Allwine died). I feel that chemistry is particularly strong here. You can see the love these two have for each other, the lengths each of them are willing to go to in order to make the other happy, and the realization at the end of how much they truly mean to each other. It may not be the most realistic thing but I find it to be a nice, heartwarming bit of sentiment that's a breath of fresh air in a very cynical world.



While Pluto, Figaro, and Daisy Duck have small roles in this story, the other characters who are really notable are Mickey and Minnie's horrible employers. Mickey, unfortunately, works for Pete, who owns a Christmas tree lot and, as usual, he's a selfish, greedy jerk who tries to trick a poor family into buying an expensive tree they can't afford and, given what one of the kids says, probably couldn't even fit into their house by telling them that it's the last available one on the lot. Mickey, however, convinces the family to take a much smaller, cheaper tree and he makes a lot of money in tips, but Pete, furious at him for ruining his chance at selling one of the big trees, cruelly takes all of his money to make up for what he would have made and throws Mickey and Pluto off the lot. He ends up getting what's coming to him, though, when he unintentionally puts his lit cigar into his back-pocket and stupidly tries to put it out in paint, which ends up burning down his lot. He also ends up unintentionally spoiling Christmas for other people, as there's this Firehouse Toy Drive going on which Mickey and Pluto get roped into performing for because the band is too busy putting out the fire at the lot. Mickey, at first, isn't willing to perform since he needs to find a way to get Minnie's present before the day's over but, being the good guy he is, he goes through with it when he sees how much it means to the kids. That's what I like about Mickey Mouse: whether he's the rascal he once was or the overly nice character he's typically depicted as nowadays, he's always a good person at heart. (Incidentally, when he's dancing around on the stage, he does a dance move and makes a facial expression that's exactly like what he did in the 1940's short, Mickey's Birthday Party.)


Minnie's employer is actually a character from the past: Mortimer Mouse (voiced by Jeff Bennett). If you've seen the cartoon Mickey's Rival, you'll remember this guy as this obnoxious rat who was apparently an old boyfriend of Minnie's and made Mickey's life miserable for the short time he was around (I'm pretty sure this was his first appearance since that cartoon and he's been a recurring character in most Mickey Mouse-related stuff since then, trying to steal Minnie away from Mickey at every turn). Here, his characterization is a bit different, as he's portrayed as a pompous tycoon who's unable to remember Minnie's name and whose "Christmas bonus" for her turns out to be a big fruitcake. And after giving it to her, he tells her, "Now, scoot along back to the gift-wrapping department where you belong," with Bennett using that uppity, pompous voice he tends to use quite frequently all the while, which works very well for the character. Minnie's disappoint at this is quite heart-wrenching, especially when she wonders aloud how she's going to get Mickey's present now.

The best part of the story is the sweet ending which, just like the short story, gets across the notion that even though the their gifts to each other are essentially useless now, the thought behind them is what matters and Mickey and Minnie also realize how much they mean to each other, which is what's really important. Seeing Minnie lovingly hug Mickey when he tells her, "You're all the music I'll ever need," is as heartwarming as you can get, and I also can't help but smirk at Minnie's closing line: "What some fruitcake?" Well, someone's going to have to eat it!



Going back to what I said in the introduction, in addition to the actual stories is a wraparound segment featuring three gifts underneath a Christmas tree signifying the stories' various themes and significances. Narrating the segment and introducing the stories in rhyme, Kelsey Grammer does a pretty good job of conveying the spirit of the season as well as the meaning of the stories, and to cap it all off, there's an ending segment where all of the main Disney characters come together to sing carols, finishing with, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which I think is a nice, charming little way to wrap things up. As with most animated films, there were several directors involved, with Alex Mann directing Stuck On Christmas along with Bradley Raymond and some additional material as well as; Jun Falkenstein and Bill Speers directed A Very Goofy Christmas; and finally, Toby Shelton directed Mickey and Minnie's Gift of the Magi, as well as the interstitial segments. You'd think so many different directors would mean each segment would look different from the others but they actually all manage to gel together into a whole that's mostly consistent in style (something that Disney is quite good at), with only some slight differences here and there (for instance, Daisy looks a bit different in her small appearance in the Mickey and Minnie story from the way she did in Stuck On Christmas and Mickey and Minnie look different in their story than they do in the closing piece). One thing I think that the directors really got right is the wintery look of the stories, with those beautiful, pinkish sunsets that you often see this time of year and color schemes that make everything look and feel cold when it's outside and warm and cozy inside. I also thought the animation was quite fair for a direct to video film. Granted, it's definitely not theater-level, but it serves its purpose and does its job well. I know there are many who don't like the very neat and clean-looking animation look that's prominent since the 90's, maybe feeling that it looks a little too cold and sterile, but I myself usually prefer it to the more rough-looking stuff from around the same time (like on the TV show, Mickey's Mouse Works, where some shorts don't like quite as clean and polished as others).

Like everything else in this film, the music by J. Eric Schmidt may not be anything special but it does nothing less than serve its purpose well and exemplify the emotions of the scenes: Christmastime, happy, sad, funny, etc. Most of the music is just instrumental versions of classic Christmas songs and I particularly like the band version of Jingle Bells that plays during the scene where Mickey plays along with them for the toy-drive, as well as the Christmas carols sung by the characters at the end (those voice actors are all really good singers in their own right). Finally, I have to mention the version of Deck the Halls sung by the music group SheDaisy over the ending credits. Some may not like it when modern music groups like this do songs for Disney and other animated films but I think the way they sounded while performing this song was really nice and gives you that Christmas feeling.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas may not be anything earth-shattering but I don't think that's really the point. The animation is simple and the look may be too polished and possibly even cheap-looking for some people but I think it's heart is definitely in the right place and that's what matter. The three stories told within are nice, little heartwarming tales of love, family, and the true meaning of the season and, honestly, in a world and time so cynical, full of hateful and, in some cases, downright evil people, I think stuff like this is needed to remind us that there is good in the world around this time of year and should be year-round. That was a little mushy and overly sentimental, I know, but that's how I feel. If you haven't seen it, then by all mean,s get some hot coco on a chilly night near Christmas, gather around the fireplace, pop this in, and enjoy. You might be surprised by how successfully it puts you in the holiday spirit.

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