Dec 13 - Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

It was inevitable that there would be an animated Disney version. They put out some audio renditions on records but this is their first visual stab at it. I'm not the world's biggest Disney fan, so I don't have a lot of nostalgia and love for the characters in general going into this viewing. It's cute, it works pretty well, but doesn't jump to the list of animated adaptations for me.

By this point, the breadth of Disney characters to choose to use was very wide and so it was easy to assemble a great "cast". In particular, I like Willie the Giant and Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Future.

 It seems by this point, and with directors and writers as talented as those at Disney, it isn't a death sentence to only be a half hour long. This is a condensed version that hits all the right points and still has enough room to inject some of its own humor.

I think it's going to be said a lot from this point on, now that we're dealing with the most recent versions made at a time when they really aren't "necessary"...there's practically perfect straight adaptations, musicals, animated versions. The word serviceable comes to mind a lot. It often is all that I care to say after watching a lot of these...they're fine, they aren't offensively terrible but they aren't exceptional. And when you have a lot of alternatives you could watch, being adequate isn't good enough. I want to be convinced that there was a reason "this version" had to be produced. Not just because it was a no-brainer idea.

1. A Christmas Carol (1951)
2. Scrooge (1970)
3. A Christmas Carol (1938)
4. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
5. A Christmas Carol (1971)
6. An American Christmas Carol (1979)
7. Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
8. Scrooge (1935)
9. A Christmas Carol (1910)
10. Rich Little's A Christmas Carol (1978)
11. A Christmas Carol (1977)
12. Shower of Stars: A Christmas Carol (1954)
13. Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901)
14. The Christmas Carol (1949)