Mickey's Christmas Carol

Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

**** (out of 4)

Disney kept Mickey Mouse off the big screen for nearly three decades but they certainly picked the right story to bring him back in. This wonderful adaptation of the classic story has Mickey playing Bob Cratchit, the poor worker whose boss Scrooge is about to get a lesson on treating people the right way. In my opinion this is Disney greatest moment and also one of the greatest shorts ever made. Even though the film only runs 20-minutes, there's enough heart and spirit to carry a dozen feature films. I've loved this movie since first seeing it as a child and I'm pretty sure I could watch this once a day and not tire of it. What amazes me most and always has is that the animators got all the right characters in the story being played by the right Disney character. Goofy as Marley, Willie the Giant and Jiminy Cricket as a couple of the ghosts, Donald Duck as the nephew and of course Mickey and Minnie. The entire story is a very familiar one but it's given so much life by these Disney characters that one really could argue that this is the very best version of the story, which has had several good adaptations over the past hundred years. I loved all the animation, the music and of course the ending is incredibly touching and funny.