Sunday, November 1, 2009

DVD Review: Mickey's Magical Christmas

Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed In at the House of Mouse November 3, 2009

Mickey's Magical Christmas is a re-release of the 2001 DVD feature. If you didn't have a chance to pick up a copy then, you can lay your gloves on this DVD treat that will become a family tradition for many years to come. I received my review copy and we waited until after Halloween to watch this one. It was a great way to start off our Christmas Holiday season!

The DVD is 65 minutes long and is filled with treasures that will delight everyone in your family.
In this full-length adventure, a huge snowstorm leaves Mickey, Minnie and many other friends stranded leading Mickey and his guests at the House of Mouse to whip up an impromptu party that includes instilling a “Humbug”-quacking Donald Duck with the holiday spirit. Everyone shares their home movies and even grumpy Donald starts to smile when they realize the “Best Christmas of All” is the one you share with friends and family.
Throughout the episode, Mickey and the gang do their best to spread holiday cheer. Lucky for us, there are some classic holiday shorts mixed in with the newer House of Mouse shorts. The highlights are the 1952 Pluto's Christmas Tree and the 24-minute 1983 version of Mickey's Christmas Carol.

The first bonus feature of the disc is the premiere episode of The House of Mouse. This is a charming look at the beginning of the series and you get a sense of the creativity and talent of this short-lived series. The second bonus is The Sounds of Christmas-a Disney Sound Effects Featurette featuring the late Wayne Allwine, voice of Mickey Mouse for over 30 years. In the featurette, Wayne retells Twas the Night Before Christmas with the help of a few children providing sound effects.

Taken purely as a DVD aimed at fans of the holiday season, you can't go wrong with this title. The animation (except for Pluto's Christmas Tree and Mickey's Christmas Carol) is decidedly "made for television" and seems quite jarring, choppy and immature next to the classic animated segments. I am glad that I was able to add it to my collection, though, and I look forward to sharing it with my kids over the next few years.

For other Disney Holiday animation, you can read my review of the Walt Disney Animation Collection Classic Short Films: Mickey's Christmas Carol.


1 comment:

Cory Gross said...

Hmm, it sounds like they pulled this one off better than Mickey's House of Villains, which is too bad. I mean, it's great for Snowed in at the House of Mouse, but not for House of Villains ^_^