Mickey’s Christmas Carol: What You Might Have Missed

Mickey's Christmas Carol

5. Reimagining a Classic

Despite it’s half hour runtime and cast of Disney characters, Mickey’s Christmas Carol manages to pay adequate tribute to the original source material. Yes, the story is more kid-friendly and more than a bit on the short side, but the artists and animators manage to slip images and themes direct from the pages of Dickens’ novel. The opening titles for example, with their sepia tones and sketchy designs and textures, are directly inspired by the original illustrations by John Beech in the first edition of the book. For a more animated example, have a look at the first appearance of the Ghost of Christmas Past. The ghost, portrayed by Jiminy Cricket, appears on Scrooge’s nightstand at the base of a candle, its flame above his head. This not only harkens back to Dickens’ description of the character, but it could have also inspired the version seen in Disney’s full length reimagining in 2009. Even the dialogue, albeit somewhat changed for contemporary audiences, pulls many of the lines directly from the source material, including some of the more grim ones uttered by Scrooge. That’s a pretty bold move for a 30 minute Christmas special, especially one by Disney. Does the retelling cover everything Dickens wrote? No, but its obvious the makers of this short did their research and clearly have respect for the material. It’s not verbatim by the book, but it does follow it enough for a proper introduction to the story for younger audiences.








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