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Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Movie Review

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas is a 1999 direct-to-video animated anthology film. It’s another forgettable Disneytoon studios flick.

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“That’ll put the Spirit of Christmas in ya!“

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This one is all about Mickey and friends, and just in the case of those Beauty and the Beast midquels, we here get an anthology that is composed of three different segments, but all are centered on Christmas, so at least they are somewhat connected in spirit. That’s why it is a much better movie than the aforementioned atrocities.

The first of the three segments is Donald Duck Stuck on Christmas. This segment is all about Huey, Dewey and Louie playing pranks during this holiday and eventually realizing their mistakes and learning what Christmas is all about. I found the three endearing here, but overall this plot is very straightforward, typical and far from particularly entertaining, though the message is obviously good for kids. It is, like this entire movie, lacking the adult appeal.

A Very Goofy Christmas is even more forgettable. This Goofy and Max segment is not all that great. It’s slow and uninvolving, plus the storyline is similar to the previous one, but less interesting. However, it does all end in that wonderful sequence where the two realize how much they care for one another. It’s a terrific father-son moment, but I wish the whole flick was as good.

Mickey and Minnie’s Gift of the Magi is clearly the finest segment of the three, there is no doubt about it. That’s because this is a hugely romantic, wonderful segment where each of them tries to buy a gift for the other. The sentiment at the end that the gift is unimportant, but the gesture counts is excellent, and the entire segment is wonderful with both Mickey and Minnie being superbly realized.

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Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas also has a solid animation, though it is of course nothing special, but it works for a cheap direct-to-video flick. I found the characterization true to form, but most of the characters did not receive particularly good material to work with. The pacing is weak and the film is far from involving, which is a problem for such a short length.

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas is thus a pretty good flick in its third segment, but the first two segments are far from great. The entire movie has solid character moments, but very poor storylines. It’s also not memorable at all, though at least the segments are connected in spirit.