Movie Review: Disney's Classic Holiday Stories

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: "Mickey's Christmas Carol" is still lots of fun

Cons: "The Small One" is longer than it needs to be

The Bottom Line:

Fun Christmas Cartoons

But already out of print

Get this year's version

Three Disney Cartoons for Your Christmas Entertainment

The Disney company is famous (or is that infamous) for getting as much mileage as they can from their properties.  That's one reason why they release stuff for a year or two then let it go out of print, only to rerelease it.  A perfect example is this 2005 release.  It was volume 9 in their then current series, Classic Cartoon Favorites.  Called Classic Holiday Stories, it featured three short subjects that are perfect for Christmas.

Up first is "The Small One."  I'd never heard of this 1978 release before (some Disney fan I am), but found it rather surprising.  It takes us back in time to tell us the story of a small boy and his love for the old, weak donkey on the family farm.  When his father decides it is time to sell the donkey, the boy volunteers to take him to town.  But no one seems to want to buy him and give him a good home.  Finally, the boy meets a man looking for a donkey to take his wife to Bethlehem.

I was actually surprised to find such a blatant Biblical theme to the story.  Outside of that and a few fun moments near the beginning, the rest of the 25 minutes was rather bland.  There are a few songs, but nothing that will stick with you.  This was direct by Don Bluth and starred Sean Marshall of Pete's Dragon fame as the voice of the boy.  Really, however, it turns out I wasn't missing much.

I already had the other two cartoons on Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 2.  "Pluto's Christmas Tree" finds Pluto chasing Chip 'n' Dale around Mickey's house after they accidently stow away in the Christmas tree Mickey brings home.  There are some fun moments here and a couple of good sight gags.

Finally, we have "Mickey's Christmas Carol."  This classic manages to tell the story of the Charles Dickens' classic in just under half an hour.  Yes, they cut a lot of it out, but it is also quite fun.  It helps that watching classic Disney characters in the various roles is fun.  I love Goofy as Marley's Ghost.  And Jiminy Cricket makes the best Ghost of Christmas Past yet.  It is true they really cut some things out, and I would love to see a full version of the story.  But for what you've got, it's quite good.

And that's it.  All told, the disc clocks in at just over 58 minutes.  No bonus features or anything besides these three cartoons.

Now, remember how I started out talking about Disney letting stuff go out of print quickly?  Guess what, this disc is hard to find, and it's only four years old.  But the good news is that they have repackaged these three cartoons with another Christmas themed short and put it out as Mickey's Christmas Carol this year.  So if you want them, act fast.

There are some shorts worth getting here, but you don't need to track down Classic Holiday Stories to see them.  Just get the new release and you'll be able to watch them all.