Now that I have Disney+, I decided to catch up on some of their Christmas films I’ve missed. This one isn’t a major movie, but a small (under thirty minutes) film which I assume was aired on TV back in the early 1980’s, about half a decade before I was even born. I’ve seen the Muppets take on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but I was curious to give Mickey Mouse and friends a try with this one.

Luckily for Disney, they already had the perfect character to be Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge McDuck himself while Mickey Mouse is his employee Bob Cratchit. This Ebenezer is not much different from the other adaptations. He’s a rich old miser who has almost no care or concern about anyone else except himself.

Right before Christmas, his old business partner Jacob Marley visits him as a ghost. When he was alive, Marley was not much different from Scrooge. But he warns the old man..duck that if he doesn’t change his ways, that his eternity will be just as horrid as his. For which takes Scrooge a bit longer to accept.

But Jacob Marley will not be the only ghost that night. Scrooge will be visited by the ghosts of Christmas’ past, present, and potential future to give him a clear warning. I think we all know how it ends, but I won’t spoil that here.

Overall this a decent yet extremely short version of A Christmas Carol. I would say the Muppets version (which is far longer than this one) was a much better film. I’m surprised Disney didn’t try to make this one work for the silver screen. They certainly had the chance to do so, and it’s not like Mickey Mouse didn’t build their company from the ground up.. oh wait.

Score: B-