Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our Christmas celebration as we once again visit Huey, Dewey, & Louie in Christmas Impossible. Their segment from "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas". The follow up film to "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas" And yikes, this was not as good as I remembered. There are quite a few things that hold me back from completely liking them. And also, the animation has not aged well at all in this film. And we need to address something here. The animation. Oh dear lord, the animation is just so stiff.
"Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas" was the first time, we saw the classic Disney characters in CGI on a wide release. This film came out in 2004, a year after Mickey's Phillarmagic and two years before Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
This was a rough transition because other than Phillarmagic, we had not seen these characters in this form of animation and well, they had a rough first outing. It appears from the animation in this film that not much effort was put into making these characters pop in this new animation style and I'm sorry but there is something lost with these characters not being hand drawn as that is where they truly shine brightest. Normally, something like this wouldn't bug me so much. Anyway onto the plot of the segment.
The Plot
You may recall how I've mentioned throughout the Huey, Dewey, & Louie reviews that I wasn't a fan of how in the early shorts, the boys were portrayed as being bratty. This short decides to go back to that and have the boys deliver themselves to the North Pole to put their names on Santa's good list. Yeah, I take issue with that. Now do like that it was Uncle Scrooge to gave them this message that they need to clean up their act as he was speaking from experience here. Another problem, I have is that unlike in the segment from this film's predecessor, Donald did not set a very good example for his nephews and there is a reason why he got a book on manners. And having said that, when the segment does actually get to the North Pole, it drags and takes forever to get the story going and while the story does eventually get somewhere with the boys trying to find the list. I just feel like there is too much padding here with them spending so much time looking for it and causing trouble such as knocking the toys over and unloading the sleigh.
I get what this segment was going for and I do applaud the attempt at the end, when the boys get the chance to put their names on the good list, they don't but instead put Uncle Scrooge's name on the list but by that point, it was too little, too late for this segment to be salvageable.
Don't get me wrong, it was nice seeing Scrooge get his present at the end of his bagpipe, that he always wanted but still, this segment had way too many issues here. I feel like the stuff with Santa is stuff that has been done before in better Christmas specials and this segment didn't seem to know what it wanted to do with the boys as it just made them so over the top obnoxious that you are convinced that after Christmas is over, they will revert to the way, they acted before having not learned anything from this experience.
This segment for a lack of a better word was boring. Nothing really happened and it doesn't feel like the boys actually learned anything. So yeah, this isn't a segment that I would recommend.
Characters
Main Characters
Huey, Dewey, & Louie voiced by Russi Taylor
Again, I don't feel like the boys actually learned anything from their trip up north and will revert back to their prankster ways, once the holiday is over. Compare that to "Stuck On Christmas", where you felt as though, they actually learned something and learned to appreciate Christmas for what it is. Here, they just wanted to get their names on the good list, so they could get presents. I don't know about you but that seems kinda shallow for a Christmas story. I mean, don't get me wrong, I could totally see kids relating to this but there is nothing more to this segment than just that and it suffers for it, greatly.
Supporting Characters
Uncle Scrooge voiced by Alan Young
Scrooge was easily the highlight here as Alan Young delivered the best performance out of all the cast members and you could feel that the cared for his nephews and wanted to see them shape up and change their act. I'm sorry but Scrooge with Huey, Louie, and Dewey makes me think of something better that I'd rather watch.
I wasn't the only one thinking this, was I?
Donald Duck voiced by Tony Anselmo
Donald took a backseat in the story, which is fine but it just felt odd that he would reprimand the boys for their actions but then do the same thing. Sending mixed messages there, Donald.
Daisy Duck voiced by Tress McNeille
Daisy also had nothing to do in the segment. You could have taken her out of it and nothing would have been lost.
Santa Claus voiced by Chuck McCann
This take on Santa was fine but again, we've seen better takes and I gotta be honest, this Santa was really forgettable. It would've been nice if there was more interaction with him because that would have given him more character. As it stands, this is one Santa that you'll forget, once the segment is over and I feel like the inclusion of Santa was handled poorly here.
My Final Thoughts
If I were to describe this segment, I would say that it felt cheap and shallow and not much effort was put into it. Which leads me to believe that to be true of the rest of the movie and that it was just a quick Christmas cash in riding off being an in name sequel to "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas", which actually had care and effort put into it. This here just felt lazy. Instead of a candy cane, we were given a lump of coal. Oh well, they can't all be winners. Join me tomorrow as I go back and do that Prep & Landing review I promised. Peace!
"Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas" was the first time, we saw the classic Disney characters in CGI on a wide release. This film came out in 2004, a year after Mickey's Phillarmagic and two years before Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
This was a rough transition because other than Phillarmagic, we had not seen these characters in this form of animation and well, they had a rough first outing. It appears from the animation in this film that not much effort was put into making these characters pop in this new animation style and I'm sorry but there is something lost with these characters not being hand drawn as that is where they truly shine brightest. Normally, something like this wouldn't bug me so much. Anyway onto the plot of the segment.
The Plot
You may recall how I've mentioned throughout the Huey, Dewey, & Louie reviews that I wasn't a fan of how in the early shorts, the boys were portrayed as being bratty. This short decides to go back to that and have the boys deliver themselves to the North Pole to put their names on Santa's good list. Yeah, I take issue with that. Now do like that it was Uncle Scrooge to gave them this message that they need to clean up their act as he was speaking from experience here. Another problem, I have is that unlike in the segment from this film's predecessor, Donald did not set a very good example for his nephews and there is a reason why he got a book on manners. And having said that, when the segment does actually get to the North Pole, it drags and takes forever to get the story going and while the story does eventually get somewhere with the boys trying to find the list. I just feel like there is too much padding here with them spending so much time looking for it and causing trouble such as knocking the toys over and unloading the sleigh.
I get what this segment was going for and I do applaud the attempt at the end, when the boys get the chance to put their names on the good list, they don't but instead put Uncle Scrooge's name on the list but by that point, it was too little, too late for this segment to be salvageable.
Don't get me wrong, it was nice seeing Scrooge get his present at the end of his bagpipe, that he always wanted but still, this segment had way too many issues here. I feel like the stuff with Santa is stuff that has been done before in better Christmas specials and this segment didn't seem to know what it wanted to do with the boys as it just made them so over the top obnoxious that you are convinced that after Christmas is over, they will revert to the way, they acted before having not learned anything from this experience.
This segment for a lack of a better word was boring. Nothing really happened and it doesn't feel like the boys actually learned anything. So yeah, this isn't a segment that I would recommend.
Characters
Main Characters
Huey, Dewey, & Louie voiced by Russi Taylor
Again, I don't feel like the boys actually learned anything from their trip up north and will revert back to their prankster ways, once the holiday is over. Compare that to "Stuck On Christmas", where you felt as though, they actually learned something and learned to appreciate Christmas for what it is. Here, they just wanted to get their names on the good list, so they could get presents. I don't know about you but that seems kinda shallow for a Christmas story. I mean, don't get me wrong, I could totally see kids relating to this but there is nothing more to this segment than just that and it suffers for it, greatly.
Supporting Characters
Uncle Scrooge voiced by Alan Young
Scrooge was easily the highlight here as Alan Young delivered the best performance out of all the cast members and you could feel that the cared for his nephews and wanted to see them shape up and change their act. I'm sorry but Scrooge with Huey, Louie, and Dewey makes me think of something better that I'd rather watch.
I wasn't the only one thinking this, was I?
Donald Duck voiced by Tony Anselmo
Donald took a backseat in the story, which is fine but it just felt odd that he would reprimand the boys for their actions but then do the same thing. Sending mixed messages there, Donald.
Daisy Duck voiced by Tress McNeille
Daisy also had nothing to do in the segment. You could have taken her out of it and nothing would have been lost.
Santa Claus voiced by Chuck McCann
This take on Santa was fine but again, we've seen better takes and I gotta be honest, this Santa was really forgettable. It would've been nice if there was more interaction with him because that would have given him more character. As it stands, this is one Santa that you'll forget, once the segment is over and I feel like the inclusion of Santa was handled poorly here.
My Final Thoughts
If I were to describe this segment, I would say that it felt cheap and shallow and not much effort was put into it. Which leads me to believe that to be true of the rest of the movie and that it was just a quick Christmas cash in riding off being an in name sequel to "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas", which actually had care and effort put into it. This here just felt lazy. Instead of a candy cane, we were given a lump of coal. Oh well, they can't all be winners. Join me tomorrow as I go back and do that Prep & Landing review I promised. Peace!
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