Chipwrecked Shipmunks

Alright! So. Hopefully brevity shall be my friend this time as we wrap up the second of the Pi-Rats episodes that were released onto DVD. While out testing the new Ranger Boat, Gadget loses her focus and the Rescue Rangers wind up crashing on a deserted island. After crashing, the gang waits out three weeks for a rescue before they decide to actually try building a new boat to simply save themselves with. Dale and Monty of course don't really want to work, and thus 'search for supplies' while instead they explore the island and discover a treasure map which only fuels their laziness even more and leads them to wanting to find the treasure. The Pi-Rats of course show up rather quickly, which makes things difficult as Dale and Monty sabotage the newly finished boat so that they can try to hoard as much treasure for themselves as possible. The Pir-Rats discover that their treasure is being looted and suspect all of the Rangers, taking Chip and Gadget prisoner in the process while Dale and Monty fight over the treasure. In the end though, the pair saves their friends and everyone makes it to a cave just before a bad hurricane hits. For whatever reason, the Pi-Rats make peace with the Rangers and help them rebuild their boat using some treasure as the episode ends. This is....probably not a great episode since it highlights Dale and Monterey being a couple of greedy bastards for the entire episode and only fuels my dislike of Dale overall even more. Not the greatest episode to watch, especially compared to the series premier.

Piratsy Under the Seas - Rescue Rangers

A small note, this is actually Thursdays viewing, but the post itself is going up a bit late :) Rescue Rangers away! Chip an' Dale are pitted up against a band of cheese thirsty Pirats in this episode. While lugging garbage out to the bins, Dale slips inside just as the garbage man comes to take the trash away. Chip however notices this and rushes to get the rest of the Rangers so that they can rescue Dale from the barge loaded with garbage. While attempting to rescue him, Chip and Dale are captured by a group of unknown people who move through the water in a makeshift ship with a skull and crossbones flag. While underwater, Chip and Dale try to escape, though Billy the Squid chases after them and forces them to take shelter in a sunken ship where they meet up with the Pi-Rats. The Pi-Rats way of life begins to appeal to Dale who is fed up with all the work he has to do back home and quickly takes to their ways. The Pi-Rates choose him to lead the treasure hunt, where upon discovering it they tell Chip and Dale that they can no longer leave since they have seen it. Meanwhile, Gadget and the others are working to follow after their friends so that they can rescue them. They too however are chased by Billy the Squid, though Gadget soon disposes of him. She decides to have Monterey and Zipper go find their friends while she stays behind in the treasure room, where they landed, and works to build a new submarine for them to escape in. Monty and Zipper soon find the two chipmunks and after a successful disguise, manages to free the now caged Chip and Dale by pretending to be the old captain of the Pi-Rats. However, just as they are about to escape with Gadget, the old cabin boy discovers that the disguise is fake and a chase ensues. Ultimately, thanks to Gadget's brain, and Chip and Dale's efforts they defeat Billy the Squid and managed to unsink the ship by blowing the treasure out of the cannons. All in all this is a review that rambled quite longly for an episode that's probably only pretty average. >.< With that said let's move on to today's actual episode in the following post where the Pi-Rats return....

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for me...... So begins the trilogy of Pirates movies. It is difficult to know exactly where to start with these films.....the first is quite likely my favorite of the bunch due to how simple it is before the character of Davy Jones gets introduced and things start spiraling out from there. Let's begin with the key part, the story. For something that's based off of a dark ride the film wonderfully captures the pirates ride and provides a fun adventure even if it does feel like it runs longer than it is. The story centers around our three main characters of Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow. One day a golden medallion falls into the water with Elizabeth and sends out an eerie signal to the evil Captain Barbossa who raids the town she lives in and takes her away. Not wanting to lose the woman he cares for, Will Turner strikes a deal with the charismatic Jack Sparrow and the pair set off for Tortuga so that they can save Ellizabeth and so that Jack can reclaim his stolen ship from Barbossa. Now....a fair bit of the movie feels...repetitive. They go to the secret island where Barbossa hides out, they leave, they go back and do the island scene almost all over again. There is of course large changes between the two trips, but it just feels too similar to me. The fast paced action when it happens is always a lot of fun and the characters make it all enjoyable though and it doesn't fully detract from things. As for the characters perhaps the one biggest complaint I have is how Elizabeth is supposed to marry Commodore Norrington and yet in the beginning scene he looks so much older than her. In the present day, Elizabeth is now older yet Norrington still looks the same. The first scene we encounter Captain Sparrow is rather memorable and goes along quite nicely with the last scene we see of his as he sails away singing. All in all, this is probably the better of the three films since it doesn't tangle itself up in the story very badly and gives a fun, action filled two hours that landlubber and pirate alike will enjoy.

Polly Wants A Treasure

Spin it! Ahhhh, Talespin how I love thee. I mean. YAR me hearties! This be an adventure that only pirates can achieve! We be finding three main things in this here episode that make pirates great. Tricky traps in a cave, green parrots that talk and lots o' booty. When Baloo's attempt to make some quick cash doesn't quite workout, he winds up buying the sea chest of the old pirate Captain Onetoomany which contains the parrot Ignatz. Of course, Don Karnage is after the old chest and sends two of his crew, Dumptruck and Mad Dog to wreck Baloo's cargo in the search for it. However, they leave behind Ignatz not realizing that he is the map to Captain Onetoomany's treasure. Baloo, over the course of the episode takes a large disliking to the feathery stowaway until he is forced to work together with the bird when Don Karnage takes Kit prisoner. In the end, the treasure remains lost thanks to Baloo's bumbling accident when he releases a trap, though everyone makes it out unharmed. As far as Don Karnage episodes go, this might well be a middling one though it is still a lot of fun to watch. I do think though that nothing would be able to top his first appearance in the Plunder and Lightning series premier.

Winnie the Pooh: Everything's Coming Up Roses

This review shall go over four episodes from "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." One small thing to note about this VHS is that it opens with my favorite opening for the Walt Disney VHS'. This of course gives it some extra Awesome points. ;)

First up is 'Eeyi, Eeyi, Eeyore' in which our donkey friend is given a seed by Rabbit who claims it's worthless and won't grow. Pooh and Tigger decide to lend a hand by disguising poor Piglet as a flower to be helpful which leads to Rabbit handing over his garden to Eeyore thinking that he is a better gardener.

Following this episode is 'My Hero' where Piglet saves Tigger from a puddle and the bouncy tiger decides to become Piglet's servant to repay him. However our tiny hero finds that Tigger is just a bit -too- helpful and tries to turn the tables so that they can be even.

"Honey For A Bunny" is perhaps my favorite of the episodes. One day Rabbit decides to be rid of his bookend bunny who is missing it's mate. After a series of trading and gifting the bookend, Rabbit finds it at Pooh's house and mistakes it for the missing mate. He strikes a deal to trade the bunny for five jars of hunny though finds he's one jar short. This leads to Tigger helping out as the duo tries to get that last jar of hunny, only to find out in the end he did all that work for his original bookend.

Our last episode/segment is 'Owl Feathers' where the Hundred Acre Woods seems to have a lot of feathers floating about. Rabbit, Tigger, Pooh and a magician in-training Piglet decide to investigate and seem to feel that the feathers belong to Owl, (though Tigger claims it's horse feathers), and Rabbit claims that Owl is going bald. This causes poor Owl to become a bit depressed and finds he can't fly anymore even though it's all in his head and prompts Piglet to jump in to help with a little bit of 'magic.'

All four episodes are rather fun, especially for those who love the show and/or the characters themselves. Not all the gang appears though, Roo only pops up for one episode and sets off the chain of tradsies in 'Hunny For A Bunny' and Kanga is missing completely. Also not around is Christopher Robin for the large part of these and only shows up at the end of 'Owl Feathers.'

The animation is rather standard for the time it was released, and even though it is a bit outdated I find that I actually prefer it compared to some of the animated shows on t.v today even if they are being made with more updated technology. Our opening song is bouncy, enjoyable and just as memorable as the Ducktales or Darkwing Duck themes. :)

Plane Crazy

Plane Crazy, perhaps one of Disney's biggest achievements considering it was animated by Ub Iwerks almost entirely. This was largely due to the fact that Walt and his remaining crew worked in secrecy on the debut of their brand new character: Mickey Mouse.

The short itself is relatively simple, Mickey Mouse is fascinated by Charles Lindbergh and sets out to fly in a plane of his own. He enlists the aid of the barnyard animals to help him build a plane, though this one fails. His second however, made out of a car and turkey feathers works much better and he even manages to get Minnie Mouse to come flying with him. Things however go wrong when the plane begins to go out of control and crashes.

Despite such a simple plot, this short is still rather amazing because of the fact that Ub Iwerks was singled out as the animator for it in the title credits, something which Disney would not do later on. But wait! There's more! The short itself is a step up from the previous Oswald shorts in a couple ways at the least, not only are the backgrounds more detailed but also in how the point of view is always changing. This is most evident when Minnie is alone in the plane when things change from side to side, also later on when the plane begins to spiral down the POV shifts to look straight at the ground and spins about during that sequence.

One last thing to really make a note of here is that Mickey is still far from the mascot that we know today, or even knew twenty years ago. His appearance is more oval shaped and he has spindle limbs, as well his personality far more mischievous as he forces a kiss from Minnie. Quite the change would be made to him, and Minnie over the coming decades.

100th Post! 10 Top 10 Countdowns.

Just to start off, this will be a hell of a long post. Due to this, I will attempt to be brief in each countdown and will most likely go into further detail as we meet each character, episode or moment in future reviews and character profiles.


Top 10 Batman Villains:

Going into this list, I thought of a few things that would influence my choices. What they've done, their visual appearance and their one biggest "victory" or accomplishment. All this is based off the Batman The Animated series and not other incarnations.

10) Bane

9) Mad Hatter

8) The Riddler

7) Two-Face

6) Mr. Freeze

5) Catwoman

4) Harley Quinn

3) Poison Ivy

2) Scarecrow

1) The Joker


Top 10 Looney Tunes Characters:

A very common factor for characters you will find, is that visual appearance can play a role in my choices. For these characters it's not a major deciding factor, but what is one is the overall character, what they do in their shorts and just how funny I find them.

10) Sam Sheepdog

9) Gossamer

8) Count Blood Count

7) Tweety Bird

6) Witch Hazel

5) Sylvester

4) Bugs Bunny

3) Pepe Le Pew

2) Wile. E Coyote

1) Marvin Martian


Top 10 Animated Movies (Non-Disney, in my collection):

Alrighty. First off, nothing from Disney appears here. Secondly there are at least three movies that should be on this list but aren't, simply because I am going by what I own. If I didn't limit it that way I could sit here all night trying to whittle my list to just 10. Perhaps in time I will be able to separate the anime entries into their own list and update this one.

10) Happily Ever After

9) All Dogs Go To Heaven

8) Fern Gully

7) G.I Joe: The Movie

6) Digimon the Movie

5) Batman Mask of the Phantasm

4) Anastasia

3) Cardcaptors the Movie

2) Secret of NIMH

1) Spirited Away


Top 10 Ghostbusters Ghosts:

The Real Ghostbusters ghosts only. Ones from the movies, while deserving of spots here will perhaps make appearances on future countdowns. Visual appearance, the ghosts powers and just how much of a match they are for the Ghostbusters are all factors in my choices.

10) Stay Puft Marshmellow Man

9) The Dark Entity

8) Marduk

7) Captain Jack Higgins

6) Sandman

5) Boogieman

4) Lord Kildarby and the Bird of Kildarby

3) Big Boo

2) Rall

1) Samhain


Top 10 Darkwing Duck Villains:

Let's get dangerous! Darkwing Duck's villains are rather fun in the way that they quite often are based off of comic book villains, whether it's the obvious Bushroot/Poison Ivy or the perhaps more obscure Moliarty/Mole Man reference these villains are just a lot of fun. Most of these villains though, are a bit hard to take too seriously, though that looks like it's changing with the Darkwing Duck comic series.

10) Moliarty

9) Tauras Bulba

8) Liquidator

7) Tuskernini

6) Bushroot

5) Megavolt

4) Splatter Phoenix

3) Steelbeak

2) Negaduck

1) Quackerjack and Mr. Banana Brain


Top 10 Scooby-Doo Villains: Seasons 1 and 2 of Scooby-Doo Where Are You?

Yes, yes even though the series was a bit laughable and fairly corny, Scooby-Doo still had some rather unique villains. There are though, a few clunker villains who were nothing more than a cliche ghost. But these villains are, in my opinion, among the more visually unique ones even if it turned out to be someone in a mask each time.

10) Werewolf Ghost

9) Black Knight

8) Miner 49er

7) Elias Kingston

6) Creeper

5) Redbeard

4) Mr. Hyde

3) Snow Ghost

2) Zen Tuo

1) Ghost Clown


Top 10 Movie Monsters Non-Human:

Movie monsters! Who doesn't love a good movie monster? Now, in the title what I mean by human is that there won't be Vampires, Werewolves or Zombies found here. Humanoid ones though can be found here and there in the list.

10) Creature from the Black Lagoon

9) Graboids

8) The Thing

7) King Kong

6) Godzilla

5) Jaws

4) Critters

3) Gremlins

2) Predator

1) Aliens


Top 10 Scary Movie Animals:

The majority of the animals found here are living, breathing animals even if most aren't ones we are likely to encounter on a daily basis. Since dinosaurs do technically classify as animals they have been included in this list, but ones such as dragons with purple spots will obviously not be present. One day though a "Fantasy" oriented list may appear.

10) Grizzly: Grizzly

9) The Birds: Birds

8) Piranhas - Piranha

7) Lake Placid: Crocodile

6) Anaconda - Anaconda

5) Jurassic Park: Velociraptors

4) Jurassic Park: Dilophosauras

3) Arachnophobia: Spiders

2) Jaws: Great White Shark

1) Cujo: Saint Bernard


Disney Villain Songs:

Disney! The main rule of thumb for me when it came to this list was if it's one that was memorable enough to me. Some things that factored into this was the scene itself where this takes place, was it visually interesting? Did it help the story along?

10) The Mob Song: Beauty and the Beast

9) Heffalumps and Woozles: Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

8) World's Greatest Criminal Mastermind: Great Mouse Detective

7) Mother Knows Best: Tangled

6) Be Prepared: Lion King

5) Kidnap the Sandy Claws: Nightmare Before Christmas

4) Gaston: Beauty and the Beast

3) I've Got Friends on the Other Side: Princess and the Frog

2) Hellfire: Hunchback Of Notre Dame

1) Poor Unfortunate Souls: The Little Mermaid


Top 10 Saddest Moments in Disney and Pixar:

Disney is, despite being family friendly, quite good at providing the audience with scenes that are just downright depressing. So of course I had to compile a list of the ten saddest moments in the animated canon and Pixar! Get your kleenex ready or just skip over this list if you'd prefer to stay happy :)

10) Toy Story 2: When She Loved Me (song)

9) UP: Married Life Montage

8) Mickey's Christmas Carol: Bob Crachit in the graveyard

7) Brother Bear: Kenai telling Koda the truth.

6) Tarzan: Kala losing her baby in the opening.

5) Dumbo: Baby of Mine (song)

4) The Lion King: Mufasa's Death

3) Toy Story 3: The ending.

2) Bambi: Bambi's mom getting shot.

1) Snow White: Snow White's funeral/the Dwarf's vigil.


This concludes our 100th post and our 10 Top 10's. I hope you enjoyed scanning through the list, please feel free to drop a comment on what you liked (or didn't like) about each list or even supply a list of your own! See something I missed? Let me know and I'll be happy to point out why I may not have added it to a list.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all? Snow White of course! Disney's first full length animated film is still one of the most beloved classics to this day.


Snow White follows our titular heroine as she discovers one day that the Evil Queen wants her dead, jealous of her beauty. However, the Huntsman betrays the Queen and refuses to kill the innocent girl, telling her to flee deep into the forest where she meets the seven dwarfs. At first the dwarfs are quite unsure of Snow White, mistaking her at first for a monster (and with a voice like hers, who could blame them?) but eventually see the right in showing her hospitality and take her in. Though their intentions are noble, the Queen uses her evil magics to find that Snow White is still alive and hunts her down in person to kill her personally.

Considering that the film was the first of it's kind by the Disney studio, the animation is a large step above their earlier efforts in the Mickey Mouse shorts and the Silly Symphony series, most notably that of "The Goddess of Spring." The human characters are no longer quite as rubbery in the arms, but still aren't quite at the same level as say, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. The backgrounds and color scheme chosen suit the movie rather well and I can't imagine how the film would have looked if the company had gone with brighter colors.

Given their fondness for using music in their animated work, Snow White contains a number of enjoyable songs and all fit the film perfectly. There aren't really any songs that feel out of place, or hamper the story at all as each moves the story along in its own way. Perhaps the most enjoyable of the songs is the I'm Wishing/One Song that Snow White and the Prince sing, given how it makes up the majority of their relationship and establishes at the least, his interest in Snow White.

The film has many highlights, one such example is the wonderful character of the Evil Queen who still can send chills down the spine with her regal bearing and icy looks. Her voice actress does a fantastic job providing the vocals of both the Queen and the Old Hag. As the film goes on the Queen only gets better, though it's hard for me to decide if her best scene is that of her transformation or the ending when she threatens to crush the dwarfs with an enormous boulder.

Snow White's funeral scene of course, cannot go unmentioned. The visuals, lack of dialogue and the music all blend amazingly well to create a very memorable scene that can still bring forth a tear or two to viewers.

One final example is the flight through the forest is also quite frightening as everything seems to come to life and leap out at Snow White as she runs terrified from the Huntsman. One of the best parts is the enormous log that turns into an alligator (crocodile?) and appears to swallow Snow White, leaving her dangling above a pond where more wooden alligators threaten her.

For Disney's first attempt at a full feature, they succeeded quite well in creating a timeless classic that only gets better with each viewing and never grows old.

Steamboat Willie

Perhaps Mickey Mouse's most famous cartoon short, Steamboat Willie is also one of the Disney companies oldest fully animated shorts, losing out by just a hair to "Plane Crazy."

Now, the one thing to note about Mickey is that in the older Black and White days, he was.....crazy. Not quite the Mouse we know today, Mickey was much more cheeky and full of energy, constantly using his surroundings to make music in the shorts whether it's an inanimate object or a living animal.

Steamboat Willie follows Mickey Mouse as he works on Pegleg Pete's boat, though the latter character takes a backseat this time around. Noticing Minnie as she rushes to catch up to the boat for a ride, Mickey helps her on board and what follows is a series of gags that starts with a goat eating Minnie's sheet music for "Turkey in the Straw." As Minnie uses the goat to play the music by cranking it's tail, Mickey runs around the boat using everything possible to play the song in time. I do mean everything. A cat is thrown around, pots and pans banged on, a duck, piglets and the mother pig are all used to play along in time to the music. It was sort of disturbing to see Mickey Mouse of all people being so abusive towards animals, yanking on their neck, tails and using the one pig as an accordion, all with a smile on his face.

The short itself holds up pretty good considering just how old it is. While it doesn't have the same charm as later Mickey shorts, it has it's own unique charm in it's zany pace. Of course, the animation is rather crude but from here out things can only look up for Disney as it's animators refined their technique which we will see tonight with the review of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Toy Tinkers

Perhaps one of my all time favorite Donald Duck shorts, if not one of the best Christmas shorts released by Disney. Toy Tinkers is much like Pluto's Christmas tree in the basic premise of Chip an'Dale versus a star character.

It's close to Christmas and Donald is in the midst of celebrating the holiday season, house decked out in all sorts of fun ornaments and presents everywhere. However the peace ends quickly when Chip an'Dale arrive and begin an all out Christmas war with the irritable duck.

The short is quite charming and entertaining from start until the end, with wonderful visuals of the holiday season. Even though the short does follow a slightly formulaic set up, the holiday twist gives it a breath of fresh air which is what makes it so timeless and gives it it's charm. Well worth a watch if one is able to find it.

A Muppet Christmas Carol

It's hardly surprising that combining the Muppets with the Charles Dickens novel would lead to a slightly lighter and more fun version of the story. One thing that is rather nice though is just how faithful they were to the novel and even gave a small push to urge the audience to check it out just before they fade out.

The story gives us Gonzo as Charles Dickens who guides us along a bit and narrates with the help of Rizzo the Rat (Who is in it for the food). As we go through the story we are greeted with a large cast of Muppets including Kermit the Frog as Bob Crachit and Miss Piggy in the role of his wife. Our Scrooge is played fairly well by Michael Caine and is able to be rather straight despite the chaotic madness we have come to expect from the Muppets.

Much like Disney's version a large appeal to this film is just how many characters are involved in the now long defunct t.v show. Fozzie Bear, Rowlf, Beaker, Honeydew and more all make cameos at one point and we are even treated to Statler and Waldorf singing their own song about how evil they were in life, taking on the role of the Marley brothers.

The entire film is rather great mix of the rapid fire jokes and gags that make the Muppets so appealing and yet they also manage to achieve the more serious parts when the time calls for it. A Muppet Christmas Carol is highly recommended to anyone wanting a special treat to watch this, or any, holiday season.

Santa Clause 2

Once again Tim Allen dons the Santa suit in this Disney sequel that seems to be trying to cash in on the popularity of the original film. Like most sequels (especially Disney) this isn't quite as good as the original but is still better than a fair number of other Christmas geared entertainment.

Santa seems to be having a couple of problems lately despite his success as the current..Santa. It seems that his son Charlie went from being young and innocent to a trouble making teen and lands on the 'Naughty' list. To make matters worse Bernard and a new helper elf inform Santa that he needs to fulfill one thing that was overlooked in the first film, he needs to get married. One must wonder though where the previous Mrs. Claus went when her husband fell off the roof in the first film......

Needing to fulfill his duties as a father, get married and keep on track as Santa, Scott decides to make a rather big mistake. Going along with a plan thought up by the new elf, Santa brings in a toy Santa to cover for him at the North Pole while he goes to get things sorted down. Bernard helps out by giving him a watch to show how much magic he has left and tells him if he runs out that he can never come back as well that he only has until Christmas Eve.

Santa Clause 2 isn't really a great film, there's a lot of small things that just add up to detract from how good it could have been. For one we not only get Comet back, but also have a second reindeer in training named Chet join us. Chet is.....annoying instead of comedic like intended and his humor largely comes from crashing or yelling gibberish. As well we get fart jokes from Comet. Things have changed a bit and are a bit more technological this time around instead of having a more fantasy base. The opening kind of drags on a bit and the romance a bit rushed considering Santa has to convince a woman to marry him and his choice is.....lacking the Christmas spirit. While it does have it's good moments there's just a bit too much to keep it from the great level.

Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse

After a successful night at the House Mouse, Mickey and the gang are surprised to learn that they are snowed in, with little sign of things letting up. Donald Duck however seems to be a bit of a Scrooge and is lacking the Christmas spirit. This is sort of odd to me since everything we've seen before contradicts this, especially his older short with Chip an' Dale.

Mickey of course has a plan and decides that everyone should sit around and watch more shorts! This leads me to wonder what they were watching before we joined them, wouldn't they have already watched these Christmas shorts? But who cares! What matters is getting Donald's lost spirit back and serves as the filler between shorts.

The first short up is a Mickey Mouse Work and centers around a Snowman contest. However the short largely focuses on Donald having to deal with a crack in the ice that just won't leave him alone and eventually chases him into the cave of an abominable snowman. It is at this point the snowman takes over the chase and wins the contest.

We return to the House of Mouse to find Donald still lacks the spirit and are treated to a quirky Ludwig Von Drake "The Science of Santa" demonstration and a video clip of Mickey asking various character what they want for Christmas.

Our next short is actually one of my favorites, Pluto's Christmas Tree. It's one of the classic shorts from Walt's years and deals with Pluto as he goes up against Chip an' Dale who live in the tree Mickey has decided to use for Christmas. It's a fun filled short and is actually more entertaining and at times more pleasant to look at than our first short here.

More filler between shorts! We find out what more characters are thankful for and get to hear from characters like Mushu, Eeyore to the Mad Hatter. Following up this up we get a brief clip of Mickey and Pluto breaking the laws of physics to decorate the outside of their house for Christmas.

The Nutcracker segment is our next story as Minnie and Mickey takes the roles of Maria and the Nutcracker respectively. Ludwig Von Drake joins us as Godpapa Drosselmeyer, Donald Duck is the Mouse King (though only because he believes he will win) and Goofy as.....the magical snow fairy. Right then, the short itself seems to have it's characters be rather aware they are actually playing these roles as shown in a small bit with Donald and again with Goofy. We also get a bit of fourth wall breaking when Ludwig and the Narrator (voiced by John Cleese) interact with each other. The short itself is quite fun, even if a few bits of it are repetitive dancing.

What's this? More filler! Yay! We find Donald is still a bit of a humbug, much to Grumpy's enjoyment and to the dismay of everyone else. Rather interesting since even Jafar a -villain- is full of the Christmas spirit. Mickey is saddened that his friend is missing out, and after a chat with Jiminy Cricket has his hope renewed. After one last attempt, things are finally set right. However, all is not done yet as we are treated to 'Mickey's Christmas Carol' though the opening credits are trimmed out.

I'm going to largely skip over reviewing the short again given how I have already summed up my thoughts on it. After the short we are treated to a rather sugar coated Christmas song sung by all of the characters. I think the only real thing of interest from the ending is just getting to see all the characters singing together and it sort of makes up for the overly sugar coated lyrics. For a House of Mouse vehicle, this is rather fun and worth watching for the shorts alone.

The Santa Clause

When Santa Claus falls off of Scott Calvin's (Tim Allen) roof, he discovers that he must now don the suit and take over as the new Santa Claus. Bit of a hard one to explain to kids that he's the new Santa because the previous died......probably not Disney's best idea.

Scott Calvin soon finds that he has only one year to prepare for his new job as Santa, despite his constant denial of the fact he's the new Claus even after finishing the guy's job and being sucked down chimney's. With begrudging reluctance he begins looking over the enormous naughty and nice list, packs on weight and earns a fast growing beard all in time for the new holiday season.

Through all of this, Calvin has to juggle dealing with his estranged wife, her more new age husband and his neglected son, the latter of which is the only one who believes he's Santa thanks to joining him in the previous years exploits. While trying to juggle his new responsibility and assuring his son he is not Santa Calvin goes on a series of misadventures until he finally accepts his role.

A rather light hearted film, the majority of the cast is really not all that memorable perhaps save for the head elf Bernard and Tim Allen as Santa. The movie avoids trying to heap on the sentimental feelings and instead goes straight for a Christmas fantasy which works out rather well in the end.

Mickey's Christmas Carol

When I think of 'A Christmas Carol' this is generally the version that comes to my mind first, second only to the Muppets which we will get to later on.

From the first note of the opening song, you know that we are in for a treat with this short film and even get a slightly more festive Mickey Mouse face title card. The story is more or less the same, as we are introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge and is played by none other than Scrooge McDuck himself. Mickey Mouse fills the role of Bob Crachit, and Donald plays Cousin Fred. Heading home late at night after closing up his business, Scrooge encounters the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley (played by Goofy). Marley informs him that if he does not change his ways that he too will wind up in chains and be forced to carry heavy blocks forever. However, before he leaves he also says that three ghosts will come to visit him.

It does not take long from Jiminy Cricket, the Ghost of Christmas Past, to arrive and show Scrooge the old days when he was far happier before money took over his life. Before Scrooge can even recover from the haunting memories of better days, Willie the Giant comes knocking and takes the old grump for a stroll down the street to show him how bad things are for Bob Crachit and his family. Leaving Scrooge alone in the cold, the final Ghost arrives and shows him the inevitable future that lays ahead if he stays the way he is. This is perhaps my favorite ghost of the three from this version, from the way Pete handles Scrooge, and the atmosphere and emotion that are present during Mickey's wordless scene as he sheds a tear over Tiny Tim's grave. The entire bit is well done, and is a great final push to Scrooge who now decides to change his ways thanks to the ghosts.

One of the most fun aspects of this version is just how large a cast there is. All of Mickey's main gang appears, with the surprising exception of Pluto who is absent, as well as many characters from various shorts and features making cameo's. A small list of such characters includes:

Mr. Toad - Fezziwig
Big Bag Wolf
Two of the little wolves
Toby Tortoise
Max Hare
Dasiy Duck (Isabel)
Grandma Duck
Clara Cluck
Gus Goose
Peter Pig
Paddy Pig
Chip an' Dale
Clarabelle Cow
Horace Horsecollar
Huey, Dewey, Louie
Ferdy and Morty (One of which is Tiny Tim)
Minnie Mouse (Mrs. Crachit)
Macbadger
Mole
Rat
Cyril Horse
Weasels
Skippy, Tagalong and Sis Rabbit
Toby Turtle
Grandma Owl
Otto the Hound Dog
Mother Rabbit
Secretary Bird
Melody Mouse
Uncle Waldo

Jolly Molly Christmas

Not one to be left out of spreading holiday cheer, Talespin followed in other Disney shows footsteps and produced it's own Christmas episode, Jolly Molly Christmas.

Much like last night's Goofy short from "Once Upon A Christmas" the episode largely deals with whether or not Santa is real. Instead of Max and Goofy though, we have Molly and Baloo who assures her that Santa is real. Not quite sure, Molly is whisked off to Louie's bar which has been transformed into a rather makeshift North Pole. The real kicker is when Louie himself falls down the chimney dressed as Santa.

Of course, being a Talespin episode there needs to be at least one good air fight. Don Karnage and his pirate crew help out with this, spending a few minutes slowing Baloo down as he tries to make it snow with...soap suds.

When in doubt, watch Goofy and Max in Once Upon A Christmas, since they handle things a lot better. As for Talespin episodes in general, there are a lot more entertaining ones such as the five part series opener.

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas

Of course there's a Santy. Otherwise, we'd have a lot of jobless elves running around. Just one of many humorous quotes from Once Upon a Christmas, another of Disney's anthology Christmas specials. Unlike Winnie the Pooh, this one has consistently good animation and features a wider variety of our usual gang.

Opening the first of our three shorts is something familiar to us all, a wish that Christmas happened every day. However, as Huey, Dewey and Louie find out this isn't always a good idea. It's sort of a variation of "Groundhog Day" and spends it's time pointing out Donald's card, that Christmas isn't about the tree, the presents or snow but about the love and warmth we share with our family.

Our second story features Goofy and a much younger Max as they dare to ask the question. Is Santa Claus real? Max isn't quite sure if he believes or not, and Pete is hardly any help as he only enforces the more adult view that Santa is not real. However, good old Goofy in all his more child mind set believes in him right down to the core. Even when things get dark and all hope seems lost, Santa himself arrives to brighten their hope and renews their belief.

Our final story is a classic Mickey and Minnie one as our two favorite mice try and find each other just the perfect gift. It plays out much like "Gift of the Magi" and has almost a classic Mickey short feel to it, but with that extra little Christmas twist to things and serves as a pleasing finale to the movie.

One final note is that aside from the characters mentioned above, we are also treated to seeing Pluto, Chip an' Dale, Uncle Scrooge, Daisy and Aunt Gerdy. The latter of which seems to be a newer character to the Duck family.

The Little Match Girl

Not quite a Christmas short, though it does have small moments that fit it in rather nicely. The Little Match Girl was made by the Disney company and sadly can only be found on the Little Mermaid platinum dvds.

The story is told without dialogue, much like Fantasia, and is set to the String Quartet Number 2 in D Major. Running only at seven minutes in length, the short follows a young girl as she tries to sell matches in Russia. The child is declined by several people and trudges through the deep snow to sleep in an alley. As the cold weather gets worse, she uses her matches to bring warmth and lets her imagination run free as she dreams of a warm fireplace, food and a kindly woman caring for her as they light candles on a Christmas tree. The ending won't be spoiled, though the short is full of emotion and can tug at the heart strings. Wonderfully animated, the Little Match Girl is a beautiful short and should not be missed if you have the chance to watch it.

Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas

Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about Enchanted Christmas is largely the fact that it is a Midquel. Taking place just after Belle tries to run away, but before she goes to save her father we find that she decides to try and reintroduce Christmas back to the castle. I'm just going to set aside how destructive the whole story is towards the timeline in the movie, lest I rant endlessly.

Moving along! The story actually starts with Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip as they try and remember who it was that saved Christmas. Both Lumiere and Cogsworth argue about it until they finally settle on having poor Mrs. Potts tell the story of what really happened. Upon viewing this I noticed how villainous Cogsworth looks as a human. I personally think it's the mustache.

As the story is retold, we are introduced to a host of brand new characters. Some new friendly characters include Bernadette Peters as Angelique, the castle decorator and a talking axe who frustrates both myself and Belle with his dialogue. We also encounter Fife, who doesn't realize at first that he's a good guy and works with the villainous Forte, the court composer and is played by Tim Curry.

All told, we get two passable characters and two clunkers. The story itself seems to drag on quite a lot and filled with many events that supposedly only take place over the course of a couple days. It probably takes a lot of skill to make a short movie drag on, yet Enchanted Christmas does it wonderfully. The visuals and songs are alright, obviously having nothing on the original film but there is at least signs that Disney put effort into this film unlike later "cheapquels"

The movie itself is probably best left to the hardcore fans, even then most hardcore Disney fans share a disdain of any sequel, or to the rather young. The one other sign that shows how much work Disney put into this was the fact that they hired back all of the original voice actors for their characters, save Maurice who I believe had no dialogue but is seen briefly. The one small thing that rather disturbed me was during the end as Beast destroys Forte (who was turned into a huge organ). This really made me stop to wonder what Forte looked like after the spell was broken. Did he stay as an organ, or did he turn back into a human just....dismembered? Also. What did they do with "the body" and why are they so unfazed by the fact this guy isn't alive anymore? You could watch the first film to try and find out, but due to the laws of "Big Lipped Alligator Moment" the characters can't talk about it.

Small One and Santa's Workshop

Part One of Disney's numerous Christmas movies and shorts, tonight I viewed two of the more rarely seen shorts.

Starting the night off is "Santa's Workshop" a Silly Symphony from 1932. This delightful short follows Santa Claus as he reads the Naughty and Nice list while his elves rush about to prepare for the long night ahead. The short has a rather quick pace and no real storyline like the Mickey Mouse shorts, we largely just get to see Santa's workshop. One of the more interesting bits is seeing how the toys are made, from dolls being scared so that their hair stands on end to be permed, to chess boards being painted on.

While the animation probably feels sub-par compared to what is being put out today, back in the 1930's this would have been rather well done. The backgrounds are wonderfully detailed, instead of small boxes we get piles of various toys. This short was eventually followed up with a sequel the following year, one of the few shorts to have that.


The Small One is one of those rare shorts that actually handles Christian themes from Disney, who often shied away from religion despite small inclusions scattered throughout their animated history. Small One is a rather moving tale of a young boy and the love he has for his pet donkey who is rather old and unable to pull his weight anymore on the farm. Not wanting to part with his faithful friend, he still sets out for the nearby town and insists that he will be the one to sell the donkey to ensure it finds a good home.

Through the long short, he encounters a variety of characters as he searches for the right person from the Tanner to a greedy merchant who runs the auction house. Eventually though, he finds just the right man to sell him to and even gives his loyal friend a new special purpose as the short closes.

Well animated, the Small One has a rather nice opening song during the credits as well as a more upbeat one later into the short. Despite the good animation, it doesn't quite have a Disney look to it but I have also had less exposure to it so far. Perhaps in time that one small thing will change, but until then this is still a wonderful short and is well worth hunting down to watch.