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I'll admit that I was apprehensive about watching "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas". Not that I don't like The Mouse, but more for the new "dazzling computer animation". I'm a traditionalist. But let me assure you - "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas" is great. Any worries I had about this movie soon vanished after placing it in my DVD player. I sat back and soon realized that the new "look" of Mickey and co. wasn't anything to worry about, because the spirit of the characters was there.
Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas consists of 5 different stories, tied together by some great segues and a neat little narration. The first story deals with an on-ice battle between Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck titled "Belles on Ice". Here the two are competing figure skaters who are trying to out-do each other, but end up realizing the error of their ways and teaming up for a grand finale. In the second story, "Christmas: Impossible", Huey, Dewey and Louie, after a year of misbehaving, travel to the North Pole to break into Santa's workshop and write their names on Santa's "good" list. And of course, they learn a lesson too about what "being good" really means. In "Christmas Maximus", Goofy's son Max is heading home for Christmas with his new girlfriend - and he's paranoid that his father, being the goof that he is, will embarrass him. Does he? Of course - but Max eventually realizes that Goofy only has the best intentions. Next we get Donald Duck, who isn't having the best holiday season. All he wants is to sit down, relax and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. But the season is busy, busy, busy and Donald is getting angry, angry, angry. But even Donald can't resist that festive feeling forever. And finally, we get the man (or mouse) himself, Mickey. In Mickey's story, he's throwing a party - but everything's ruined when Pluto knocks over all the decorations. Sent to the doghouse, Pluto decides to run away and soon finds himself at the North Pole. There, he befriends Santa's reindeer. When Mickey discovers his best friend is missing, he searched all over town. In a last ditch effort, Mickey visits Santa at the mall and asks for Pluto back. When Santa returns home, he discovers Pluto - and Pluto is missing Mickey too. So Santa does what Santa does best.
Like I said, some great stories here, each with their own message about love, friendship and all the things that make the holidays special.
That's not all though. In the special features category, we get some nice extras. Not nearly enough by Disney DVD standards, but what we got did nicely. "Deleted Scenes" aren't really deleted scenes but more abandoned concepts. The filmmakers introduce the clips and proceed to tell about all the number of different stories they had available - but that they could only choose 5. The talk about how some of the stories started, and where they ended up complete with sketches of some early drafts.
In "Backstage Disney", we get a neat little featurette titled "Inspiration on Ice" which focuses on the story "Belles on Ice" and features champion figure skater Michelle Kwan and tells how the animators used Kwan as a reference for the characters we got in the movie.
Finally, for Games and Activities, we get three different games. The best would be "Santa's Workshop Challenge" where you work your way through some questions that deal with right and wrong. Get everything right and you get to add yourself to "Santa's Great List". (You can then print a certificate saying you're on the list using your DVD-ROM.) A nice one for the kids. There's also "Guess What Donald's Singing" and "Santa's Sort", both of which were pretty weak.
More DVD-ROM features include a "Make and Print Your Own Christmas Card" feature where you can select and print different cards or even add a picture of yourself to a card.
I also have to mention the audio here. The movie is presented with either a Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 track. The DTS was incredible. At one point in the movie, there was a knock on one of the character's doors. Honest to goodness, I paused the movie, went upstairs and checked the door - and nobody was there. It wasn't until I restarted the movie that I realized it was the DVD. Then later in the movie, there was a phone ringing on screen. Again, I got up and started walking towards the phone before noticing it was the movie. Now that's a great audio track!
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas". Don't let the animation scare you. It's the characters that count - and they're all here and in top form. To top it off, we get some great holiday messages that teach the kids lessons about the reason for the season. Before watching this movie, I was nowhere near in the spirit of the Holidays - but this DVD went a long way to get me in the mood. I'd have no problem sitting down with the kids and watching this one again and again. Nicely done!
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