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

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

List Price: $29.99
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Mickey's Mediocre Christmas
Review: If you're checking this DVD out in the first place, chances are you're either a parent with young kids or a big Disney fan. If the former is the case, the DVD could be hit or miss depending on what your kids want. If they really enjoy the format of "House of Mouse" - brief glimpses of most of the Disney entourage framing various cartoons - then go for it. But if your little one has a favorite character and the main draw of this flick is to see that character, you may be better off going with the movie. A lot of lines and shots are tossed to Belle, Beast, and the seven dwarves, probably to cross-promote the upcoming IMAX and current DVD/video releases of the two films respectively. But a lot of other characters only show up in brief overhead pans which might leave your kids unsatisfied. Other than that, the cartoons are fairly entertaining (though really young kids might be upset by parts of Mickey's Christmas Carol) and the two included sing along songs ought to keep 'em busy long enough for you to wrap a present or two.
As for the Disney fans, again it's a bit of a hit or miss proposition. You may appreciate having a nice DVD copy of both "Pluto's Christmas Tree" and "Mickey's Christmas Carol", the animation of which puts "House of Mouse" to shame. And you may get a kick out of seeing the majority of the Disney crew togather and subject to the usual in-jokes (though if you happen to love a character from Roger Rabbit or one of the Disney TV shows, you're out of luck). Plotwise, however, the frame story falls pretty flat. The major problem is that we never know exactly WHY Donald doesn't have "The Christmas Spirit". Maybe he really wanted to go home. Maybe he never gets what he wants for Christmas. Maybe Mickey et. al. make him play the Mouse King in the Nutcracker every single year and it drives him nuts. If there was some reason for Don's grumpiness, the story might have had some direction. Instead, we watch as the gang tries various methods to cheer up Don, most of which involve showing cartoons, until one which doesn't seem any better than the others eventually works. So basicly it depends on how much the short cartoons are worth to you. Because the House of Mouse story does not carry this DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LONG LIVE HOUSE OF MOUSE!!!
Review: In My Opinion,Disney's House Of Mouse Rules!!!It's 100% And Times Way Better Than Mickey Mouse Works!!!Disney Did A Great Job On This New Show!!!I Love This Show!!!Disney,Keep Up The Great Work And Your Ratings Can Sky-Rocket!!!It's #1!!!I Hope It Really Does Go Straight Up To The Top!!!And Also Becomes The Best And Longest Running Disney Tv Series Ever Yet!!!I Also Hope That Disney Contemplates On Making Another House OF Mouse Movie In Theaters And Even Longer Than This One,Like 120 Minutes At Lease Or So!!!Keep Up The Great Work Disney!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DONT BUY THIS VIDEO OR DVD!
Review: Not only was it very corny, but I expected to see alot of characters from my favorite Disney classics. Instead, Disney went and put a compilation of christmas shorts including the short story, "Mickeys' Christmas Carol", and rolled 'em all up into the "new" "MICKEYS MAGICAL CHRISTMAS". Its so OBVIOUS The Disney co. is going downhill with (aweful) movies like Atlantis, the Emperors New Groove, etc. Are they running out of ideas??? Look at the (aweful) "direct to video" sequals theyve made. Disney should just leave the great memory we have of their greatest classics, and leave 'em alone. When they make these "direct to video" sequals, they do nothing but leave a very bad taste in my mouth. The Little Mermaid 2 was a bomb. The worst! But anyways.....Please save your money from purchasing this video. I wish I did!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: THE GOOD WITH THE BAD...
Review: Okay so basically it's like this...the entire Disney cast of characters is, as the title says, snowed in at the House of Mouse. The characters then decide to break out some hot cocoa and cookies and sit back and enjoy old movies which turn out to be some of the old Disney holiday classics such as "Mickey's Christmas Carol" and "Pluto's Christmas Tree" where Mickey chops down a Christmas tree not knowing it's home to Chip & Dale.

After the tree has been trimmed, the chipmunks delightfully explore their newly decorated surroundings, much to the chagrin of Pluto, the only one who knows that the tree contains the pair. Chip 'n' Dale soon drive Pluto crazy as they explore their new Christmassy surroundings. When Mickey finds out, he chuckles naively and thinks that they're cute.

Toss in a new rendition of "The Nutcracker" and a newer Donald short called "Donald On Ice". The featurettes are all pretty good but the bits in between are a bit forced and really not very funny.

Also at a running time of just over 60 minutes it's not the greatest value either. Still, if you don't have Mickey's christmas CArol, you can get it here along with the other shorts so it's not too bad.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The details about this DVD, So you can judge for yourself!
Review: Some people have hated this DVD, most actually, and a handful have been able to see the good points in this obviously flawed feature. No doubt, there was some false advertising involved, but it's really only the point that it has been referred to as an ALL NEW FEATURE. I've tried to write this review so many times, but it's always too long to be posted, so I'm going to cut to the chase with this attempt, so here goes. First, you HAVE to see the House of Mouse TV show before watching this Christmas special in order to appreciate it. If you had ever seen it you would have known exactly what to expect. Disney even provides us with the premiere episode as an extra on this DVD, of course that still means you have to buy it first. But I do suggest you watch that premiere episode before the feature anyway. In fact, it's actually better than the feature, not counting the wonderful Mickey's Christmas Carol segment. There are 3 other extras on this DVD by the way, two sing a longs, and a really unnecessary and short look into cartoon sound effects. As for the feature, the other reviewers aren't giving you the entire details when they say there is hardly any new footage. The new footage is probably equal to the old, or almost anyway. There are two "new" cartoons, along with the new wraparound footage, which is where you get to see all the Disney characters hanging out and sometimes performing, in Mickey's nightclub. They are never in the main cartoons, but they usually, especially in the regular episodes of the show, do get a good amount of screen time. It's just that they want to show you so many characters that few of them really get that much to do. The joy is seeing all of them together, period. For some Disney fans that alone is a wonderful treat. The two new cartoons are a new Donald Duck short involving some snowplay, that may seem like an old cartoon since we have often seen Donald and the boys in the snow in the past, and a really great Disney version of the Nutcracker with Narrator John Cleese. The two old cartoons are the classic Pluto's Christmas Tree, and the classic Mickey's Christmas Carol. Personally, even though I have them both on previous videos, it's great to get them on DVD in my opinion, and any true Disney fan should agree with me! True, I'd like to see Mickey's Christmas Carol get it's own DVD release though, so I can get the wonderful credits too. Overall, this DVD is really not that bad. It's flaws are the fact that not enough people are familiar with the House of Mouse series to know just who stars in the toons and who is just window dressing, and that the wraparound plot about getting snowed in and Donald being a Humbug are forced at you within the first minute of the show, which sets you off on a bad pace because it's so badly done. Oh, and that little matter of advertising as being "ALL NEW." I, for one, expected this DVD to be great because I admit, I ALSO thought it would be all new, not to mention Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas, which came out on DVD two years ago, WAS all new and was great. Also, I had seen House of Mouse. After finally buying it though, I WAS disappointed in the quality of the opening, and that there was less new footage than expected, but I still am glad I bought it. It's well worth it for the old Classics AND the two new cartoons, including the bonus House of Mouse premiere. But for what it turned out to be, it IS overpriced. It should be more in the range of 14.99, while I couldn't find it cheaper than 19.99. Well, if you still think you want to get it, I DO recommend it. If you are unsure, stick with the fairly recent Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas. It's ALL NEW and it's very good. But this is still straight to video folks, please stop being upset that you're not getting BIG SCREEN animation quality! I mean, grow up, that's not going to happen! Although Lion King 2 was close.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Holiday Rip-OFF
Review: Sorry to say that next to no thought went into this. Of course perhaps the target audience is the big pants crowd from Ohio, and I suspect so. Children naturally get excited to see these wonderful characters that Disney has passed down, too bad this seems to be an attempt to take advantage of that fact. Again, best left for the dummies in the Mid-West who don't know the difference. Very, very poor.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Stuffing a whole bunch of unrelated characters into one video lacks direction or purpose. Adding a whole bunch of old cartoons doesn't justify the cost. I am an old time Disney fan but this DVD is a rip off.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: The cartoon does not involve as many characters as you might think it should. The appearences are very brief. It shows a lot of the old skits from previous holiday cartoons. I expected to have more of a new cartoon rather than remembering the old ones. If you are wanting a new holiday movie that you have not already seen, then this is not the one you are looking for.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This was cute but....................
Review: The first Mickey's Magical Christmas is better. For some reason this seemed to jumbled to really get into. It was cute to see all the characters, such as Belle and the Beast. But the storyline just didn't hold my attention. But hey, what do I know...I'm no kid!....as for my children, they enjoyed it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It could've been waaaaaaay better......
Review: The premise of Mickey's Magical Christmas has a lot of potential to be a fun holiday movie. But, simply put, they blew it.

Okay, here's more detail. A bunch of Disney characters old and new are trapped at the House of Mouse on Christmas Eve due to a snowstorm. What first comes into your head? I pictured a bunch of characters having to cope with the crowded conditions and a bunch of cute scenes coming from all the characters from the different movies interacting.

What do we get for real? A "movie" that is 70% old Disney cartoons, 20% trying to cheer Donald up, and 10% other stuff. Yes, Donald is the ONLY character who has any problem with being snowed in. Everyone else is perfectly content to be trapped, and the movie's entire "plot" is about cheering Donald up! And you're thinking "Wait a minute. Why doesn't Aladdin complain that he's stuck in the House of Mouse with Jafar?"

I was expecting something more like the cheerful chaos that emerged from all the Muppets being trapped in Mrs. Bear's house in the similarly-plotted, and far superior, TV special, "Muppet Family Christmas," which I just love. That special actually took advantage of the plot: worrying where everyone's going to sleep, a few complaints about now having a quiet Christmas, but all resolved with the joy of the season (without getting too sappy!). Mickey's Magical Christmas did none of that.

Now, back to Mickey. What did the movie characters actually do? Not much. There are two brief "interview" segments in which a few movie characters talk about what they want for Christmas and what they're thankful for. These are amusing, but they don't do enough of it. The large majority of the characters only make brief camios, or they just say one cheep line.

Blink and you'll miss the second-long camio of Mulan, who you have to squint to see. The entire Winnie the Pooh cast is here, but Eeyore is the only one who speaks. And get this. One of Jafar's two lines is "It's so good to see that everyone is having a Merry Christmas!" Huh? Since when does JAFAR care about other people having a Merry Christmas??? Am I the only one who thinks there's something a little whatever about vilains like Jafar and Hades singing joyfully with everyone else? And, this is a personal note but I have to say this, there was absolutly NO ONE from my absolute-all-time-most-favorite Disney movie, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame!" Not even brief camios!! WHY?? Why did Disney forget them??? There were no "Tarzan" characters either.

Now, about the cartoons that Mickey shows to cheer Donald up. As cartoons, they're great, but as part of a movie, they're time-killers. Okay, Donald on Ice and Pluto's Christmas tree I can accept: they're short and sweet. And I loved Mickey's Nutcracker with it's hectic narrator and hillarious script, but still, it was an old Mouse Works cartoon which took up more time. And why, why, WHY include Mickey's Christmas Carol, a long holiday classic that EVERYONE'S seen??? It took up a good 20 minutes that could for used for new stuff! Why not just release these cartoons on DVD as a seperate collection instead of taking up so much time on this "movie?"

Now if you're going to make a holiday movie, make a holiday movie. Don't use up half the time with old cartoons, and the rest of the time with cheap scriptwriting. This film could have been GREAT, but, simply put, they blew it.


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