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A few months ago, this blog covered a holiday special based on a series of cartoons starring the ever-iconic Mickey Mouse. Like that series in general, it embraced the endless comedic potential for animation with greatly staged gags and atmosphere. At the same time, it did a solid service to the legacy of Disney animation from references to the overall looks and writing of the characters. This is especially refreshing since the Disney company has gotten a lot of backlash for its corporate decisions in the last few years. Not that it’s unwarranted, but having Mickey bear the brunt of it makes it seem like people don’t get the true nature of the character. He may be seen as evil and greedy due to being the mascot, but that’s not what he was created for. He’s a friendly, good-natured character inspiring the best in everyone, and serving as the beginning of Disney’s many historic accomplishments. The great quality of these shorts is among the best ways to reflect this. With all this said, it’s time to look into the other holiday special of this series, all about the ever-beloved Christmas.
Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special
(December 9, 2016)
Speaking personally, two of my favorite things ever are Disney and Christmas. Both things simply have such a strong appeal that seems to inspire great memorable experiences that stick with audiences forever. For that, bringing both things together would make for a particularly exciting combination. With this special, the expectations are met for many interesting reasons. As a special starring iconic Disney characters, it has a lot working in its favor already. The Christmas direction, however, adds several layers of intrigue by highlighting a warm and caring celebration, and insights on different ways one can spend the holiday.
It starts with the holiday unfolding in the most traditional way possible; houses and streets with lots of lights and decorations, prospects of snow coming, and within Mickey’s home, treats baking, a big tree, and a warm gathering of friends. At the center of Christmas, especially in this particular celebration, is Mickey himself whose good nature allows himself to really get into the spirit. A big example of his extent is how he highlights the atmosphere with an opening song describing the joys of the season complete with a deeper yet soothing singing voice. The song itself is also a great way to start the special, for once it wraps up, the audience suddenly learns that some of Mickey’s closest friends won’t be joining him for Christmas.
Donald Duck, enthralled by Mickey’s Christmas celebration, is reminded that as ducks, he and his girlfriend Daisy have to leave town and migrate south for the winter. Basically, for this special, though these characters are anthropomorphized animals, they’re also tapping into the real world biology of their species. In following these rules, there’s a continuity set up claiming that Donald has never celebrated Christmas before. For many Disney fans, this could be off-putting since there’s been plenty of material before and after this special showing Donald celebrate Christmas, as well as being in the cold with no problems. However, it’s not too bothersome since these characters never really seemed to represent a single continuity or rules. Everything they’ve done over the years has placed them in all kinds of roles, and they all work as long as the audience can still recognize them. For that, anything can be done with them and it’s fairly easy to play along with whatever a show or film sets them up to follow.
This can also be said with what Mickey’s fascination with Christmas reveals about his background. In addition to him, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto going all out with the holiday’s amenities in the present, Mickey has many fond memories of Christmas in his past. This in turn leads to an elaborate recount of those past Christmases interpreted with Victorian-era backgrounds; Mickey narrating with an accent; and most insightful of all, looks at his extended family he would typically celebrate with. The family lives of most of these Disney characters is no doubt something people can’t help but wonder. While the members are merely named and shown briefly in the flashback, it’s a neat touch that this special provides somewhat of an answer to that. Still, because of the standalone nature of these characters in this particular incarnation, it’s debatable if this should be taken seriously. Despite that, it’s a commendable effort, and serves the story well to give the basis of Mickey’s love for Christmas, and make it so enticing for Donald. Still, there’s maturity to this matter as even Mickey and the others understand that Donald really needs to migrate at this time of year. There are emotional sendoffs, a thoughtful gift given to Donald to remember his friends by, and prospects of what he and Daisy will do once they get down south. It may seem like he’s simply going along with the main plan, but then it shows just how enticing Christmas really is, especially to those who never celebrated it before.
Though his need to migrate is exclusive to this special, it still really gets Donald’s personality. As he’s known to be precocious in getting what he wants, Donald is visibly tempted and enthralled by everything Christmas has to offer. As soon as he sees enough of it, he can’t stand it any longer and makes his decision to stay for the holiday without anything stopping him, including the calls of his girlfriend.
While Daisy ultimately heads south alone, complete with a lavish tropical beach and appearances of other known Disney ducks like Scrooge McDuck, Professor Ludwig von Drake, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie, she’s confident Donald will just come south on his own.
Well, with how excited Donald was about Christmas, it’s easy to guess that this is simply not the case. In fact, his excitement over celebrating Christmas for the first time is a big thing that makes what happens later work. He’s warmly welcomed by Mickey and the others to join their Christmas celebration, but they actually remind him of the winter weather and how it’s bad for him. However, they let Donald stay mainly because he wants to and he insists that he’s fine; no peer pressure involved and therefore no ignorance of heart. This in turn makes what ultimately unfolds very entertaining in a manner only felt at Christmas.
Visually showing the appeal that comes from bringing Disney and Christmas together, Mickey invites Donald along for a full itinerary of traditions leading up to Christmas morning. Highlighting everything is a montage covering all sorts of traditions set to another elaborate song number from Mickey. In addition to its spirit in music and production values is heart in the lyrics all about how excited he is to share Christmas with his friends. In context of the special, it means so much more for Donald who, as established here, has never experienced it before. In many respects, not only does this song showcase the great and inviting allure of Christmas and its traditions, but also Mickey’s true friendly nature. Being an honorable figure inviting others to join him in celebrating Christmas represents him far better than any corporate decision and is all around pleasing to watch. Not only that, but a song sequence is among the best ways of showing many Christmas traditions at once. From playing in the snow, to sleigh rides, to caroling, to presents, and more, it goes to show that there’s a lot of fond memories to make from celebrating Christmas. However, while this special shows how fun and exciting Christmas is, there’s also a hard plot-related truth to consider throughout the whole thing.
During the aforementioned montage, there are many instances of Donald feeling the harsh effects of the winter weather. It’s a fitting consequence to all the warnings beforehand that Donald, like all ducks, has to migrate at this time of year.
The same can be said for a scene down south of Ludwig von Drake explaining to Daisy and the others that Donald staying behind for Christmas will lead to major health complications. Donald’s freezing, sneezing, and feather/beak loss have already proved this during the montage, but his condition becomes more apparent as the special goes on.
Just as Mickey’s traditions are about to reach Christmas morning, Donald starts to not only look sick, but close to death. His loss of all feathers as well as baggy eyes and overall demented demeanor shows how bad it is for him to be out of his environment. It should be noted that deathlike conditions actually do not happen to ducks who don’t migrate in winter. The real reason they do it is to find more food and nesting grounds at this time. There are little to no changes to their health if they stay where they are in winter, so there’s no real basis for Donald’s condition. However, animation wouldn’t be as appealing if it replicated reality 100%, and it does help to present a fact of nature as urgent to explain why it happens. Also, Disney is usually called out for downplaying severity of real life facts, so it’s at least interesting that they would exaggerate severity in a way to benefit the story. Ultimately, how far the special goes with Donald’s sickly condition does benefit the story well in tying into the truth on how to celebrate Christmas.
Unsurprisingly, Donald’s condition is near impossible to ignore. Even Donald himself is aware of how bad he is, but chooses to think nothing of that for the sake of Christmas. However, those who do treat it like it is are Mickey and the others. Despite spending the entire special indulging in their traditions, they all keep an eye on Donald, making sure he’s all right and that the winter weather isn’t too hard on him. Of course, it gets to the point when Donald just appearing is enough to make it clear that it IS extremely hard on him. They all make the decision that their usual Christmas celebration must be put aside for getting their friend back to good health. At the same time, they’re doing exactly what Christmas stands for, stopping at nothing to serve those who are close.
With Donald in major denial over how serious his condition is, there is difficulty in pulling this off when he goes on a rampage, desperate to celebrate Christmas.
This demented display ultimately lands him in a setup similar to the Nativity, prompting Mickey to pray for a way to save his friend. Thankfully he gets that through the involvement of another Christmas tradition.
Right on cue, Santa Claus has arrived, and with his sleigh unattended, Mickey and the others use it to get Donald down south. Through a set of comedic antics common to the show to speed up the flight, they arrive at Daisy in the south at lightning speed.
There's a touch of dark comedy when it looks like the end for Donald with the sight of a roast duck, but it turns out to be another duck sunbathing, and Donald’s actually fine.
It’s a typical outcome for sure, but it’s effective after how convincing it was that he wouldn’t make it.
Then the conclusion comes with simple yet interesting truths to matters of Christmas. Though Donald is officially saved, he’s sad because he missed Christmas and apparently can’t have it now that he’s down south.
As Mickey is being rightfully reprimanded by Santa for stealing and crashing his sleigh, he explains the reasons behind his actions. He just wanted to give Donald his first Christmas and then keep him alive when nature became too hard for him.
Though this incarnation of Santa appears big and threatening, his jolly side pop culture tends to exploit shines through and he’s thankfully understanding. Out of this, he explains that it doesn’t matter where or how one celebrates Christmas, because sharing joy and getting into the spirit can happen anywhere.
With that, to finish off the special, Santa spreads some Christmas magic to fix up the wreckage, and everyone has a great Christmas in the south. Now, this message should be obvious since almost everyone on the planet should know that location has no bearing on whether Christmas can happen. In fact, very few people seem to experience the idealistic white Christmas when it actually is that time of year. However, this may be the point. That idealistic vision is just that, but it’s been ingrained in people’s minds so much that it doesn’t feel like Christmas without it. Having Christmas unfold in a warm tropical environment is like a big reality check that the media should be going for and be relatable to the audience. It’s a notable element that deserves more praise than some may think. To this day, there seems to be an agenda of how a Christmas celebration should look and feel, but this special has an interesting way of showing that’s really not the case. With everyone ending the special having a great Christmas on the beach with Donald declaring it exceeded his expectations, it certainly does its job well.
Great Christmas specials bring out the best in a group of people behind them or the established characters starring in them. This is what makes the special work with all the entertaining hallmarks of this incarnation of Mickey Mouse on display. It’s of course really funny and energetic, but it also has a lot more to it with insightful backgrounds, and stakes that don’t hold back but still have a humorous spirit. Above all, everything is tied together with a relatable and poignant Christmas message that doesn’t seem to be discussed enough. In an age where it’s hard for a lot of people to think of Mickey Mouse without bringing up Disney’s corporate greed, this is a welcome show of Christmas spirit to look into.
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