“ | 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house... Oh wait, different story, but we'll still see a mouse. |
” |
— The narrator at the beginning of the movie |
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas is a direct-to-video Christmas film released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on November 9, 2004. As the title suggests, it is a sequel to the 1999 direct-to-video film Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. The special marks one of the first appearances of Mickey Mouse and his friends in CGI animation.
Synopsis[]
"Belles on Ice"[]
The first segment tells the story of Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck competing in an ice skating competition. The girls are each joined by their respective boyfriends, Mickey and Donald, as they prepare to take the ice. Minnie takes the ice first for her routine, which involves a bell choir and the Fantasia Alligators as backup skaters. As Minnie and the Alligators perform their routine, Daisy becomes jealous at how much the crowd enjoys the performance. She decides to ruin Minnie's routine by stealing the spotlight for herself, performing amazing jumps and tricks on the ice.
Trying to regain the spotlight, Minnie performs a daredevil jump over the Alligators, turning all eyes on her. Not to be outdone, Daisy enlists her secret weapons: the Fantasia Hippos. The Hippos charge out of a huge golden gift box and become Daisy's backup skaters. They perform twists and jumps and help Daisy to once again gain the crowd's affection.
Annoyed by each other, Daisy and Minnie begin to argue and shove. This creates a huge pinwheel on the ice, with the Hippos hanging on to Daisy and the Alligators hanging on to Minnie. The spinning is so violent that the Hippos and Alligators are thrown in all directions, causing an Alligator to spill bells across the ice and one of the Hippos to crash onto the ice. Seizing her moment to shine, Daisy lines up her Hippos and performs a massive jump off of the lift and over the Hippos. Trying desperately to outdo Daisy, Minnie instructs her Alligators to hoist the Hippos up and launches herself off the lift and over the skaters. As she lands, her skate hits a stray bell on the ice, and she falls hard.
Realizing her friend is hurt, Daisy then helps her. Minnie does the same, and the two friends begin a grand finale. The huge golden present raises upward and out on the top pops Minnie and Daisy. The two hug and wish each other a merry Christmas.
"Christmas: Impossible"[]
The second story begins with Donald and his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, celebrating Christmas Eve at their Uncle Scrooge's mansion in Duckburg. Donald is decorating the mansion's huge Christmas tree when in come his nephews, who accidentally knock over his ladder and cause him to fall. The boys run into the kitchen to find Uncle Scrooge baking Christmas cookies. When they ask for cookies, Scrooge tells them they may have some only after dinner. At the dinner table, Donald, Daisy, Scrooge, and the boys are ready for dessert, but when Scrooge uncovers the dessert tray, he finds that the boys have eaten all the cookies already. Donald angrily sends his nephews to bed early. In the boys' bedroom, Scrooge warns the triplets not to make the same mistakes they made in their own lives, so that Santa Claus doesn't put them on his Naughty List, just like Uncle Scrooge. Realizing that they are likely all on the Naughty List for sure, the nephews decide to mail themselves to the North Pole in order to write their names on Santa's Good List.
Upon arriving at Santa's factory, Huey, Dewey and Louie find a map to his list room, but when they arrive there, the door is locked. They go to Santa's office to steal the key, but find that Santa is inside napping, so they enter through an overhead grate. Louie is dropped down with a fishing rod in order to get the key, which lies on Santa's desk. After getting the key, the boys race back through the toy room, where they steal skateboards and skate through the room. This causes them to make a mess on the toys, especially knocking down a stack of Jailbreak Bobs and scattering the toys' keys all over the floor. The boys and the other elves help to sort out the keys, but one elf finds a key that does not fit. Not knowing it is the key the boys want, the elf throws it, causing it to land in a box, which is then wrapped and placed into Santa's toy sack among many other gifts. The triplets begin to unwrap each gift in search of the key, ruining the elves' hard work. The boys find the key and run for the List Room, but accidentally bump right into Santa. Santa sees the key and thinks the boys were returning it to him, so he puts it in his pocket.
Meanwhile, the toy room is in disarray and the elves begin to think that Christmas is ruined, so the boys help to clean up the mess in record time in order to save Christmas. Afterward, the boys start to walk out of the factory feeling sorry that they were unable to get on Santa's Good List. But as they walk, they see an elf janitor open Santa's List Room. The boys rush in, tell the janitor about a mess somewhere else, and find the list for Duckburg. Upon finding their names nowhere on the list, Dewey successfully writes down their names and they return home.
The boys mail themselves back to Duckburg just in time for Christmas Day. Donald, Daisy, Scrooge, and the nephews all gather around the tree to find a single present, the nephews revealing it's for Uncle Scrooge; it was revealed the boys thought twice and Dewey wrote Scrooge's name on the list in place of theirs. The boys open it to reveal bagpipes, the present Scrooge has wanted ever since he was small. Donald then finds more presents behind the tree, and everyone opens their gifts. Amazed that they received gifts from Santa, the boys find a letter addressed to them. It is from Santa, and in it he tells the boys that their good deed of putting Scrooge on the Good List allowed them to be put on the Good List as well. The story ends with the letter's postscript stating "You might need these," which turn out to be earplugs the boys use to block out Scrooge's terrible bagpipe music.
"Christmas Maximus"[]
In the third story, Max Goof, now all grown up, is bringing home his new girlfriend Mona to meet his father, Goofy. At the train station, Max calls Goofy to remind him of Mona and also to ask his dad not to embarrass him during the visit. Mona and Max leave the train station on the train and arrive in Spoonerville to find Goofy dressed as a chauffeur, standing in front of his car and holding a sign that says "Maxie" with the "ie" crossed out.
Goofy drives Max and Mona to his home, where many Christmas lights and decorations are all over the house and lawn. After that, Goofy seems to accidentally keep embarrassing Max by showing Mona Max's baby pictures and wiping cocoa off Max's face. Max at first is embarrassed by his dad, but then realizes that Goofy is always goofy, and that's why he loves him. Max forgets about being embarrassed and decides to join in the fun.
"Donald's Gift"[]
The fourth story begins with Donald returning home from Christmas shopping. As he exits a store, he sees an ad for cocoa and imagines himself at home in his warm armchair, only to realize that he just missed the bus. He runs to catch it, but is slowed down by a tree decorator, a Christmas donation collector, a caroling barbershop quartet, and an old woman. As he tries (and fails) to catch up with the bus, he hears all the townspeople singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and becomes very annoyed.
Once at home, Donald prepares himself a cup of cocoa and rests in his armchair, until being disturbed by the arrival of Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Daisy also arrives and asks Donald if he is ready to go to the mall to see the Christmas decorations and the windows at Mousy's Department Store. Although Donald initially refuses to go, Daisy makes him come with her and the boys.
At the mall, Donald, Daisy, and the boys gather in front of Mousy's with other people to watch the window unveiling. Donald then wanders off to buy some hot chocolate. After he gets his cocoa, every little noise he hears in the mall seems to play the tune to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". It seems as though Donald can't escape the tune until he finally finds a door into another room. He enters a dark room and thinks he is finally safe when he discovers that he has stumbled on to the Mousy's window display. The dolls begin singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and Donald finally can't take it anymore. He wrecks the display on purpose just as it's being unveiled to the shoppers, much to their horror. Daisy and the boys feel disappointed at Donald and leave the mall sadly without him.
After the security guard throws him out of the mall because of Donald's damaging behavior, Donald begins walking home in the snow, thinking about how he let Daisy and the boys down and feeling guilty of his lack of Christmas spirit. He sees a group of carolers trying to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", but unable to sing together. Annoyed at their terrible singing, Donald takes charge and conducts the group. The lovely singing causes a small crowd to form, with people joining in and singing with the carolers. Soon the crowd draws in Daisy and the boys, who see Donald finally showing his Christmas spirit. As Donald apologizes to everyone for ruining the display, he joins the others convened around a Christmas tree singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in harmony, making sure to sing from his heart.
"Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas"[]
In the final story, Mickey makes decorations for his Christmas party, until Pluto keeps interrupting. When Pluto tries to put the star on top of the Christmas tree, he inadvertently destroys all of the decorations and knocks down the tree, causing Mickey to angrily send Pluto to his doghouse. Feeling as if he's rejected by Mickey, Pluto decides to run away from home, leaving his collar behind and hopping onboard a train. Pluto finds himself shipped to the North Pole, where the reindeer adopt him and call him "Murray" (as in "Murray Christmas").
When Mickey returns home, he cleans up the mess and puts the decorations back. He regrets yelling at Pluto, and when he goes to Pluto's doghouse to apologize and reconcile him, he finds Pluto missing. Mickey goes all around Mouseton, posting "Lost Dog" posters hoping someone can help him. He even turns to a Santa at a department store for help, unaware that he is talking to the real Santa.
Meanwhile, Pluto is feeling homesick, and when Santa comes by with a picture of him and a glum-looking Mickey together, Pluto decides to return home. Santa and the reindeer drop him off back to Mickey's where the rest of the cast gathers together for their Christmas party.
Songs[]
Releases[]
Notes[]
- A comic book adaptation was published by Gemstone Publishing alongside the video's release. Unlike the film itself, the comic contains a framing device featuring the characters telling the stories themselves. (Incidentally, the movie's original framing device focused on Mickey decorating for Christmas and finding mementos that reminded him of each story.)
- In Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Max, Huey, Dewey and Louie were all roughly the same age, being preteens. But in this film, Donald's nephews are still preteens, while Max is now of college age.
Edits[]
- On television airings, the phone number on Mickey's "Lost Dog" poster is blurred out.
Cast[]
Voice actor/actress | Character(s) |
---|---|
Wayne Allwine | Mickey Mouse |
Russi Taylor | Minnie Mouse Huey, Dewey and Louie |
Tony Anselmo | Donald Duck |
Tress MacNeille | Daisy Duck Female elf |
Bill Farmer | Goofy Pluto |
Jason Marsden | Max Goof |
Alan Young | Scrooge McDuck |
Kellie Martin | Mona |
Edie McClurg | Santa's workshop announcer |
Rob Paulsen | Elves Crying elf |
Chuck McCann | Santa Claus |
Jeff Bennett | Donner |
Jim Cummings | Blitzen |
Clive Revill | Narrator |
Fred Stoller | Security guard |
Gregg Berger Cork Hubbert Kellie Martin Rob Paulsen Peter Siragusa Gene Weygandt April Winchell |
Additional voices |
External links[]
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at Disney.com
- Disney Wiki: Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at the Internet Movie Database
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at TV Tropes
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at Behind the Voice Actors