Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol with Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit and Scrooge McDuck as his namesake and inspiration, Ebeneezer Scrooge. Many other Disney characters, primarily from the Mickey Mouse universe, Robin Hood, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, were cast throughout the film. Mickey's Christmas Carol was largely an animated adaptation of a Disneyland Records 1974 audio musical entitled An Adaptation of Dicken's Christmas Carol. The musical featured similar dialogue and cast of characters[2] with the exception of the first and last Christmas ghosts. This was the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical cartoon produced in over 30 years. With the exception of rereleases, Mickey had not appeared in movie theaters since the short film The Simple Things released in 1953. Many additional characters seen in the film had also not appeared in a theatrical cartoon for several decades. The film was also the last time in which Clarence Nash voiced Donald Duck. Nash was the only original voice actor in the film as Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse) and Pinto Colvig (Goofy) had died in the 1960s, Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket) and Billy Gilbert (Willie the Giant) in 1971, and Billy Bletcher (Pete) in 1979. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1984, but lost to Sundae in New York. It was the first nomination for a Mickey Mouse short since Mickey and the Seal (1948).
On Christmas Eve 1843, while all of Victorian England is in the merry spirit of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck) thinks only of the money he has made and of making more (apparently, he charges people 80% interest, compounded daily). While Scrooge's selfish thoughts cascade in his head, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse), exhausted and underpaid (a meager two shillings and a ha′penny per day), continues to work long and hard for him. Cratchit reluctantly asks for a "half day off" for Christmas, to which Scrooge replies it will be unpaid (in contrast to the original version where Scrooge is irritated at giving Cratchit Christmas off with pay). When collectors Rat and Mole, along with beggars on the streets, kindly ask for a simple donation, Scrooge responds to Rat and Mole that if he does, the poor will no longer be poor and thus they (the collectors) will be out of work, "and you [can't] ask me to do that, not on Christmas Eve." Scrooge's cheery nephew Fred (Donald Duck) invites his crotchety uncle to a holiday feast fit for a Roman emperor -- roast goose with chestnut dressing, candied fruits, and cinnamon cake with lemon glaze. Scrooge turns him down flat, stating that such rich festive cuisine gives him digestive and other health difficulties. ("Are you daft, man? You know I can't eat that stuff! Here's YOUR wreath back!" [and kicks Fred out of his house]) That Christmas Eve night, the ghost of Jacob Marley (Goofy), Scrooge's greedy former business partner, appears and scares Scrooge out of his wits when Scrooge thinks Marley has come back to haunt him. Scrooge commends him for his ruthlessness. Marley chuckles "Yup", then recalls his sinfulness, and tells that because of his cruelty in life, he is doomed to wear heavy chains for eternity, or "maybe even longer". He warns that a similar fate, if not worse, will befall Scrooge unless he changes his ways. Marley then leaves, falling down the stairs when he tries to avoid tripping over Scrooge's cane again and letting out his signature Goofy holler. Scrooge soon dismisses the incident, but is later awoken by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket). He shows Scrooge his past, when his growing love of money led him to cruelly break the heart of his fiancee Isabelle (Daisy Duck) by foreclosing on the honeymoon cottage's mortgage. This is in sharp contrast to the original novel where Isabelle is the one who parts ways with Scrooge in a relatively amicable manner. Not long after the first visit, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant) arrives, surrounded by turkey, mince pies, and suckling pigs. He shows Scrooge the poverty-stricken Cratchit family, who still keep a festive attitude in their home despite their hardships. Bob's young son, Tiny Tim, is revealed to be ill, and Willie foretells tragedy if the family's hapless life does not change. However, just when Scrooge is desperate to know Tim's fate, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the house both vanish. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (a hooded figure later revealed to be Black Pete) takes Scrooge to the future in a graveyard. When he sees Bob crying for Tiny Tim, who has passed away (indicated by Bob placing Tim's crutch on his memorial marker), Scrooge fearfully asks whether this future can be altered. He then overhears the laughter of two gravediggers (Weasels from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad). They are amused that no one attended the funeral of the man whose grave they were digging. After the weasels leave to take a break from their work, Scrooge and the ghost approach the lonely grave, where the ghost lights a match, revealing Scrooge's name on the tombstone. The ghost gives him a shove into his grave calling him "the richest man in the cemetery." Scrooge falls towards his coffin as the lid opens and fire bursts out (presumably the fires of hell). Scrooge clings to a vine but it snaps and Scrooge falls into his grave, shouting his repentance, as the ghost laughs cruelly. Suddenly, he is back home on Christmas morning. Having been given another chance, he throws his coat over his nightshirt, dons his cane and top hat, and goes to visit the Cratchits, cheerfully donating generous amounts of money along the way (including 100 gold sovereigns to Rat and Mole; the charity collectors from earlier) and telling Fred that he will come after all. He tries to play a ninny on Bob, dragging in a large sack supposedly filled with laundry and announcing gruffly that there will be extra work in the future. But to the Cratchits' joy, the sack is instead filled with toys and a big turkey for dinner. Scrooge gives Bob a raise and makes him his partner in the counting house, and Tiny Tim proclaims the original character's famous line of "God bless us, everyone!"
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