Mickey Mouse has been a well-known character for many years and has been in many cartoons over the years.  In December of 1999, Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas was released straight to video.  The movie featured three Christmas related stories.  In 2004, a sequel, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, was released.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas is similar to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas since it featured different Disney characters in short, Christmas related stories.  Each story was separate from the others and a short sequence featuring a storybook was shown between the stories.  There was some narration provided by Clive Revill that introduced the stories and also helped to point out the messages.  

In Bells on Ice, Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse were competing in an ice skating contest.  Daisy was very upset when Minnie was getting attention for her routine and she decided to try to out do her friend.  Minnie didn't care for that, so she decided to retaliate and things quickly got out of hand.

In Christmas! Impossible, Huey, Dewey, and Louie were anxious for Christmas and not on their best behavior.  They got worried when Uncle Scrooge warned them about being on Santa's bad list, so the boys decided to go to the North Pole to add their names to the good list.

In Christmas Maximus, Max was bringing his girlfriend Mona home to meet Goofy for Christmas.  Max was worried that Goofy was going to do something to embarrass him.

In Donald's Gift, Donald was feeling a bit stressed over things connected to the holiday.  He just wanted to relax at home with his hot chocolate, so he wasn't happy when Daisy made him go to the mall with her and Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  Donald had one of his fits, which threatened to ruin the holiday for everyone.

Pluto was anxious to help Mickey decorate in Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas.  Pluto didn't wait and ended up making a huge mess.  Mickey was very upset and yelled at Pluto who then decided to run away.  Pluto ended up in the North Pole with Santa and his reindeer.

The stories in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas were entertaining and worked well together overall even though they weren't technically connected to each other.  Each story did have a moral about what was really important that was delivered in a way that made the moral clear without being overly preachy. The stories did have some more serious moments while also adding in some humor and lighter moments.  I didn't think that the stories had any surprises and they were predictable for the most part, but they were still entertaining.

The stories in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas were all different lengths, though none of them was that long since the entire thing was only sixty-eight minutes long.  I think Christmas Maximus was the shortest.  Most of it was shown with a song playing that was supposed to be sung by Max about how he was worried about his dad embarrassing him.  There were some short sequences showing how the holiday was going.  There was only a little bit of dialogue at the beginning of the story and there really wasn't much in the way of a plot either but it was still entertaining.  Bells on Ice seemed to be the least connected to Christmas since it was focused on the skating competition that Daisy and Minnie were in.  Some Christmas music played during the segment, but that was about it for Christmas related things in the story.  Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas was the longest of the stories.  It was also a little sadder at times.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas was created with CGI instead of traditional animation.  This was the first time that most of the classic characters had been created with this method of animation.  The characters did look right, but there was something that seemed a little off about them.  The way they were moving seemed a bit odd in some way that I can't quite place too.  The animation was done well, though I have seen better computer animation.  That is especially true for the backgrounds because they seemed static and plain without any depth.  

Several of the classic characters turned up in the stories that were part of Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas.  Mickey was a main character in the last story and turned up briefly in the first story along with Minnie, Daisy, and Donald.  Minnie and Daisy were shown more during that story.  Donald and Daisy also played a part in two other stories as well.  Donald was a bit grumpy at times, which is usual for him.  Huey, Dewey, and Louie and Uncle Scrooge were also around in two of the stories.  Goofy and Max were just in the one story along with Max's girlfriend Mona.  I think the same people who provided voices for the first movie returned for this one.  All of the characters sounded right, though Max did sound different since he was older.  

Voice Cast

Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse
Tony Anselmo - Donald Duck
Bill Farmer - Goofy
Shaun Fleming - Young Max
Tress MacNeille - Daisy
Jason Marsden - Max
Clive Revill - Narrator
Russi Taylor - Minnie Mouse/Huey/Dewey/Louie
Alan Young - Uncle Scrooge

Directed by Matthew O'Callaghan and Theresa Cullen

DVD Information

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas was released on DVD in 2004.  The disc has the widescreen version of the movie.  There were a few deleted scenes, along with some explanations about how the stories changed.  Inspiration on Ice showed how Michelle Kwan helped inspire the animators for Bells on Ice.  There were also a few games and some previews.

I enjoyed Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas.  It is a good family friendly Christmas movie.  People who like the classic Disney characters or who liked the first movie should give this one a chance.

This review is part of Carstairs's 80 Years of Mickey Mouse Write Off.

Christmas Movie Reviews
Alvin and the Chipmunks ~ Bad Santa ~ Best Christmas Movies ~ A Christmas Story ~ Christmas With the Kranks ~ Deck the Halls ~ Die Hard ~ Die Hard 2: Die Harder ~ Elf ~ The Family Stone ~ Fred Claus ~ Home Alone ~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) ~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) ~ The Ice Harvest ~ It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie ~ Jingle All the Way ~ Just Friends ~ Lethal Weapon ~ Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas ~ Mixed Nuts ~ The Muppet Christmas Carol ~ Muppet Family Christmas ~ National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas ~ The Polar Express ~ The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause ~ Scrooged ~ Trading Places ~ Unaccompanied Minors ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD