Toon Talk: Twice Upon a Christmas - Nov 9, 2004

Toon Talk: Twice Upon a Christmas
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(c) Disney

The filmmakers’ wisely place the best of the batch at the beginning and end of the feature; it’s a hoot to see the catty interplay between the two leading ladies in Belles (you always new there was a ‘Lucy-versus-Ethel’-type confrontation lurking under the surface between these two gals) and its hard to resist the sentiment expressed when a mouse and his dog are separated in Dog-Gone. And while his nephews’ adventures in Impossible are a bit drawn out, Donald’s meltdown in Gift (where he gets medieval on a garish Christmas window display at ‘Mousey’s’ Department Store) is easy to relate to by anyone who has suffered through too many Christmas carols. The weakest link here (albeit a short one) is Maximus … you’d think that Max would have gotten over being embarrassed by his dad by now. Of course, the enjoyment of the entire production is greatly increased by the always-reliable vocal performances of longtime Disney cast members Wayne Allwine (Mickey), Russi Taylor (Minnie), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Tony Anselmo (Donald) and Tress MacNeille (Daisy).

In the first Upon A Christmas outing, the warm-hearted endearments were brought about via the medium that the characters (and audience watching them) were accustomed too: traditional (‘2-D’) animation. But with the decision to produce Twice in computer (‘3-D’) animation, there are those moments when the method distracts, and the production is (granted, necessarily for a video release) not ambitious enough to overcome a common response to computer animation, an inherent coldness in the medium.

The end result is a pleasant holiday distraction and interesting experiment in using the classic characters in a new way, but my Christmas wish is that they don’t get too used to the idea.

Bonus Features:
  • Several story ideas were pitched for this project but didn’t make the final cut, such as a version of the “Twelve Days of Christmas�? using Disney characters as the different gifts, and they can be peeked at in a collection of so-called Deleted Scenes: All Things Deleted, basically a truncated ‘making of’ featurette again divided into segments to make it look like there is more then there actually is.
  • “Backstage Disney�? takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Inspiration on Ice, live action reference filming for Belles on Ice of Olympic skater Michelle Kwan, who proves that as a public speaker she’s a great ice skater.
  • The designers of the three “Games and Activities�? included (Santa’s Workshop Challenge, Guess What Donald Is Singing and Santa’s Sort) should all get lumps of coal in their stockings considering how unchallenging and time wasting they actually are.
  • Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas also features the Disney Fast Play feature.

Toon Talk Rating: B-