One of the go-to plots of a great number of animated (and a few live action) Christmas specials, movies, and TV show episodes is the Substitute Santa plot. Generally, Santa gets incapacitated in some way, and it's up to the protagonist to take over and make sure all the toys get delivered on time. Over the years, I've seen this storyline play out with Fred Flintstone and the animals of Madagascar, among others. It's been around for so long that Saturday Night Live parodied it in the mid-80s with the classic "How Hannukah Harry Saved Christmas" sketch.
While Disney has released plenty of Christmas content, and plenty of Christmas content involving its main mouse Mickey, over the years, Mickey Saves Christmas stands out as the first half-hour original stand-alone Christmas special featuring the company's primary characters. That's why I was hoping that the studio would come up with something special for the occasion. Unfortunately, as the title suggests, it simply recycles the Substitute Santa plot, with nothing in the way of clever twists.
It's Christmas Eve, and Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto are spending the holidays at a festively decorated cabin in the woods. Indeed, Mickey has spent so much time decorating the place that he's been neglecting Pluto. When a mishap involving Pluto's squeaky bone leads to a chain reaction causing Santa to lose his bag of toys for a nearby town to the bottom of a frozen lake, it's up to the gang to go to the North Pole and make a whole new batch of toys, while Santa and Mrs. Claus search for a missing reindeer (which has taken up residence in Mickey's now-empty cabin).
Visually, the special looks great. The special is in stop-motion, done by the production house that makes Robot Chicken, among others. This gives it a look that harkens back to the classic Rankin-Bass specials. However, it also looks more distinctive and smooth than those specials ever did. Hopefully, Disney will reuse this technique for future projects.
Hopefully, they'll come up with a better script. There isn't one moment in the special that's clever or surprising. Despite all having a rich history of being relatively three-dimensional characters, nobody in the story shows anything more than a couple of emotions. They're either wide-eyed in wonder or saddened. No Donald temper tantrums or Goofy klutziness in this one, not when the two of them can be stuck with Minnie and Daisy oohing and awwing every single development. Mickey at least has one mildly interesting thing going on early on, when he's too busy decorating to play with Pluto. But even that gets sanded away fairly fast. The only one who shows much in the way of improvement is Pluto, who at least gets to feel guilty throughout the special about setting off the chain reaction. But that's about it.
To be honest, I'm probably being a little harsh on Mickey Saves Christmas. If this featured generic characters, I'd probably be a bit more generous toward it. But Disney clearly invested a lot of time and money into this production, and it's a shame they chose to proceed with the script they have. For their next special involving these classic characters, I hope they go with something that might entertain people who have seen a special before.
Next time: We (finally) wrap up with a collaboration with one of America's most beloved actresses joining with America's most famous church choir.
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