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 the traditional characters of Mickey Mouse and his friends as CGI renderings.
Synopsis
Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck in "Belles on Ice"
This first segment tells the story of Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck who are competing in an ice skating competition. The girls each are joined by their boyfriends, Mickey and Donald, as they prepare to take the ice.
Minnie is announced to take 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 begins to become 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.
Fed up, 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 stray Hippo to create a large lift in 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 may be hurt, Daisy skates over to Minnie and apologizes to 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 Minne and Daisy. The two hug and wish each other a "Merry Christmas".
Huey, Dewey, and Louie in "Christmas: Impossible"
The second segment tells the story of Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck celebrating Christmas Eve at their Uncle Scrooge's mansion in Duckburg. Donald Duck and Daisy Duck also join in the festivities.
The story begins with Donald decorating the mansion's huge Christmas tree. In come Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who without noticing bump Donald's 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 can have some after their 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 all the cookies have been eaten by the boys. Donald angrily sends the boys to bed.
In the boys' bedroom, Scrooge warns the boys not to make mistakes in life because Santa Claus will put them on his Naughty List, just like Uncle Scrooge. After realizing that they are on the Naughty List for sure, the boys decide to travel to the North Pole in order to write their names on Santa's Good List. They mail themselves to the North Pole and end up in Santa's Toy Factory.
In the factory, the boys find a map to Santa's List Room, but when they arrive there, the door is locked. They then go to Santa's office in order to steal the key, but find that Santa is inside napping. To steal the key without waking Santa, the boys 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. There they steal skateboards and skate through the room, causing toys to go here and there. Finally there plow into a stack of Jailbreak Bobs and tumble off their boards. The accident causes keys for Jailbreak Bob's jail cell to scatter 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.
The package is wrapped and placed into Santa's toy sack among many other gifts. The boys begin to unwrap each gift in search of the key, causing all the elves' hard work to be ruined. 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. Feeling bad, the boys help to clean up the mess in record time so that Christmas can be saved.
After saving Christmas, 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. Just as they begin to write their names on the list, the boys think twice and instead write down Uncle Scrooge's name.
The boys mail themselves back to Duckburg just in time for Christmas Day. Donald, Daisy, Scrooge, and the boys all gather around the tree to find a present just for Uncle Scrooge. The boys open it to reveal bagpipes, the present Uncle 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.
Goofy and Max in "Christmas Maximus"
The third story features Max Goof and Goofy celebrating the holidays. Max, now all grown up, is bringing home his new girlfriend Mona to meet Goofy. However, Max is unsure whether or not he wants Mona to meet his dad. Most of the story takes place within the song "Make Me Look Good".
The story begins with Max and Mona at the train station about to leave from college for Goofy's. 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 station on the train and arrive in Max's hometown to find Goofy. Goofy is dressed in a chauffeur's getup standing in front of his car and holding a sign that says "Maxie" with the "ie" crossed out in red.
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, well goofy, and that's why he loves him. Max forgets about being embarrassed and decides to join in the fun.
Donald Duck in "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. He soon realizes though that as he was daydreaming, the bus left without him. He tries to run 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 to get to the bus, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is sung by the townspeople he sees. Donald then must walk home. Along the way, he still hears people singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and he becomes very annoyed.
Once at home, Donald prepares himself a cup of cocoa and rests in his armchair, but is 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. Donald initially refuses to go, but Daisy in the end forces him to 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 not 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. Thousands of dolls begin singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and Donald finally has had enough.
Back in front of Mousy's, a woman announces that the unveiling will commence. A curtain rises to reveal Donald inadvertently destroying the window display to the horror of the crowd. Daisy and the boys feel disappointed at Donald and leave the mall sadly without him. Donald is thrown out of the mall and begins to walk home in the snow thinking about how he let Daisy and the boys down. As he walks, 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 some Christmas spirit. Donald apologizes and joins in on the singing, making sure to sing from his heart.
Pluto and Mickey in "Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas"
The fifth and final segment of the movie begins when Mickey makes decorations for the Christmas party, until Pluto keeps interrupting. When Pluto puts the star on top of the Christmas tree, he accidentally ruins the decorations, which causes Mickey to send Pluto to the dog house. At the doghouse, Pluto decides to run away from home by removing his collar 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 arrives back home, he cleans up the mess and puts the decorations back. He begins feeling guilty for how he yelled at Pluto, and when he goes to Pluto's doghouse to apologize, he finds Pluto missing. Mickey goes around town posting "Lost Dog" posters in hope that someone can help him. He even turns to Santa for help at a department store. 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 gang gathers for their annual Christmas party.
Releases
November 9, 2004
November 9, 2004
November 4, 2014
Notes
The cover to the comic book adaptation.
- A comic book adaptation of this film was published by Gemstone Publishing (who held the comic book rights to the standard Disney characters at the time). Unlike the film itself, the comic adaptation contains a framing device featuring the characters telling the stories themselves.
- While aging for cartoon characters is always uneven, it's worth noting that, in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Max, Huey, Dewey and Louie were roughly the same age, being pre-teens. Here, Donald's nephews are still pre-teens, but Max is now of college age.
Cast
Mickey and the gang gather together to sing the closing song.
External links
- 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