''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' is a 2004 American

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

animated

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

produced by Disneytoon Studios, Animated By Blur Studio and directed by

Matthew O'Callaghan Matthew O'Callaghan is an American film director, animator, writer, and storyboard artist whose credits include directing the 2006 film Curious George (film), ''Curious George'' and co-creating the television series ''Life with Louie''. Life an ...

. The film includes stories directed by Peggy Holmes, O'Callaghan, Theresa Cullen, and Carole Holliday. It is the sequel to '' Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas'' (1999). It features

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

, Minnie Mouse,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fe ...

, Max, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and

Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck (occasionally stylized as $crooge McDuck) is a cartoon character created in 1947 for The Walt Disney Company by Carl Barks. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-born American anthropomorphic duck. Like his nephew, Do ...

, in five different segments rather than three like its predecessor. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

The narrator recites the first ten words of ''

The Night Before Christmas "A Visit from St. Nicholas", routinely referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823. A ...

'' before saying, "Oh, wait. Different story, but we'll still see a mouse!" The narrator then announces new tales of giving and loving, and a book opens to show pop-up elves.

''Belles on Ice''

In the first story, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck compete in an ice-skating competition. The girls are joined by their respective boyfriends, Mickey and Donald, as they prepare to take the ice. Daisy becomes envious of the crowd's reaction to Minnie and attempts to steal the spotlight. Minnie performs several daredevil stunts to regain the spotlight while Daisy summons the ''Fantasia'' Hippos, who become her backup skaters while her counterpart summons the alligators from the 1940 film. When Minnie slips while landing from a stunt blindfolded, Daisy helps her up while feeling sorry for her selfish actions. Minnie feels the same way, so they both reconcile and perform a grand finale as a team.

''Christmas: Impossible''

The second story tells the story of Huey, Dewey, and Louie celebrating Christmas Eve with Donald and Daisy Duck at Uncle Scrooge's mansion in Duckburg. After they cause trouble at dinnertime, the boys know that they are on the naughty list, so they travel to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

to write their names on Santa's good list. At Santa's workshop, the trio make a mess while trying to find the key to the room containing Santa's good list, but they and the elves clean up to save Christmas. Before they leave, they have a chance to add their names to the good list; however, they add Scrooge's name instead. On Christmas, they find a single gift for Scrooge, but Santa leaves a note that explains that their actions caused them to be put on the good list and more presents are behind the tree.

''Christmas Maximus''

The third story's focus is on Max Goof and his father

celebrating the holidays. A young adult Max brings home his girlfriend Mona to meet his father, Goofy. However, Max is embarrassed by his dad, who labels his car a limo, decorates the house with many Christmas lights, shows baby pictures to Mona, and wipes cocoa off Max's face. While wandering outside, he notices that his scarf is made by Goofy and realizes that Goofy is always goofy, and that is why he loves him. Max then forgets about being embarrassed and joins in the fun when the popcorn-making machine goes haywire. Originally, Roxanne from A Goofy Movie was supposed to be in the segment, but because the animators had a hard time to bring her long wavy hair to CGI, they replaced her with a new character named Mona.

''Donald's Gift''

The fourth story focuses on Donald Duck and his Christmas wish of peace and quiet. As he returns home from grocery shopping, he is slowed down by daydreaming and a series of well-wishers who sing " We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Donald becomes increasingly annoyed by the joyous people, and at home, he is annoyed to hear the same Christmas carols on his radio. When Daisy and his nephews arrive, Donald becomes annoyed that they want to go out so soon after he returned home, but Daisy drags him out anyway. At the mall, Donald discovers various objects playing the same Christmas carol; he thinks he is in peace inside a secret room, where he finds animatronics singing. He destroys the entire show at Mousy's that Daisy, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and the crowd were trying to see. After he is thrown out of the mall, Donald walks home alone while feeling guilty for his lack of Christmas spirit. He apologizes to everyone for his selfishness and joins the townspeople convened around a Christmas tree happily singing.

''Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas''

The fifth and final story stars Mickey as he makes decorations for the Christmas party, which his dog,

keeps interrupting. When Pluto attempts to help by putting the star on the Christmas tree, he accidentally destroys all the decorations and an angry Mickey sends him to his doghouse as punishment. Feeling rejected, Pluto decides to run away from home and finds himself shipped on a train to the North Pole, where Santa's reindeer adopt him. Back home, Mickey tidies up the mess and redecorates the house with the new Christmas decorations and attempts to reconcile with Pluto, only to find him missing. Meanwhile, Pluto becomes homesick, so Santa and the reindeer help him go home. They complete the Christmas tree decorations, and everyone celebrates Pluto's return. Like in ''Once Upon a Christmas'', the film concludes with a medley of carols featuring the main characters from the five segments as the book closes.

Voice cast

Wayne Allwine Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009) was an American voice actor, sound effects editor and Foley (filmmaking), foley artist. He was best remembered as the third official voice of Mickey Mouse in English language, English (fo ...

* Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse, Huey, Dewey and Louie * Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck * Tress MacNeille as Daisy Duck and Female Elf * Bill Farmer as

and

* Alan Young as

* Jason Marsden as Max Goof * Jeff Bennett as Donner, Elves, Janitor Elf, and Jailbreak Bob * Jim Cummings as Blitzen * Kellie Martin as Mona * Chuck McCann as

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

* Edie McClurg as Santa's Workshop Announcer * Rob Paulsen as Elves, Security Guard and Crying Elf * Clive Revill as the Narrator * April Winchell as Spectacular Announcer * Corey Burton as Radio Host

Release

Home media

''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' was first released on DVD and VHS on November 9, 2004. Coinciding with its 10th anniversary, the film was released in a 2-Movie Collection

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and DVD with its predecessor ''Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas'' on November 4, 2014. The film was made available to stream on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. It was subsequently released on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Broadcast

''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' aired in the United States on

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

in December 2013, and in December 2015. It aired on Freeform in December 2022.

Reception

Critical response

Joe Leydon of '' Variety'' stated, "All segments are sufficiently brisk to sustain interest of restless small fry. ..Computer-generated imagery provides pleasingly colorful, seemingly 3-D eye-candy. Even so, novelty value of classic toon characters in CGI format likely will be lost on little ones raised on '' Shrek'' and ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...

''." Robert Pardi of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' gave the film a grade of three out of five stars, saying, "A candy-cane palate and a festive soundtrack bolster this omnibus, which allows Disney favorites a chance to strut some new stuff." Rebecka Schumann of ''

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online newspaper that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and ...

'' named ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' one of their "best Christmas movie picks for kids." Bryce Olin of '' FanSided'' included ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' in their "Best Christmas Movies on Netflix 2016" list. Michael Thomas of '' Collider'' included ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' in their "Best Holiday Movies and Shows on Disney+" list, stating, "The computer-animated special allows for the Disney crew to shine with each getting major focus across their individual stories. If you love Mickey and his friends, ''Mickey Twice Upon a Christmas'' is a wonderful time." Megan Stein of '' Country Living'' included ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' in their "35 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+ to Get You In the Holiday Spirit" list. ''People Magazine'' included ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' in their "Best Christmas Movies to Stream on Disney+ in 2022" list and called it a "series of heartwarming holiday stories." Korin Miller and Naydeline Mejia of '' Women's Health'' included ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' in their "40 Best Christmas Movies On Disney+" list, asserting, "This animated flick features five Christmas-themed shorts that are all kinds of adorable." Sydni Ellis of '' PopSugar'' ranked ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' first in their "17 Best Holiday Movies to Watch With Little Kids" list.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas 2000s children's animated films 2000s children's comedy films 2000s Christmas comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s fantasy comedy films 2004 American animated direct-to-video films 2004 children's films 2004 comedy films 2004 computer-animated films 2004 films 2000s children's fantasy films American anthology films American children's animated comedy films American children's animated fantasy films American Christmas comedy films American computer-animated films American sequel films Animated Christmas films Direct-to-video sequel films Disney direct-to-video animated films Donald Duck films Films directed by Matthew O'Callaghan Films directed by Peggy Holmes Films scored by Mark Watters Films scored by Stephen James Taylor Films with screenplays by Matthew O'Callaghan Films with screenplays by Peggy Holmes Goofy (Disney) films Mickey Mouse films Scrooge McDuck English-language fantasy comedy films English-language Christmas comedy films