With the Thanksgiving hurdle just recently passed, commercial markets everywhere are jumping headfirst into the holidays and just in time to kick off the holiday frenzy is the new release for “Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.” The holiday tale brings dozens of classic Disney characters, new and old, together for a holiday tale.
I was rather excited to hear about a Christmas movie with a bunch of Disney characters. I popped in the DVD, though, and almost gagged seeing a trailer for “Cinderella 2.” It’s no secret that that film is, by far, one of my (if not the most) least favorite Disney sequels and I shuttered to think that it was being reissued again.
But as the trailers continued I saw a trailer for “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”, “Return to Never Land”, and “Recess Christmas” and realized that these were really really old trailers. With such a sordid collection of bad titles (especially in comparison to the slate of late which is getting progressively better with great titles like the new Tinker Bell films) I realized that this new release isn’t very new at all.
Like the “
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie” release a few weeks ago, this DVD is a repurposing of an existing release. Down to the trailers, this release is a completely untouched version of this title from a few years ago. Unlike Pooh, though, we don’t get a fancy new plush. The only new things to note here are the Disney Rewards code and the really pretty shiny and embossed cardboard slipcover.
That disappointment aside though, I can say that despite its relatively low production values I actually really enjoyed the “House of Mouse” show when it was on the air in the early part of the 2000s.
What’s not to love about the premise? Mickey runs a nightclub showcasing Disney cartoon shorts and the patrons that we occasionally see are characters that run the wide catalog of Disney favorites. From obvious choices from true Disney classics (like Snow White and Jafar) to obscure characters from old Silly Symphonies (like the cookie people from the “
Cookie Carnival” short) there’s a great assortment of life at the House of Mouse.
This movie is pretty much an extended episode of the “House of Mouse” television series; comprised of a few classic Disney shorts plus a few of the newer ones produced around the time of the show. The running theme is that a snow storm has trapped everybody into the "House of Mouse" and Donald is in a humbuggy mood so the whole gang tries to cheer him up with some classic holiday stories.
The Bonus Features on this release do not offer a whole lot in the way of making this a must-own. The first feature that we get is the pilot episode of the “House of Mouse” which sets up the premise of the show that Pete threatens to take ownership of the nightclub so long as there are not shows going on in the venue.
Two other features that we get are simply more clips. We get two sing-along songs borrowed from the Disney Sing-Along videos. The first song, “Deck the Halls” is set to the classic cartoon short “Pluto’s Christmas Tree” while the second song, "Sleigh Ride” is comprised of clips from “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.”
The final piece is a bitter sweet feature starring Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, who just recently passed away a few months ago. In this short but sweet feature he invites a bunch of kids into the world of folley, showing how various sound effects in cartoons and movies are created using really simple old household items.
I don't hate this DVD but had the trailers not been so inexcusably out of date I would not have had such a strongly negative reaction to this release. While there is certainly nothing wrong with the DVD—the movie itself is for the most part entertaining and the set overall is a nice one to own—the fact that the simple extra step of updating the trailers wasn’t taken makes it hard to not feel that Uncle Scrooge was behind this half-hearted release. The fancy new packaging does it’s part though to entice you into picking it up.
While this reissue is little more than a repackaged copy of a previously released film there’s no doubt that the contents of this disc are a great babysitting tool to put on during a holiday party to keep the young ones entertained. Classic Disney cartoon shorts should always be welcomed and even the newer shorts for the most part entertaining so this release is definitely a good idea if you don’t already own the film.
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