I wasn't sure if it was going to be one long movie, or a compilation of the old Christmas cartoons they've done over the years, but it was neither of those. It was broken down into three short stories. Kelsey Grahmer (read as: Fraiser) narrates this baby in a beautifully poetic way. Likewise, the animation style is also very lovely, and even a little reminiscent of the animation techniques of old. (This is something I find myself yearning more and more for as an adult, now that I'm in a world populated by Pixar kids movies.) It also seems to try and channel the humor style of the old-school Disney cartoons... but on this front, it does tend to fall a little short of the mark and comes off as a bit unnecessarily hyperactive. But, all throughout, there's many subtle nods towards the old-school Disney Christmas cartoons, especially in the first short. They've got everything from Chip and Dale on their little Christmas train inside their tree, to Huey, Dewey and Louis all being obsessed with sledding, and even a brief nod to that old short where Donald ends up in a snowbank, looking like a snowman. The younger kids who haven't seen the old cartoons don't even get these, but for the grownups who grew up with them, it does leave a sense of warm fuzzies, which I figure is exactly why Disney threw them in (as it's Disney's forte).
The first cartoon is a take on the sort of cliched plot of "I wish every day were Christmas". It had been such a wonderful day that Donald's nephews wished every day to be Christmas... and the Christmas star granted them their wish. Which, just like in every other cartoon that's ever used this plot, starts out great for them, but they quickly grow sick of it and just want to regain their normal lives. There's bits of this one that even left me uncomfortable as an adult watching this, so I can only imagine what it must be like through the eyes of a child.
The second cartoon is a Goofy and Max one. It confused me at first, because I thought they'd inexplicably aged Max down, but then when I found out the plot for this one....yeah, I can see where they'd kind of have to, because it would've been a little weird to have a teenager going through the "Santa's not real?" plot. But of course, since this is one for the kiddies, Santa wins out in the end and is real. I'm not going to lie though, this one made me cry as soon as Goofy says his Christmas wish every year is the same thing, and he always gets it. Max asks what's that? And Goofy says, "Your happiness." (Oh jeez...I'm tearing up again just remembering it.)
The third (and last) cartoon in the special is a Mickey and Minnie one (finally! I had been wondering where, or if, Mickey would show up, seeing as the name of the special is MICKEY'S Once Upon A Christmas, after all...) and is basically another take on Gift of the Magi. As you can imagine, this one is heart-wrenching to watch. I found myself asking though, how on earth are we supposed to believe that Mickey and Minnie are that poor? They're the stars of Disney, and yet they're living like paupers while Goofy and Donald are well off to do? Is that how poor this economy has become, where we've come to not even question why Mickey and Minnie are living almost like hobos? That.....seems wrong. I don't know. Random observations. Anyway, as if it weren't hard enough to watch on its own, the tree-lot burning scene is downright traumatizing to watch, I don't care how old you are. But, it's still very sweet at the end, and more tears were shed.
Overall, for a modern Christmas special, this one's actually not too bad. I wouldn't sit super young kids through it....maybe start around 6 or 7 and up. It's likely to scare kids at parts who're younger than that. But apart from that, I'll rate this one 4 out of 5 stars.
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