Top 5: Disney Christmas Specials

Christmas is continuing to creep up on us. We are heading head first into a television world full of Christmas episodes, specials, and movies adapted for television. So here are my top five Disney related specials, adapted films, and Christmas episodes to look out for.

#5-Prep and Landing: Naughty vs. Nice. This special, a continuation from the previous, and slightly better, Prep and Landing, is a CGI animated special with a great premise. Since we already know the characters from the previous special, we introduce a mission for the elves to save a girl who is planning to ruin Christmas after one of her toys is destroyed by her little brother. The elves save the day by mishap and they are appointed Elves of the Year. It’s a cute well written story sure to bring about other sequels. Not as good as the original Prep and Landing, but the special is well animated and holds it’s own as a seperate story.

#4-Phineas and Ferb Chistmas Vacation. Any regular viewer of Phineas and Ferb can tell you that the show by itself is one of the strong points (maybe the only strong point) currently on the Disney Channel lineup. The show’s animation is classic with a twist of that Seth McFarlane Family Guy type of style. The humor is a mix of pop culture refrences, slapstick silliness, and clever situations. So needless to say, a Christmas episode would ride on the line as well. The special is cute and a different spin on the average “summer vacation” episodes. I hope this episode lasts even if the series fades away. This is a great mix of everything you want in a great Christmas special. Humor, heart warming fun.

#3-Prep and Landing. The original idea of the reignited Disney Short Film division brought on a great Christmas special for both children and adults. We follow two elves who are part of Santa’s prep and landing division, getting homes ready for Santa’s sleigh to land. Wayne has been working for Santa for over 200 years and is bitter about not getting a promotion. Lanny is the new guy at the office and the two are teamed up together. The idea is truly an original and the CGI animation looks great. It’s a cute story, but what really seperates this special from others is it’s vast knowledge of it’s own realm. Animators had a heyday popping in references to other Christmas specials, songs, and the culture around the holiday. You can get a peek at a Christmas tree like Charlie Brown’s or you can see Mickey’s Christmas Carol playing on the television Wayne and Lanny are prepping. These in-jokes will surely get adults to chuckle and children will laugh at the more outlandish and obvious jokes. This newer special is sure to become an annual favorite.

#2-The Muppet’s Christmas Carol. Is there anything bad to say about The Muppets? It’s hard to say no to our felt skinned friends created by Jim Henson. Remaking A Christmas Carol with these characters is truly remarkable. It’s simply fun to see which Muppet plays which character. Statler playing Jacob Marley, Fozzy as Fozziwig, and Kermit as Bob Cratchit all works out extremely well. Not to mention you have the great Micheal Caine playing Scrooge. A wonderful actor in a great role. What’s not to love about that? Toss in a mix of other muppets just playing their usual crazy selves and you get this movie turned tv special which is sure to delight the whole family.

#1-Mickey’s Christmas Carol. For similar reasons to The Muppets, Mickeys’ version of the classic Dicken’s novel is a wonderful watch. All of the characters were perfectly casted into their roles and several former characters from other films were brought back for this special. When will we ever see Scrooge McDuck and Mr. Toad interact beyond this? The answer is never. The film was nominated for an Academy award for best animated short film and rightfully so. It’s charm has lasted for almost 30 years. It can also be linked partially to the uplifting of the Disney company from it’s slump into the Disney Rennaisance. It’s success also marked the first time Mickey Mouse had made an appearance since the 1950s.

I suggest you check out at least one of these choices to ring in your holiday cheer. Sit down by yourself or with the whole family. These specials are easy to find on television, DVD combos, Hulu, or YouTube so you have no excuse to not find these specials. Merry Christmas to all of you and I’ll catch you on twitter!

Josh Taylor
Twitter: @ModernMouseJosh
Email: ModernMouseJosh@Yahoo.com
www.ModernMouseRadio.com