Customer Reviews

Classic Cartoon Favorites, Vol. 9 - Classic Holiday Stories (The Small One/Pluto's Christmas Tree/Mickey's Christmas Carol)

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4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

VOLUME 9: CLASSIC HOLIDAY STORIES

THE SMALL ONE (special 1978): First Time on DVD! Not yet announced for any Disney Treasures releases so this may be it.
A young boy in ancient times brings his donkey to market. He meets a kindly man named Joseph who
brings the donkey to his wife, Mary.

PLUTO'S CHRISTMAS TREE (Mickey, Pluto Chip & Dale 1952): Previously released on the Mickey Mouse In Living Color Volume 2 Tin DVD.
Mickey and Pluto chop down a Christmas tree that is actually the home of Chip and Dale. Once inside
Mickey's house, Chip and Dale have a ball with their new Christmas tree home.

MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (Mickey & the whole gang 1983): Previously released on the Mickey Mouse In Living Color Volume 2 Tin DVD.
Charles Dickens's famous story is retold with Mickey as Bob Cratchit, Uncle Scrooge as Ebenezer
Scrooge, Goofy as Jacob Marley's ghost, and Donald as nephew Fred.

The overall DVD is good. But it was a disappointment to find that "The Small One" was edited and of course it is never marked anywhere on the DVD box that it was. For those looking for an original version of this great classic you will need to look elsewhere. Not only did the editors change the words of the song "Clink clink clank clank" (I assume to be more "politically correct")but they completely removed the entire "Small One For Sale" song and segment. I don't understand why people just can't leave things alone the way the movie was originally created.

Two of these stories, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and Pluto's Christmas Tree were featured in the Mickey In Color tin Volume 2. The only new one was Small One, which I had in VHS form for many years, and always thought it was a Disney short classic, so I decided to purchase this set. Unforutnately, the colors on the DVD version are no where near as vivid as my old video copy. There is tons of artifacting through all 3 shorts, but at least the other 2 are very colorful and vibrant.

It is still a recommended collection, as the two Christmas shorts featured in the Mickey tin had to be accessed through several chapter menus to get them to play. For a child, it would be hard to pick them out of the tin set if they wanted to watch them, so now it is much easier for them to see all 3 of these Xmas classics in one easy step. It's too bad the colors are muted on Small One.

I bought this specifically for Small One. Yet I'm fairly disappointed. I would have thought Disney would remaster this classic for the DVD release, but apparently not. The color shifts and you can see little white flecks, and general film noise throughout... but the worst! The funniest best moments of all were the 3 merchants singing their song... I have fond memories of my father dancing around my house singing the "Clink, Clink, Clank Clank Clank" song... Disney has changed the lyrics! The original version went "We never ever fail when we go to make a sale, weeeeee! Simply cheat a little if we must." This DVD, the song has been change to say "...weeeee! Work a little harder if we must!"

I find it very interesting that Disney didn't see fit to fix the color shifts, and remaster the film, but they apparently found the time to change the funniest part of the whole little film.

That said, at least it is only a minor change... I still have my old copies, recorded from TV so many years ago. My old copies have gotten worn through the years. I love that I now have fairly decent copies Mickey's Christmas Carol, and Small One on one DVD.

"The Small One" has become a Christmas favorite for quite a few years now for people all around the world.

It captures the spirit of the Holiday season, with one of the most beautiful stories to ever come out from Disney animation.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

Add to that the fact that this DVD features "Mickey's Christmas Carol", and you get a must-have!

Also included: "Pluto's Christmas Tree".

This was a no question first day release purchase for me simply because it contained Mickey's Christmas Carol. Disney did a marvelous job of presenting A Christmas Carol for the younger audience, while keeping the ability to appeal to the older audience.

Some my scoff at the fact that A Christmas Carol is summed up in such a quick fashion, but Disney instilled the same messages that are contained in the original black and white features. Just for the copy of Mickey's Christmas Carol I encourage you to pick up this DVD.

The animation is crisp and clarity is amazing. This is one DVD I keep near my DVD player all season long.

The PC freaks at Disney strike again!!!

Don Bluth's 1978 animated short,, "THE SMALL ONE" makes its long awaited DVD debut in this series...only to be DRASTICALLY EDITED so as to not offend certain people and to minimize the intended religious connotations of this timeless tale.

The bankers' song (Click Click, Clank Clank...Give your money to the bank) has been edited to remove the line "we simply cheat a little if we must" so the PC freaks at Disney can cover their behinds so as to not offend the Jews. In additon, the ENTIRE "Small One for sale" sequence is deleted....

Do yourselves a favor this Christmas and TAKE A PASS on this BOGUS AND INSULTING RELEASE!!! Find the original VHS copy of "Small One" on ebay. It has a brown slipcase and it is part of the former Mini-Classics series from Disney.....

...and by the way: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

I wasn't interested in the Mickey Mouse set with MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL on it when it came out, but I wanted it on DVD as well as THE SMALL ONE, which I only had taped from its showing on the Disney Channel and it was dark and full of static and drop-outs. Last year I got the two different Region 2 DVDs these were on, but was disappointed because on MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL they cut off the titles with the beautiful Christmas song. So when I saw this set for quite a reasonable price I grabbed it. I do wish it was a bigger Christmas set, with "The Night Before Christmas" and "Santa's Toy Shop" from the 30s-40s and the Donald Duck/Chip'n'Dale Christmas cartoon, but to have a good, intact copy of Mickey's CAROL and SMALL ONE is good enough for me!

This is a great way to get a the Disney shorts for the Holidays, but you may be buying the stories multiple times. Pluto's Christmas Tree and Mickey's Christmas Carol are also on the DVD Snowed in at the House of Mouse. I prefer House of Mouse even with the extra narration tying in the cartoons because it also has one of the Donald on Ice cartoons. Small one is nice, but sad and is also on included on another DVD as a special feature. Disney is releasing their cartoons on multiple DVDs at the same time and it is easy to buy short DVDs like this one and find out later that all the cartoons are already on a larger compilation. As an earlier review said, "Mickey's Christmas Carol" is already on 2 other DVDs. Still, if you want a particular cartoon and not all of them, this is a good way to go.

This DVD contains three features for your Christmas celebration. All three are considered shorts, so they clock in at just under an hour combined.

Up first was the new to DVD "The Small One." This story tells the tale of a boy who must go to town to sell his favorite donkey. After an all day search, he finds a man who needs a donkey to carry his pregnant wife to Bethlehem. Yes, I did the references to the Biblical story a bit surprising. There are some fun moments here, but for the most part, it was rather bland.

The other two features were also released as part of Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol. 2. Up first is "Pluto's Christmas Tree" which finds Pluto trying to defend Mickey's house and their decorations from Chip 'n' Dale. I always forget just how much fun this one is.

Finally, there's "Mickey's Christmas Carol." It attempts to tell the story of the Dickens classic in less than half an hour, and mostly succeeds. It's entertaining and the best thing here.

This disc was released in 2005. So, as Disney always does, it is now out of print. But the good news is they released a disc titled Mickey's Christmas Carol this year that has all three of these cartoons on it plus one more.