Customer Reviews

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

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"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" has always been my favorite musical version of Dicken's classic tale for the simple reason that the songs have been better than all those other versions, including the most recent attempt with Kelsey Grammar. Since the music and lyrics are by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, the same team that did "Funny Girl," this is not surprising. I have just finished watching the show again and I finally noticed that there are only four songs. They just happen to be four really good songs and even when there is not singing three of them are used to great effect as background music. No wonder that as soon as you hear the opening theme on the DVD the feelings and memories coming rushing back.

Once you get past the framing device of Magoo showing up for the performance and taking a curtain call as he brings down the house at the start and the end of the show there are only a few moments where you are dealing with Mr. Magoo's nearsightedness. For the most part Barbara Chain's script does "A Christmas Carol" straight up and it works, mainly because when Mr. Magoo scowls and does his whole "Bah, humbug" bit you buy it. As we all know Jim Backus does the voice of Mr. Magoo/Scrooge, while Jack Cassidy does Bob Cratchit, Royal Dano is Marley's Ghost, Les Tremayne voices the Ghost of Christmas Present, the great June Foray (a.k.a. Rocky the Flying Squirrel) does the Ghost of Christmas Past, Joan Garnder is Tiny Tim (who is "played" by another cartoon character from the 1950s, Gerald McBoing-Boing), and Paul Frees' recognizable voice does several characters. Frees and Foray sing together on "The Bandit Song" and Jane Kean sings "Winter Was Warm" as Belle, the woman beloved by the young Scrooge.

All things considered, "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" is my favorite animated holiday show and it is not Christmas unless I see it, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I love the finale when they all sing "The Cratchit Family Dinner Song" (a.k.a. "We'll Have the Lord's Bright Blessing). It does not matter that the animation is bare-boned (the audience never moves) or that there are some completely comic supporting characters, because the songs are so wonderful and the emotion of the story comes through. Watching your favorite holiday specials brings back memories of Christmas as a child, and there is not much in this world sweeter than that. I do not know if this show can win over a new generation of fans, but if you have ever seen this one you know you have to see it again.

"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" is simply the finest film realization ever, animated or live, of Charles Dickens' wonderful and wondrous tale. Sheer magic, astonishing beauty of song and story, deeply loving, profoundly moving. If you have a heart that has been broken but still capable of hearing the most exquisite whisperings of that which makes life not just good but even mystical, not just sweet but even sacred, then this film is your film, this story is your story, and its songs sing beauty and comfort to you even in your night of most inward darkness. And the song at the film's center and heart, "Winter Was Warm," sung by a woman with the voice of an angel, is perhaps the greatest song of lost and yearning love ever recorded. A thousand "Bravos" and profoundest gratitude to all who worked to create this magnificent masterpiece of the storyteller's art--this journey from bitter tragedy to utter exaltation.

I too bring this VHS (now a DVD) out every December and view it. And for me also, it simply is not Christmas if I haven't had a chance to revisit Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. I remember as a kid loving this TV special and now I know why. The stylized animation coupled with the Jule Styne score and the high art of Jim Backus' voiceover simply cannot be improved upon. The songs are show-stopping and the rousing chorus rendition of "We'll Have the Brightest Christmas" at the end of the show is downright infectious. I just had Christmas dinner with a group of fellow working professionals and during the meal we talked about this animated classic and how we all have a special place in our hearts for it. I got to wondering, that since this piece was crafted as a musical theater production, why on earth has no one (with the financing capabilities) actually mounted this production for the live theater during the holiday season. I should think it would be a sellout.

If you are wondering whether kids who have never heard of Mr. Magoo would give a hoot about this program, I can tell you that my six-year-old daughter, who still doesn't know who Mr. Magoo is, loved it. And why not -- the story is well told and the songs are great. I was delighted to share a favorite of my childhood with her, and especially happy to see her enjoy a Christmas program that wasn't about the fat guy in a red suit.

I can still remember sitting and watching "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" at my grandparent's house during the Christmas season when I was a kid. This DVD brings back so many fond memories. While the animation may seem simple by some of today's standards the entire production is first rate! From the adaptation of a classic story, to the songs written for the cartoon, to voice talents and performances it is all top quality and will be enjoyed by both children and adults! When I bought this DVD a few years ago, I introduced it to my kids and it has since become a Christmas tradition (along with A Charlie Brown Christmas). Highly recommended!

Like so many other reviewers here, I grew up with this annual treat, and the DVD renews fond memories. But this particular TV special did something much more important for me in the long run--it got me interested in reading. I read the Dickens story as a result of watching it, and that led to a lifelong love of the written word. I'm a novelist now, and I owe it all to Mr. Magoo!

PARENTS, TAKE NOTE: The story is terrific, the songs are delightful, and every kid loves Mr. Magoo. And it manages to get the positive love-thy-neighbor message across in 52 animated minutes, with every famous moment and famous line intact--a lot easier on smaller children than the many 2-hour movie versions with live actors. Try parking your kids in front of this. Maybe they will do what I did and reach for the book. And watch it with them--it really is beautiful, and you'll enjoy it, too.

This has always been my favorite Christmas Carol - Mr. Magoo is perfectly gnarly and mean-spirited and has such a lovely believable transformation. I watched this over and over as a child and it holds a particularly special little place in my heart. If you have young children, get this and show it Christmas Eve. It's a perfect story told by the perfect little man!

Everything everyone says here is spot on. All I can add is that each year I am filled with pride by the warm feeling I have knowing that my now 12 and 16 year-old boys have made Magoo's Christmas Carol a part of THEIR holiday memories, too....their memories with me. I have passed down a part of myself to them, and they will, someday, make it a part of their lives with THEIR kids. Imagine...I will live on in the hearts of those I will never know thanks to Mr. Magoo (and, of course, every person associated with the creation of this wonderful production.) And you don't even have to celebrate Christmas to share the joy...for example, we're Jewish! Get this DVD and start the good vibes now.

"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol," made, according to one online source, during the "decline" of the UPA animation studio that produced it -- is one of the most affecting, unforgettable works of art I've ever seen. There, I've said it.

I'm realizing that I'm putting "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" in the same category as other works of art I've seen, including epic films like "Lawrence of Arabia," sculptures like Michelangelo's David, and novels like "War and Peace." Don't get me wrong - I loved all these works of art. "War and Peace" is a mighty fine piece of work.

What I'm saying is that this little cartoon made me cry, and moved me, and frightened me when I saw it as a child, and that I never forgot any of those reactions. It also made me sing. "I'm all alone in the world . . . millions of grains of sand in the world . . .why such a lonely beach?" "We have the lord's bright blessing, as long as we're together..." I've been singing these songs for decades. With no prompting, I've remembered the lyrics - not the way you remember an annoying advertising jingle, but with genuine gratitude that I had these songs in my head, and with real emotion.

I saw "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" when I was a small child. I haven't seen it in the decades since. I was given the DVD as a Christmas present. As soon as the images began to appear on the screen, I was transported. The cartoon's imagining of The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appeared. I shuddered! Utterly without irony! I wasn't shuddering for old time's sake. I wasn't shuddering as a salute to my childhood self. I was shuddering because that crude, two-dimensional cartoon of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, an image so simple I could sketch it myself, scared the beejammers out of me!

The images kept having an impact. Scrooge slams his door on a lone child caroler. I started to cry! Scrooge sang an ode to his coins, while Cratchit sang about how cold he was. Their harmony was terrific! Professional! Sophisticated! I wanted to see this number on a Broadway stage, with a full, live, chorus and orchestra backup! I wondered why I haven't heard a similarly tuneful, memorable, song, that drives the story and conveys the gist of the characters and their relationship, in a recent musical.

The illustrations are simple and yet evocative. The subtly, pastel-colored snowdrifts in the child caroler scene are reminiscent of the lovely snowdrifts in the Caldecott-Medal-winning children's classic "The Snowy Day." Simple lines trace the essentials in all scenes: the patches on the Cratchit's rugs, the coal scuttle in Scrooge's office, Jacob Marley's sunken, toothless cheeks. The only complaint I have with the illustration is that I wish the editing had been smoother, and I wish that young Scrooge, when tracing his hand on a blackboard, had been given five, instead of the usual four, for a cartoon figure, fingers.

The fear I felt for the scary Ghost, the rejoicing for Scrooge's redemption, the glow cast by the love of the Cratchit family, the overwhelming compassion and empathy I felt for the lonely boy with his face to the wall -- I've gotta tell ya, i want to jump into the cartoon and rescue that kid: this cartoon aroused the panoply of emotions one associates with Christmas.

I had to stop watching the DVD and look up the talents behind this. Jack Cassidy wonderfully voiced Cratchit. Jim Backus, of course, was Scrooge. The songs were written by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, Broadway and Hollywood professionals with lengthy and impressive resumes. The whispery, tender, challenging Ghost of Christmas Past was voiced by Joan Gardner.

On the web I read other salutes to this cartoon. I read more or less the same thing, again and again: "Saw this as a kid . . . never forgot it . . .still my favorite."

Some modern movies with much larger budgets, working much harder to frighten or move me, often arouse no feeling. Do I cherish "Magoo's Christmas Carol" so much, am I moved by it so greatly, because I saw it as a child? Am I just reliving strong, stored reactions? Is that why we baby boomers post as effusively as we do about this?

I don't think so. I saw a lot of pop culture as a child. I've forgotten most of it. I sometimes see these things again and they just look silly to me.

I do think that something special was going on with the making of this cartoon. I do think, too, that there is much to be said for the bare essentials. That little caroler in the snow on whom Scrooge slams a door: there's nothing extra in that scene, and your mind fills in all kinds of blanks. You imagine a back-story for the kid, imagine why that kid has to sing for his/her supper, imagine why he/she lagged behind after the other carolers were chased away. Before you know it, you have fallen into the scene. It's Christmas Eve; you are shivering on a gaslit street and the richest miser in town has just slammed his door on you. Would that movie makers today could learn something from such craft.

Dicken's story has been retold dozens (if not hundreds) of times, and it's always interesting to see what is emphasized and what is left out. This version is one of the shorter (and therefore more suitable for small children). But the bare bones of the story have been fleshed out by a score that is so memorable and moving that I'm amazed Broadway hasn't taken notice.

It's also a seminal version of the story--many current animators have referenced this production. (I would be very much surprised if Genndy Tartakovsky has never seen it, for instance.) This influence is a tribute to the power the film has over anyone who saw it in childhood.

An added treat is the gorgeous singing voice of Jack Cassidy (known to fans of "Columbo" as one of the two "three-time" villains, and to fans of "The Partridge Family" as the father of David), and the presence of famed Disney (and Boris Badenov!) voice-actor Paul Frees, who contributes the voices of several characters.

I originally wrote about this film on Amazon when only the VHS version was available. What a thrill it is to now own this excellent DVD, which will be subjected to many, many viewings in the years to come.