Okay, you know what this is: an adaptation starring existing characters as an ensemble cast, metafictionally "playing" the Dickens characters. This is the character of Scrooge McDuck coming full circle from his creation as a one-off Dickens-inspired hermit, in a 1947 Donald Duck comic story.
- The use of various classic characters as “actors” here is a well-worn trope - The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) does it better, Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol (1979) did it earlier, and as far as I can tell from trawling the IMDB, Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) did it first - but the choice of casting is odd.
- You’ve got the big names like Mickey and Donald and Jiminy Cricket, but also the entire cast of The Wind in the Willows (Mr. Toad is Fezziwig, Rat and Mole are the charity solicitors) and all the Robin Hood kids. I wonder if it’s because these are just every anthropomorphic character from a Disney movie set in England, up to that point?
- David Tennant is a fully worthy Scrooge McDuck in reboot DuckTales, but Alan Young was masterful and his charisma is what sells this, especially the “Ain’t I a stinker”-toned jokes about his cheapness and misanthropy. I don't see DuckTales existing at all, without this voicework a few years earlier.
- Scrooge’s home here is very clearly inspired by the sets of the 1951 Alastair Sim version, but it loses some atmosphere without the long-depth shots.
- Goofy plays Marley, and you probably haven't heard Hal Smith as Goofy anywhere else - it's a little hoarser and more staid than the current incumbent (Bill Farmer) and not as, well, goofy as the original (Pinto Colvig).
- On that note, please enjoy this history of Goofy's various voice actors.
- Jiminy Cricket as Christmas Past is a little dull, but the giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk as Jolly Green Giant Christmas Present is a pretty good decision - as is a pre-Goof Troop Peg-Leg/Pistol Pete as big guffawing cigar-chomping Christmas Future.
- I'm pretty sure the animators took a lot of inspiration from Scrooge (1970) - the baffling musical version from the creators of Oliver! - at the culmination of the Christmas Past segment, particularly Scrooge's nightmare of Hell.
- My first thought on seeing the credits of this is usually “This was released the year I was born, and all of these voice actors are dead now.”
FINAL RATING: 8/10. It's a wholesome, breezy and beautifully-animated version well worth its 24-minute runtime, that really hints at the heights to come in the Disney Renaissance.