CHRISTMAS: DISNEY STYLE

MICKEY MOUSE: PLUTO'S CHRISTMAS TREE (1952)

Mickey and Pluto are decorating the tree but some unexpected guests (Chip and Dale) have made their home in the tree and are dazzled by all the lights and decorations. Pluto sniffs them out and ends up destroying everything trying to catch them.

This classic Mickey Mouse is a must see every year. At this point in Mickey's career, most of his cartoons starred him but the spotlight was always stolen by his co-stars to the point where he would get very little screen time. In this case it's Pluto, whose career was at the height of it popularity, and Chip n Dale, who had just reached the height of their own popularity.

While the animation was really good on the chipmunks and Pluto, I am not a fan of Mickey's animation in this era of his career. The artists thought to change him up a bit. They made his ears not as round and his nose a bit longer. He never wore his trademark red shorts anymore and he moved like he had no neck. This cartoon is a good example of how even the best animators can make Mickey look "wrong".
-Kurtis

SILLY SYMPHONIES: SANTA'S WORKSHOP (1932)
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SILLY SYMPHONIES: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1933)
Both of these films were directed by Wilfred Jackson. Santa's Workshop was released on Dec. 10, 1932 and The Night Before Christmas was released Dec. 9, 1933. They very much seem like sequels to each other. I'm not sure if they're intended to be or not.

Santa's Workshop shows Santa in, surprise surprise, his workshop. He reads letters from little kids while one of his elves tells him whether they've been naughty or nice. Santa then sends the requests to the workshop. In one of the classic Disney "everything's moving" scenes we watch as the elves make all the requested toys. Once everything's ready to go, the toys all march themselves into Santa's bag.

The Night Before Christmas is what seems like a continuation of Santa's Workshop. The design of Santa is exactly the same (which is great... unlike certain sequels of certain Frosty the Snowman specials). In this film, we see Santa making his first delivery. He slides down the chimney (very cool animation by the way. The chimney seems to swallow him up) and into the fireplace. He sets down his bag and the toys march themselves out of the bag to the tree. It would have been very easy for them to reuse the animation from the first film, but every toy and movement is different... including little wooden Mickey Mouse toys.

Both cartoons had racial jokes that weren't taken out for the VHS we watched, which was interesting. The animation was very fun. I love Silly Symphonies just for the amazing coordination and inventive movement to the music. And Santa's just so jolly!
-Katie

I don't quite have enough time to write the reviews on these other Disney classics. I will get to them over the next few days so keep checking back and leave your comments!

DONALD DUCK: DONALD'S SNOW FIGHT (1942)

MICKEY'S GOOD DEED (1932)

TOM & JERRY: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

The well-known and well-loved cat and mouse duo, Tom & Jerry, star in MGM's The Night Before Christmas, Tom & Jerry's third cartoon produced by animation legends Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. The Night Before Christmas was released in theatres December 6, 1941.

While the narrator does read the first few lines of the famous poem, the cartoon does not follow the poem's plot, but rather creates a touching tale of how even the most unlikely pair can resolve their differences during the holiday season.

Jerry pops out of his mouse hole to see the whole house decorated for Christmas. He has his fun with the ornaments and toys but soon ends up in being chased by his arch-rival, Tom the cat. Tom locks Jerry out in the snow but soon realizes, due to the Christmas spirit being in the air, that it was mean and selfish of him to treat Jerry that way. Tom brings him back in and the duo share a nice Christmas together.

Since the beginning, Jerry's design has pretty much stayed the same. But Tom went through a few transformations before looking like the modern Tom we see now. Back in this short Tom was more of a real cat than a cat taking on human characteristics. He had paws rather than hands and walked on all fours most of the time.

This design was much more complicated for the animators. Tom was very furry; he had claws and light patches of fur such as the grey spot between his eyes. All of these traits looked good but were a pain for animators to reproduce frame after frame. By the time Chuck Jones got his hands on the characters in the 60s, Tom had been streamlined to look the Tom everyone recognizes.

The Night Before Christmas contains some of the best animation of all the Tom & Jerry cartoons. Real emotion was captured during Jerry's playful romp through the Christmas presents, and when Tom feels sorry for Jerry it really gets you right there. Sadly, the animators were not given credit for their work on this short. Neither was credit given to the music composer, Scott Bradley, who really set the mood with his reworking of Christmas carols such as The First Noel.

If you are looking for this short, pick up a copy of Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection, Volume Two. It is the only Tom & Jerry Christmas episode ever made so don't be suckered in by DVDs like Paws for the Holiday which contain a bunch of winter themed cartoons but nothing to do with Christmas.