A Christmas Carol Cubed

     It's Christmas Eve... Time to review three different renditions of A Christmas Carol!
     First, we have a more faithful adaption, from Disney! It features Scrooge Mcduck, and Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchet.
     Second, we have Mr Magoo, with his musical/stage play adaptation!
     Third, we have Scrooged, the modern remake of A Christmas Carol.

Three specials to cover, and not much time to do it. So let's get to it!

I won't bother summarizing the story; you could probably recite it by now. so, I'll instead compare and contrast the stories.


     To start, we'll go over the Mickey's Christmas Carol... Should've been called Disney's Christmas Carol because Mickey is barely featured. The entire thing is about 22 minutes at most, and acts as a sort of abridged version. It touches on all the same point as the others, and is pretty much just like any other Christmas carol... just with Disney Characters. Though I'll admit there is a certain joy in recognizing a lot of the characters, and it serves as a good child's introduction to the story...
     But, it actually pales in comparison to the depth of the next...


     You probably don't remember or know about Mr Magoo. I'll admit, I didn't really know about him either when I first saw this.
     I first saw it on cartoon network. I was up late with the TV on, playing games on my computer... Barely paying attention to the movie... Until the Ghost of Christmas present anyway. After that point it had my attention. I haven't actually seen it air on Cartoon network since...
     Lucky for me, I found it on Netflix (hooray for Netflix putting a lot of random stuff on instant!)
     Mr Magoo is an old legally-blind man, whose series is about slapstick comedy relating to him being unable to see. It wasn't very popular (just look at how many people remember it today), but survived long enough to create this special, which turned out to be the first animated rendition of a Christmas Carol.
     The special actually takes place in the form of a stage play. Mr Magoo is playing Scrooge in a musical version of the story, and the special itself is almost word for word faithful to the original story (abridged of course, but still hitting on all the right points.)
     It is after Jacob Marley's visit that the special has a massive difference from all other versions, but one that I actually understand and can explain. You see, the first ghost to visit is actually the ghost of Christmas Present. He takes Scrooge to Bob Cratchet's house to show him what his life is like (along with a song), and then the curtains on the stage close, and we go to commercial.
     Now, I may be just the guy who controls the lights, but I have seen enough plays to know why certain things change in a play compared to movies... and apparently the makers of the special did too. The reason why the ghost of Christmas present came first is because of transitions and set pieces. Bob Cratchet's house uses a similar backdrop to Scrooge's, while Christmas past has a different one. If they had past first, they'd have to remove the first group of set pieces, bring in past's set, and then when that's done, they have to bring all the sets back in for present... all this also means another point where the curtain must close for the transition. Christmas Present goes first to reduce the number of necessary transitions. Only after present is done do the curtains close to prepare for past and future.
     While most would find the change confusing, I seriously applaud the writers for that. I wouldn't have noticed normally, since it is a TV show (and they make breaks from reality at a couple points), but they went the extra step to make it more believable as a stage show.
     Beyond that change, there isn't that much different apart from the songs and highbrow language. I'd actually say this is my favorite version of a Christmas Carol.
(Then again, that is helped by the voice of the ghost of Christmas past. I have no idea what on earth they did for her voice but damn if it doesn't sound pleasant and comforting.)


     Finally, there is Scrooged... It's a modern-day comedy featuring Bill Murray as Frank Cross (Scrooge) (Bill Murray's brother, John Murray, actually plays James Cross, Frank Cross's brother, as a bit of trivia for you). Frank is the head executive of a TV station, and is working on producing the first televised live performance of a Christmas Carol. From there, the Scrooge story takes place as normal, with added comedy, and some romance. There isn't much to add, except that it can be absolutely terrifying at times, and has some scenes that don't really add to the story and rather just make the audience feel bad... But it is quite enjoyable, and Bill Murray is fun as always.


All three of them give different ways of doing the ol' story... I personally think Magoo's was the best of the bunch, being most faithful while it's changes also add to the special itself. Disney's adaption is a lot better for children than Magoo's though, and Scrooged is better for adults. All three are still good and fun though.


This has been Fixer Sue. Thank you for joining me all throughout December for the Advent Calendar, going through many different Christmas specials and movies... Tomorrow, I shall explain what conclusions can be brought from these different specials.