Well, I looked at the first one -- only figures to look at the sequel during this Sequel Month.
It's "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas", and you know...
When people ask, "What's the difference between something that's good for kids yet not necessarily for adults
or bad for kids and not necessarily for adults either," *this* is a perfect example.
The first "Once Upon a Christmas" was a simple but humble and sweet story.
It was expressive, it was kind, it was a little corny, but the effort really shows and pays off.
*This* is a cash-in you can smell from a mile away.
Just *look* at it! I mean... *look* at it!
I know it's direct-to-DVD, so the CGI isn't going to be, like, Pixar-quality, but...
*Look at it!*
The first one was direct-to-DVD, too, and you can see all the great drawings, all the great atmosphere, expressions...
It was impressive by its own standards.
*This*, even by its own standards, is cheap-looking, and lame, and not written well, and heartless, and empty,
and just, like I said, an obvious cash-in!
Okay, well, I guess I should go over all the stories, but that almost seems pointless because
where, in the first film, it was only three stories that seemed reasonably enough,
this one, it's like *eight*.
Yeah. They just throw a bunch of 'em at you whether they make sense or not.
It becomes so much overload that the motivations aren't even established when the stories start.
The very first story is just Daisy and Minnie skating. Well, okay, that's fine.
But for whatever reason, Daisy tries to sabotage Minnie.
Was that in her character? Is that something she's known for?
I can see Donald doing that, but nothing about her has ever been established as this egotistical, jealous character.
And then Minnie gets really angry, too, and she starts fighting back, and it's just this entirely pointless number.
There's another kinda mean-spirited story where Donald comes home from work,
he's really tired, he just wants to relax,
but then Daisy and the boys all want to go Christmas shopping, and they force him to come with.
He gets angry because Christmas is being shoved in his face, and he just needs a break from it, but...
He shouldn't be! He's wrong!
Much like "Christmas with the Kranks", you should just accept everything about Christmas and love it all unconditionally.
Seems like a very confused message.
On the one hand, I can kinda see what they're going for,
like you're just gonna need that extra effort to make Christmas special for your kids and your loved ones and stuff,
but, first of all, they're his nephews, not his kids. I still don't know where their damn parents are.
Second, you sympathize too much for him.
I *want* him to be by the fireplace. I want him to have his hot chocolate.
I don't want him to go out to the store and have all this commercialism shoved in his face!
Somewhere, there's a sweet, nice idea trying to get out, but it's just lost.
There's also this lame number about Max bringing his girlfriend to meet his dad, and most of it's a pop song that he's not really singing.
Yeah, you never really see his lips move, and the song doesn't really match the atmosphere.
They're trying to make it sound like one of those songs you can hear on the radio,
but it's not even vague enough to be a song that you can hear on the radio.
They're obviously saying that "Dad's gonna embarrass me. I hope he doesn't embarrass me around Christmas."
They can't even get whoring the fake pop song right!
Nobody will listen to this on their own, but the character's clearly not singing the song, either, so it's just entirely confused.
Remember how Santa Claus was a big deal in the first one? Like, Goofy and Max were trying to believe,
but they didn't know if they did, but they wanted to believe. That was a whole big thing.
In this one, Huey, Dewey, and Louie just *mail* themselves to Santa!
Yeah. I guess he's not really that big a deal anymore.
And look at him. Talk about the most generic, forgettable Santa you can imagine.
Alright, alright, are there any good things about this special?
I guess the colors can be kinda nice and Christmas-y.
Every once in a while, there is a good visual joke or a line here or there.
But, for the most part, it just feels shallow.
I guess it seems silly to be this hard on a little Christmas special that's obviously just meant for little kids, but
the first one was just a little Christmas special meant for little kids, and they really did a much better job.
They cared. They took the time to write good stories and put in good animation because
it felt like the respect of the audience was important.
They know they can show little kids anything with Donald and Goofy and Mickey and stuff,
but, instead, they tried to give something really nice and meaningful,
and that's felt by the adults as well as the children.
This just feels like what it most likely is: a last-minute sequel.
The first one probably made a lot of money, so they had to squeeze out a sequel, and this is what we got:
a cheap knockoff with little to no heart.
I can't say it's as bad as some of Disney's other worse animated films.
I mean, I can't say of "Chicken Little" or "Home on the Range" or "Mulan 2".
But it just feels... lazy.
And don't get me wrong. I don't know how much time or money they had to put into this, so I shouldn't judge,
but it's just how it feels. It *feels* lazy.
Can you show it to kids? Sure.
Does it get across any mean-spirited or bad morals? A little debatable, but none that little kids'll probably get.
It's just a weak Christmas cash-grab and nothing more.
If you kid's *really* dying to see it, I guess it's okay to show, but in my opinion,
I'd just put on the first one again.