As I approach my fourth December in university, you’d think I’d be more used to balancing my academics with the holiday spirit. But I’m not.
I’m burning out faster than my candy-cane-scented candle. My laundry is piling up alongside my assignments. I’m worried and overthinking about what my life will be like post-grad and what that means for the found family I have here.
But during the 66 minutes I spend watching Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, none of that matters.
The 1999 film is a classic in my family, something my siblings and I have watched since we were little. It stars Mickey Mouse and friends in three intertwining short stories with a rhyming narrator who’ll remind you of warmer Dr. Seuss character.
The animation is hand-drawn, elevating its nostalgia and coziness factors. Its colours are slightly muted, reminiscent of watching on a grainy TV. Most shots are longer, with less editing cuts, and have a slower pace compared to more modern films, leading to less stimulation, and I find myself more relaxed than when watching other holiday flicks.
The first short story follows Huey, Dewey and Louie in a Groundhog Day-esque situation, reliving Christmas Day over and over again. The second is about Goofy and his son Max (or Maxie, as Goofy calls him) as they both grapple with the decision to believe, or not to believe, in Santa Claus.
But my favourite of the three will always be the last — “Mickey and Minnie’s Gift of the Magi.”
It follows Mickey and Minnie on Christmas Eve as they try to find enough money to buy each other gifts. The film outlines each of their prized possessions early on — Minnie’s heirloom clock pendant and Mickey’s harmonica — and it’s obvious each is vying for a gift to compliment those items (a chain and a case respectively).
Except, as always, nothing works the way it’s supposed to. Minnie’s Christmas bonus ends up being a fruitcake, and Mickey gets in trouble at work for not scalping a poor family on their Christmas tree.
Even though I’ve seen it a thousand times, I still get a gut punch when it’s revealed that they both sold their most prized possessions to get the other one their gift.
This movie wasn’t the most well-received by critics — it only has a 40 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes — and some of the critiques are that it’s predictable, obviously meant for kids, and, at its worst, “extremely bland and pretty forgettable.”
But those are the exact reasons why I love it. It feels like an escape to a place where nothing turns out bad and I have no worries. It takes me back to a time when I was a kid and these stories didn’t seem so predictable.
The holidays have become a symbol of consumerism and can bring greed and self-righteousness, but all three storylines focus on what the season should really be about — what it is about — spending time with your loved ones and doing things for others.
The triplet ducks only get out of their repeated nightmare once they realize that the holidays are not about new presents, but about spending quality time with their family (even their overbearing aunt who is just excited to see them). Max learns the importance of being there for others, changing from a kid obsessed with getting his very own “one-of-a-kind carbon fibre, torque rod, snappy-flex, tip-to-tail-rail-to-rail, wooden core, twindirectional” snowboard to a kid determined to share his happiness with other kids, particularly their low-income neighbours.
This reminder of spreading joy and spending time with your family (biological or chosen) around the holidays is so profound coming from a children’s movie. If this is what we teach kids, why have we seemed to lose that as we’ve grown up?
I know I haven’t lost it — I can always find that special kind of goodness and cheer that comes out during the holidays. I smile more. Adults collectively decide to preserve the magic of Santa for kids. Angel Tree requests are fulfilled and I always catch people staring at fairy lights with a bit of awe in their eyes, just like I have.
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas emanates that goodness. Maybe it’s a little silly and cheesy because it’s animated and made by Disney, but that will never take away from the fact this film leaves you feeling warm, fuzzy and just a little bit more inspired by the holidays.
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