Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

I liked this quite a bit. It's been quite a while since I'd seen it, although a lot of it came back to me as I watched.

In case you are very young and deprived, this special is a sweet retelling of Christmas Carol starring all Disney characters.

The animation is beautiful and detailed, the one song is pleasant and uplifting. The adaptation has to sprint through the plot to get to the end in half an hour, but it hits all the pertinent bits.

I appreciate that they "cast" established characters in the roles of the ghosts, as well as all the others. That was something I felt was a poor misstep in The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Scrooge definitely makes the special work, and he doesn't need any extra narration to keep viewers interested.  This Scrooge is short-sighted and greedy, but never evil.  His completely manic glee upon his transformation is an absolute joy. Of course, Scrooge McDuck playing Ebenezer Scrooge is hardly a stretch for the character. All of the others are mostly interesting as they intersect his orbit, and that's as it should be. Scrooge is the heart of the story, and this version gets that spot on.

If you haven't seen it recently, track down Mickey's Christmas Carol.  It's a sweet and seasonal half-hour.