Scrooge (Michael Caine) getting a gift from Beaker, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Scrooge (Michael Caine) getting a gift from Beaker

There is something altogether perplexing that the Muppet version of Charles Dickson’s “The Christmas Carol” is regarded as the best film adaptation of the novel.

However if you take into account that The Muppets excel at blending heart-felt moments with artistry, innovation, and silliness then it’s not surprising. There also a clear reverence for the source material that is clear in making Gonzo the narrator that is refreshing as well as Michale Caine’s depiction of the crotchety, old miser turned upbeat generous gent bout town and his inspired acting choice of playing it completely dramatic against The Muppets.     

All the pieces of this adaption work well, even the pretty darn historical accurate costumes.

But this post is a ranking of the songs from The Muppet Christmas Carol. The songs on the whole are very good and there is no single song that stands out as weak or bad. They are all really good. 

But which song is the best?

That is subjective opinion.  This ranking is my own opinion  and your own may very well differ.  

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! 

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Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas  picture image

Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas

Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas isn’t a sequel to Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas but it follows the same short story with lessons about giving and shit. Some of the stories are ok and some are teeth-grinding abysmal but what makes this video in-terminal are the CGs, they reek of sour poo.

Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Scrooge, Daisy, and Donald Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas  picture image

Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Scrooge, Daisy, and Donald

The first story is about Minnie and Daisy having a contrived feud for attention on ice with the Hippos and the Alligators from Fantasia. It was ok, I just wished it was not a story but purely about the visuals and the music. I’m not even sure why they were mad at each other either.

The second story is Huey, Dewy and Louie break in to Santa’s workshop to put their names on the good list being they are hellions apparently. They then ruin Christmas, then fix it and they put Uncle Scrooge’s name on the list since that is the only this he were wanted that he couldn’t buy with money. In doing so the boys get on the list. This story is the worst one as the duck boys are just really insincere and I don’t recall them being such selfish jerks in DuckTales. I mean they are still selfish twits in the end.

The third story is Max is brings a girl home for Christmas and fears being embarrassed by Goofy. I thought I was going to HATE this one since that is pretty much a rehash of the Goofy movies, Max being embarrassed by Goofy, but it was all told in like a music video. The song was stupid but it wasn’t that bad as a whole.

The fourth story was Donald just wants to spend some quiet time at home with hot cocoa but fuck that, that is selfish behavior so Donald has to go to a mall with Daisy and the boys. Donald is tormented by the song We wish you a Merry Christmas, so he goes a little crazy and Daisy and boys get mad at him. So he gets their forgiveness by having a sing-song of the song. This one was dumb, I side with grumpy Donald. I really hate it when people tell me how I should feel about Christmas, it just makes me want to act grumpy.

The fifth and final story is Mickey getting mad at Pluto for accidentally wrecking his decorations. Pluto runs away and hangs out with Santa’s reindeer. Mickey I guess learns some lesson about decorations don’t mean anything when to comes to friends. It was just sort of tacted on, not a bad story though.

Donald, Daisy, Minnie and Mickey  Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas  picture image

Donald, Daisy, Minnie and Mickey

The thing that struck me about this video from the on-set was that this wished it was a Fantasia. All the stories had a musical component and I have to say wouldn’t a Holiday Fantasia movie be awesome? They should make that for some Christmas.

Daisy, Huey, Dewy, Louie and Donald Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas  picture image

Daisy, Huey, Dewy, Louie and Donald

This video should be harmless but the very plastic ugly CG made it hard to watch. Of course it begs the question which is worst, Bad seemingly hand-drawn animation or ugly competent CG stuff? It’s a tough question. Call me old but there is a heart  that even in the bad hand drawn stuff has that is harder to get in CG animation, CG animation often looks cold. It’s getting better but this video is just cold and artificial feeling.

Also the jokes are so dull and predictable especially in the second story with Huey, Dewy and Louie.

Mickey with Santa Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas  picture image

Mickey with Santa

In all the Disney Christmas videos I have watched this month this one was the hardest to watch. I think if Disney had just loose up with the lessons and had more fun stories it would have been fine but the trite lessons and those CGs just make for a cringe-induceing viewing experience
Also in the Huey, Dewy and Louie story did anyone else think it was ironic that Srooge would say there is more to life than money? It’s a direct-to -video Disney movie, making money is its reason for existing.