"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol." (1962)
A fair few of my British friends are likely to be just like me as far as Mr. Magoo is concerned - in that, we have no idea who or what he is.
For those out of the know, Mr. Magoo is a human cartoon character with
poor eyesight and this 1962 Christmas special has become something of a
tradition for many American families.The tale itself is surprisingly faithful to the original text, despite switching the order of the ghosts around. This time, it takes a play-within-a-play format, bookended by Magoo arriving for his latest sell out performance on Broadway, where he plays the role of Ebenezer Scrooge himself.
From then on, it's an all singing, all dancing spectacle of charming animation and superior voice work.
The Cratchit's Christmas lunch stood out for me as one of the best versions I have ever seen of it, and was accompanied by such a sweet song that I found myself welling with tears.
While some of the jokes may have been lost to a newbie such as myself, this version is easily the greatest animated adaptation of the story I have seen so far.
Here's that gorgeous song about having a Christmas without stuff, but having so much more instead:
As unexpected and delicious as a turkey as big as me.
"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" (1962) 4/5
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