Like many reviews are noticing this is the first time we see Mickey Mouse and friends in CGI. Honestly I'll go ahead and say that the animation is pretty good for a straight-to-video movie in 2004. Sure Mickey and Minnie's models don't have their ears swiveling when they turn, but the animation is really nice and doesn't just look like the animators were rushed to work with a cheap budget. This is how you animate a straight-to-video CGI movie in the 2000's.

However the story more importantly isn't as compared. Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas did a great job telling a three-part story about Mickey, Donald, and Goofy with their lives and family together with a few morals involved. Here we have five stories that have just as much zaniness, but the lessons are flawed. The characters don't really learn anything in this movie, and when they somewhat do learn something it's after another character was actually being the one who was mean-spirited. The first segment with Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck ice-skating has Daisy overly jealous all because Minnie went first. The second segment with Donald Duck has Huey, Dewey, and Louie proven to be very misbehaved for any Christmas presents, which they go to the North Pole just so they can cheat their way onto the nice list. The third segment is just Goofy humiliating his son Max in front of his girlfriend who for some reason isn't even his actual girlfriend Roxanne from A Goofy Movie. The fourth segment features Donald Duck again where he just wants to go home and relax after hearing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in a non-stop chase scene and he eventually is driven crazy to the point where he destroys an entire animatronic theatre. And the final segment features Mickey Mouse and Pluto as he punishes Pluto because he didn't let him put the star on the tree making him want to leave for good. Most of the characters are just jerks in this movie. It's really unfortunate that they try to send this off as a proper message when they're not even being good role models.

But I get it, it's a kids movie. And it still holds some impressive effort aside from the character development and the messages. The stories still flow pretty well and were paced properly. The jokes are at par. The voice actors do a wonderful job like always. And the soundtrack was decent. This just isn't able to meet up to what the first movie accomplished.

The stories are not as good as the ones in its predecessor and the animation is mediocre, however it is appropriate for children.

The first one was simple yet heartfelt while the second seems cheap and more mean spirited. This's Disney's first computer animated Direct-to-Video done without Pixar and it shows. It's not the worst but it's not great. The characters designs look off. There're 5 stories unlike the previous 3 and as previously mentioned they're more mean spirited.

The first story begins with Minnie and Daisy I've skating while their respective boyfriends watch which starts out nice but slowly and slowly Daisy gets jealous and tries to sabotage Minnie's routine leading to both of them trying to outdo each other. It gets really uncomfortable seeing them like this. They make up at the end after almost hurting everybody around them and themselves but it doesn't feel earned at all.

I know that Daisy's a diva but I don't think she would intentionally sabotage her friend or anyone else like that. This seems very out of character when you think about it. There's another story that's also mean spirited in that it focuses on Donald trying to relax after a long day from work but unfortunately he gets forced to go Christmas shopping with Daisy and his nephews much to his frustration and when he finally snaps he gets unfairly blamed and humiliated afterwards.

In the end he gains the Christmas spirit but again it doesn't feel earned considering the events that led up to the ending. I get that you should have a holiday spirit and cherish your loved ones but at the same time you really sympathize with Donald. I'd rather he be by the fireplace enjoying his hot chocolate rather than go to the store having all of this commercialism shoved in his face. It feels very shallow.

The last story involves Pluto running away after Mickey kicks him out of the house in frustration for accidentally destroying it while trying to complete Mickey's Christmas tree. He then gets adopted by Santa and his reindeer which still leaves him empty inside much to their confusion. Meanwhile, Mickey feels guilty for his previous action and tries looking for him while by handing out lost posters to people passing by. A running gag is this grumpy dog who appears in all of the shorts and interacts negatively with each of the main characters in someway or form. They reunite in the end.

There're 2 more but it's pointless talking about them as the formula's the same in some way or form. The movie's not bad but it's a far cry from the previous one. It's one of those movies where when you watch it you don't feel warm inside but cold and uncomfortable. The characters act unusually shallow and materialistic and the lesson learned at the end doesn't feel genuine. What's funny is how in the first movie one of the shorts builds Santa up as to whether he exist or not. Here Huey, Dewey And Luey mail themselves to his workshop and him which gives us a look at Santa who looks like what you'd expect. He doesn't stand out from the rest, if anything he's a run of the mill Santa.

I'd suggest you skip this movie and instead just stick with the first one because this doesn't really know what the Christmas spirit is about. It's shallow and materialistic. Nothing more than a disappointing follow up to a simple yet charming Christmas special.