An animated, magical, musical version of Charles Dickens' timeless classic "A Christmas Carol", starring the nearsighted Quincy Magoo (Jim Backus).In 2002, TV Guide ranked Mr. Magoo number 29 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list. And he has won an Oscar. And this was the first animated holiday program ever produced specifically for television, predating the classics like Charlie Brown. And, yes, it features the original songs of the Broadway team of Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics), who collaborated on the musical "Funny Girl". So I really need to give Magoo some credit for his importance to cartoon history.But, I am sorry. The animation is outdated, choppy and not very funny. I can give it credit for what it was, but I can not give it credit for what it is. I find it hard to believe that today's audiences would be too excited about this (although I will give them credit for the largely faithful adaptation they did).

UPA was pretty much formed by the animators group that went on strike at Disney in the early forties. Disney called them everything in the book and swore they were a communist plot. he even tried to get even during McCarthyism later in the fifties. well you can assume that UPA wasn't all that enamored with Disney and you would be right.Disney might have tried to get even, but UPA was vindicated so often with priceless material like this Christmas show.it certainly is delightful and makes good use of limited animation as opposed to Disney's full animation style. hand drawing is my favorite kind of animation and limited animation in my opinion, epitomizes it.this also has a winning musical score by Broadway's 'Peter Pan' song writer Jules Styne.Jules Styne is one of my personal favorites and this musical score goes beyond the call for a animated film of this kind.good message too. don't be a blind Magoo and be a scrooge. understand the importance of giving and sharing, especially at Christmastime.

When I started watching this, I expected it to be more like how The Simpsons portrayed it, with Magoo missing up his parts due to his blindness. Surprisingly, that is not the case. This is a very heartfelt adaptation with Magoo himself making a great Scrooge. The songs are very touching, sweet and memorable and while the animations aren't that great, hey, it's old-school Hanna-Barbera. What can one expect, Disney quality? The only thing that's a little off-putting (This may be a spoiler) is that the Ghost of Christmas Present appears before Christmas Past, but that's a minor detail and they made it work.Anyway, this is a very good adaptation of A Christmas Carol and I highly recommend it, especially now that it's finally on DVD.

Another delightful animated rendering of the famous Ghost story with a Christmas message for everyone, especially the young in heart. It's JIM BACKUS behind the voice of Scrooge, having fun with his Mr. Magoo characterization despite the lack of "blind as a bat" jokes. He plays the role fairly straight and is still amusing as that old skinflint who develops a love for mankind after visited by three spirits.JACK CASSIDY makes a fine Bob Cratchet, especially since he's gets to lift his splendid voice in song in tunes that have a definite Broadway sound to them. Surprisingly, no one has thought of turning this into a stage show for Christmas presentations. The material and the songs are there for the asking. There's a wistful sound to some of the ballads.Worth watching for the good blend of story, animation and music, although the George C. Scott version of '84 cannot be topped for bringing the Dickens story to the screen in the most faithful fashion.