Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Motompa
Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Atreyu_II
"The Night Before Christmas" continues the story of "Santa's Workshop", but this time «jolly old Saint Nicholas» is leaving the presents. In this case, in a house with lots of children, while they are sleeping.This is pure Christmas magic and childhood memories: a classic story with Santa Claus, his sleigh and his reindeers. He comes down the chimney to let presents for children, bringing joy and happiness for them. This Christmas spirit feeling already makes this a wonderful animated short, but that's not all.The designs, sceneries and picture quality are pretty good (an improvement over "Santa's Workshop"). The Christmas decorations are beautiful and this cartoon is also full of creativity and imagination: the toys marching (which includes two Mickey Mouse dolls) and decorating the Christmas tree with Santa's help, as well as the moon smiling at the end.Again, Santa Claus makes his funny laughters. The ending is one of the best parts: the children wake up but Santa escapes before they come in. The children open their presents and the youngest one (named Junior) gets a Scottish Terrier puppy as a Christmas present. So sweet! Yet, the children still see Santa from the window. A perfect ending.I consider this even better than "Santa's Workshop", despite being a sequel to that one. Without a doubt, this is one of Disney's finest animated shorts and it doesn't even look that dated."The Night Before Christmas" is one of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and the best of that collection.Curiously, this isn't the only animated short with this title. There's also a wonderful Tom & Jerry cartoon with exactly the same title.
tavm
When I was a kid growing up in the '70s, the only way you could see any Disney cartoons were on NBC's Sunday evening program The Wonderful World of Disney and they were usually limited to those starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip 'n' Dale. So I was wonderfully surprised to find on YouTube a Walt Disney Silly Symphony classic called The Night Before Christmas. Singer Donald Novis sings the beginning verses of that famous poem as we see several children sleeping and then Santa comes with his bag of toys coming to life decorating the Christmas tree. The toys are having lots of fun but while Santa plays the toy piano, the children wake up. The toys get into their boxes and Santa goes back up the chimney as all the kids unwrap their toys. The littlest one named Junior gets a cute Scottish dog as the singer croons the very last verses: "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night." By the way, this cartoon has a little butt cleavage with Junior that I was a bit surprised to see. I am thinking the Production Code eventually put an end to that soon enough! Very enjoyable Silly Symphony that should put the Christmas spirit in anyone under 10 right away. Highly recommend to any Walt Disney animation buff.
Robert Reynolds
While the cartoon does have a dated feel to it in spots, the animation is excellent (a Disney strength during the 1930s) and it still largely works for the most part, although probably not as well for the age group raised on jump-cut, fast-pace edits and Matrix style special effects. Well worth watching. Recommended.
Ron Oliver
'Twas THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and Santa arrives at a home with nine little children. Quickly he sets up a Christmas tree and takes a few moments to enjoy the toys' tiny celebration upon the placing of the star. But now the noise has awakened the children...This follow-up to SANTA'S WORKSHOP (1932) is a very enjoyable cartoon. As in its predecessor, the March of the Toys is both colorful & fun to watch - although the playthings coming out of the bag are completely different from those we previously saw marching into it. (Notice the Mickey Mouse toy which Disney cannily included.) Query: do bad little kiddies live in all the many houses which Santa flies past & ignores?The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.
