Release Date First television showing : September 11, 1999

Synopsis

Huey, Dewey and Louie are building a snowman for the big snowman contest, but Donald's skating mishaps destroy their first attempt. Can their revenge be far away?

Characters

Donald Duck (Voice : Tony Anselmo)

Huey, Dewey and Louie (Voices : Tony Anselmo)

Abominable Snowman

Mr. Jollyland (Voice : ?)

Television

Mickey Mouse Works : Season 2 : Episode 1

Mickey Mouse Works : Season 2 : Episode 7b

House of Mouse : "Clarabelle's Christmas List"

DVD

Mickey's Magical Christmas : Snowed In at the House of Mouse

Comments

The original title of this short was "Snowmania." The original synopsis had Donald showing off for Daisy, but she was apparently written out of the action.

From Patrick Malone : Another entertaining short; sort of a cross between "On Ice" and "Donald's Snow Fight" with a little bit of "Once Upon a Wintertime" thrown in for good measure. Huey, Dewey and Louie find some quite creative methods to build a snowman, so you know Donald is going to find some way to destroy it. Twice. In their revenge, the nephews begin a crack in the ice, which I'm tempted to list as an actual character since the crack does get some of the better gags ("Look! It's Mickey Mouse!") But you know the nephews are going to be on top in the end anyway.

From J. D. Weil : The style is more visual than before, but the gags appear to be recycled from other shorts; e.g. The snowman is from "Donald's Snow Fight", Donald's attempts at skating is from "On Ice", and the the traveling crack comes from "Chef Donald". Aren't there any original ideas out there?

From Juan F. Lara : This short didn't have a plot. Instead it morphed from one episodic sequence to another, from Donald's slipping to the crack to the snowman. I thought that this format worked in that each sequence went on just long enough to stay funny and the gags each sequence had were good. Donald's problems with slipping ended quickly enough. The crack sometimes looked silly when it got too anthropomorphized, but they portrayed it imaginatively when it went through the tree and then through the dark. I LOL'ed at the visual pun the snowman turned out to be. I knew then how the short would end, and that ending had a good payoff in the reactions of both the snowman and the nephews.

I was expecting this short to be Donald vs. the nephews the whole time, like in a classic short I remember of Donald attacking the kids' ice fort. But the nephews didn't have much time onscreen. They pulled only one prank on Donald to get back at him, and that prank eats up most of the shorts' second half. Also, for a change Donald wound up running away from the nephews' wrath, and he looked pretty scared of them. I found the short very entertaining because of these atypical ways of using the nephews in the story.

From David Gonterman : Another great formula for Donald, have his three nephews join in, have Donald do something to them, have the kids go to that famous huddle - complete with points and peeks - and watch the fun. I know they'll make more of these, so I'll use this as the benchmark.

From Lee Suggs : A fun short that begins with a very creative assembly of a snowman by Huey, Dewey, and Louie. (Their method has to be seen to be believed, or not believed.) Of course, Donald comes skating along and destroys their work. The boys retaliate by cracking the ice, and initiate a series of very clever gags with the crack. (My favorite was Donald getting the crack to turn around by saying "Look Mickey Mouse!". I've been the victim of that one at Disneyland several times.) Donald eventually is chased into the cave of the "Abominable Snowman" (wonder where they got that name?) The gags in this short are great, and it has an amusing ending. One of the best of the new Donald Duck shorts.

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