(courtesy Disney+)
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When Santa mistakes the doodle on a girl’s list for a holiday wish, she wakes up on Christmas morning to find an unusual new friend under the tree. Directed by Taika Waititi and featuring the voice of John Goodman, the short follows the heartwarming story of the friendship between a girl and her unfinished Doodle. (courtesy Disney+)
Oh the things you can accomplish in just a few short minutes, especially if you’re a master storyteller like New Zealand’s incomparably good, Taika Waititi.
The Oscar winner has joined forces with Disney for a second year in a row, following up 2024’s touching Christmas short, A Disney Holiday Short: The Boy and the Octopus with A Disney Holiday Short: Best Christmas Ever where a young girl’s Christmas letter to Santa ends up delivering her an unrequested best friend when a doodle on the opposing page, still attached to the letter, is interpreted by Santa as part of her overall gift request.
Voiced (eventually) by John Goodman, who has an illustrious history of giving life to a variety of Disney & Pixar animated characters, James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (Monsters & Monsters University) and Pacha (The Emperor’s New Groove), her technicolour woollen best friend becomes a very special part of the family, an enthusiastic lover of life who wants for nothing … save for the ability to talk.
Anything is possible at Christmas and as you’ll see in this delightful, perfectly pitched short, which has all the feels packed in a perfectly packaged short running time.
What makes this story uniquely Disney is the fact that it’s set in the world of a kid,” said Waititi. “It’s a kid and her new best friend, navigating the complex world together, and doing it just with the power of friendship and imagination. (Animation World Network)
A Disney Holiday Short: Best Christmas Ever streams on Disney+