“Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special” (**1/2 out of four) was a pleasant enough holiday story about the North Pole turning to Santa’s special friend (Mariah Carey) when they are in the midst of a crisis and it’s up to Mariah and her special friends (Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Snoop Dogg, and others) to save Christmas. Dramatic scenes are nonsensical and trivial but music and production numbers are colorfully and lavishly staged and make this a sufficiently entertaining Christmas present, especially for Mariah fans. If she’s a real personal friend of Santa Claus, however, before her next Christmas special- she may want to ask him for some more acting lessons.