The Three Caballeros

The Three Caballeros_360P

source: The Three Caballeros

I thought this movie was made during the late sixties where hallucinagenic drugs were readily available. When I found out it was made in 1945, it makes me wonder how anyone ever thought of this sober. This "movie" is just one long music video. MTV wishes it could be this creative. Donald Duck visits different parts of Mexico and Brazil, sometimes flying on a magic carpet, sometimes riding trains through pop-up books and other weird things. The final 10-15 is an experience. The movie just totally freaks out. It's a kalaedeskope of colors, a psychedellic experience before there were psychedelic experiences. This movie may be a little tedious to watch but the decent songs and the sometimes funny characters should be able to pull you through.

I'm surprised that the Hays Office Code let Walt Disney get away with inappropriateness in cartoons before 1968, which Disney died two years before that code was eliminated. Imagine! Inter-specie intimacy! In a Disney cartoon! It would have been better off given a PG rating back when it was reissued in 1977 because of the suggestive inter-specie themes. At least this is nowhere as disgusting as the atrocious "Foodfight!" (don't get me started on that).

'The Three Caballeros (1944)' is the second of Disney's attempts to repair relations between the USA and Latin America, with Donald Duck joined by previous companion Zé Carioca and newfound friend Panchito on a journey into the cultures of various countries which make up that region. Despite some inventive animation - which includes a couple of properly psychedelic set-pieces - and a generally good intention, the piece just doesn't really entertain. It's far too long for what it is and, frankly, it drags almost all the way through. That's it; there isn't else much to say about the thing. It's boring despite its solid visuals, which is a shame and, ultimately, what makes it one of the worst Disney 'classics'. 4/10

Wildly colorful, almost hallucinogenic offering from Walt Disney plays like "Fantasia" on speed. Though not much more than a hodgepodge of story ideas, the film mixes live-action with animation in saluting Mexican and South American cultures. Donald Duck is the star this time, and his title musical number alongside Joe Carioca and Panchito is a head-swirling collage of colors. The Disney animators were obviously full of inspiration, but the entire movie plays like that drunken elephant sequence from "Dumbo": manic, fruity, sometimes quite fabulous. Entertaining to be sure, and better than its predecessor "Saludos Amigos", but certainly odd and never very popular from the 1940s through the 1960s since Disney rarely circulated it as a whole. *** from ****

"Saludos Amigos" (1942) and "The Three Caballeros" (1944) are really dreadful Walt Disney productions, which were made during World War II supposedly to improve relations between the United States and Latin American countries. Luckily in "The Three Caballeros" the action only takes place in Mexico and Brazil. Of course, there are some attractive things, such as the proto-psychedelic animation of Mary Blair that would flourish in "Alice in Wonderland" (Disney's most "stoned" feature, if you ask me), but almost by rule all is offensive: stereotypes, ridiculous characters or cultural mockery. All the plot offers is Donald Duck opening presents on his birthday, from two Latin American friends: Brazilian José Carioca (from "Saludos Amigos") and Mexican Panchito (Villa, I suppose). Each time a box is open you watch an animated sequence of native songs (including a horrendous English version of maestro Manuel Esperón's "Ay Jalisco no te rajes"). Donald Duck (who looks a lot like Donald Trump in his arrogant behavior) even harasses several Latin women, anticipating the days of his namesake. The only thing that seemed fantastic to me (and it's personal taste, of course) was Carmen Miranda's sister, the sinuous Aurora Miranda who sings and dances in a beautiful and colorful musical sequence composed by Ary Barroso. If Disney has kept "Song of the South" out of circulation because of "offensive treatment of African-American" this film could deserve the same medicine. However, the only thing Disney executives seem to find objectionable is that the characters smoke, so in the DVD edition cigars and cigarettes were deleted, except the one in José Carioca's peak... As "Saludos Amigos", it is a schematic, silly and ugly Disney you can ignore.

Ever since I was a baby I wanted to see this movie and now I did so, thirty years later, I am profounded disappointed. This is nothing but wat propaganda, like what Leni Riefenstahl did for the Nazis with Triumph Des Willens: only that was interesting, and this was plainly boring. And Donald is one unfaithful horny duck!!!

"The Three Caballeros" is a nice little gem of golden-age Disneyana, that could have used perhaps a little more polishing. The Disney Studios apparently produced several pieces around the time period of this animated-live action featurette; "Caballeros" is probably the best known of the series. The basic premise here is that Donald Duck is celebrating his birthday, and a large package of presents is sent to him from friends in several Latin American countries. The event turns into a celebration of Latin culture, focusing on Brazil and Mexico; Donald is given tours by two "colleagues," a cigar-chomping parrot-*-boulevardier named Joe Carioca, and Panchito, a bandito rooster (complete with never-empty six-guns). Perhaps twenty to thirty minutes of the piece is made up of the cartoon characters superimposed over live action, or live actors doing carefully choreographed moves in front of a screen. The techniques are apparent to the eye, and dated by modern standards, but they were reasonable attempts to fuse the two worlds together. More problematical to this correspondent is the last 10-15 minutes; while having a few interesting sequences, the lack of a plot (becoming a dream of random images in Donald's ever-confused thoughts) makes the section drag down the rest of the film. Less importantly, politically correct types may object to the "Hollywoodization" and "Disneyfication" of Latin culture/music that turns it into a progression of scenes from a folkloric or idealized mariachi show. Of course, shows like "The Three Caballeros were never meant to show the actual grit of much of Latin American life.... If you're looking for that reality, avoid this like the plague. If you're looking for fun, good Hollywood-Latin music, and "poorty girls," head out and rent it.

So the idea behind making "The Three Caballeros" was that Disney was building goodwill with Latin America. I suspect that most of the people in hispanophone and lusophone America who saw it left the theater thinking "Disney has a weird idea of goodwill." Basically, it makes the region look like a nonstop party, always populated by sexy women. The representatives are a pair of exuberant birds: a suave Brazilian parrot and a hyperactive Mexican rooster. A real look at Latin America would focus on colonialism and poverty. To be certain, Brazil bulldozed favelas to make room for the World Cup stadium (which will probably never get used again). I know, this movie wasn't really meant to be serious. Even so, pushing stereotypes is not an authentic way to build goodwill.