The Three Caballeros
Year: 1944
Director: Norman Ferguson
Starring: Joaquin Garay, Clarence Nash & Jose Oliveira
Runtime: 71 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 28/01/21
Director: Norman Ferguson
Starring: Joaquin Garay, Clarence Nash & Jose Oliveira
Runtime: 71 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 28/01/21
If you read my review of Saludos Amigos you’ll know I was not overly favourable to the film. It was pitifully short, and the content contained within I couldn’t really see appealing to anyone in particular. It’s an oddity of sorts in the Animated Classics line, especially because around half of the film was live action. So, I’m sure you’ll understand my hesitation when confronted with The Three Caballeros, a follow up to Saludos Amigos, and the next film in Disney’s Animated Classic’s line-up.
To celebrate Donald Duck’s tenth anniversary Disney Animation Studios produced The Three Caballeros in which Donald (Clarence Nash) receives presents from his Latin-American friends and family, each gift providing him with insightful information on different regions of South America.
That’s basically the whole plot to the film and many of the subjects brought up in Saludos Amigos make a return in Three Caballeros (such as Gaucho’s, a South American cowboy). In many ways it does feel like a sequel to the events of that film, however considering Saludos Amigos didn’t have a plot and neither does Three Caballeros it feels odd to call it a sequel.
Three Caballeros is made up of six segments, some of which follow on from each other and some do not. Each segment informs Donald of various aspects of South American life and customs dependant on the region he is learning about. He is joined by Jose Carioca (Jose do Patrocino Oliviera), the parrot from Saludos Amigos’ final segment, and a new character Panchito Pistoles (Joaquin Garay) later in the film as they are joined by real performers to create a musical number.
To celebrate Donald Duck’s tenth anniversary Disney Animation Studios produced The Three Caballeros in which Donald (Clarence Nash) receives presents from his Latin-American friends and family, each gift providing him with insightful information on different regions of South America.
That’s basically the whole plot to the film and many of the subjects brought up in Saludos Amigos make a return in Three Caballeros (such as Gaucho’s, a South American cowboy). In many ways it does feel like a sequel to the events of that film, however considering Saludos Amigos didn’t have a plot and neither does Three Caballeros it feels odd to call it a sequel.
Three Caballeros is made up of six segments, some of which follow on from each other and some do not. Each segment informs Donald of various aspects of South American life and customs dependant on the region he is learning about. He is joined by Jose Carioca (Jose do Patrocino Oliviera), the parrot from Saludos Amigos’ final segment, and a new character Panchito Pistoles (Joaquin Garay) later in the film as they are joined by real performers to create a musical number.
Three Caballeros does fix some of the issues I had regarding Saludos Amigos, particularly that the topics it covers are considerably more in depth this time around. However, it doesn’t make them any more interesting to learn about. Whilst the monotone narration of Fred Shields is gone, his various replacements don’t fare much better. Factoring in the films longer runtime (at a now more respectable seventy one minutes), this makes Three Caballeros a more difficult watch that Saludos Amigos at times because you have that lingering thought in your head of just how much longer it’s going to go on for.
The animation quality is generally better. Whilst I enjoyed the final segment of Saludos Amigos for its unique animation style, that is not present in Three Caballeros. However, despite the animation overall being somewhat improved, it still isn’t up to the standard of Disney’s classics from the Golden Era. I understand that Disney were in a tight spot with most of their animators being enlisted to fight in the war, and their budgets were slashed considerably, but it seems almost half hearted.
In summary, The Three Caballeros is just as bad, if not in some cases worse than Saludos Amigos. It is a film that I do not see really appealing to anybody, and its attempts to be educational fall by the wayside by its flat delivery and unimaginative presentation. Ultimately whilst I can understand that the conditions these films were made under were difficult and considerably less than ideal, it begs the question of whether Disney should have bothered at all if this is all they could muster.
The animation quality is generally better. Whilst I enjoyed the final segment of Saludos Amigos for its unique animation style, that is not present in Three Caballeros. However, despite the animation overall being somewhat improved, it still isn’t up to the standard of Disney’s classics from the Golden Era. I understand that Disney were in a tight spot with most of their animators being enlisted to fight in the war, and their budgets were slashed considerably, but it seems almost half hearted.
In summary, The Three Caballeros is just as bad, if not in some cases worse than Saludos Amigos. It is a film that I do not see really appealing to anybody, and its attempts to be educational fall by the wayside by its flat delivery and unimaginative presentation. Ultimately whilst I can understand that the conditions these films were made under were difficult and considerably less than ideal, it begs the question of whether Disney should have bothered at all if this is all they could muster.