Review of The Three Caballeros (1944) by Kenneth E — 17 Aug 2014

The 1944 Three Caballeros is that one Disney animated classics that many have heard about, but few have actually seen. The second of Walt Disney's goodwill South-of-the-Border awareness movies, (the first being Saludos Amigos,) this one is also a combination of live action footage from Latin American countries and animated segments.

The animated portions are brilliantly crafted, particularly the colorful, Fantasia-esque Mexican patterns and dancing cacti towards the end of the movie, which is part of Donald Duck's dreamlike hallucination.

This film was so ahead of its time, it elicited feelings of "psychedelic" before that term was even popularized two decades later. Also featured is a short featurette about a boy with a flying donkey, as well as comical Sterling Hathaway-narrated featurette about a penguin seeking to find a warmer climate to live in.

Donald Duck is the primary character for much of the film, though we get a reappearance from Jose Carioca the parrot gentleman from Saludos Amigos, as well as gun-toting, loud-mouthed Panchito Pistoles, a Mexican rooster wearing a giant sombrero.

This movie is a lot of fun to watch, though it does at times, (particularly the Baìa sequence,) feel like a favorable social studies lesson to ease political tensions during the war-era of the 1940s.