Author Topic: Disney animation marathon: Saludos Amigos (1943)/The Three Caballeros (1945)  (Read 19485 times)

Melvil

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These two movies were sorta interesting going into because, until this marathon, I didn't even know they existed. They're the first movies in the marathon I haven't seen, but since all the previous ones are now considered classics, I figured it was quite telling that these two fell into obscurity. After watching them, I can't say I'm surprised. They're interesting movies, especially after reading the history of them (thanks 1SO and Edgar!), but just not that good on their own.

Saludos Amigos

Saludos Amigos has the benefit of some really fun animated segments, but the live action and "edu-tainment" aspects of it really hold it back. It is unfortunate that the live action is so front heavy, because it causes things to get off to a slow start. The documentary aspect also did not date well and seemed somewhat quaint (I think Edgar alluded to this when talking about the description given of South American music). Much of that can probably be attributed to there being less of a cultural divide these days, but it didn't come off well.

On the plus side, I really enjoyed most of the animated sequences. The rope bridge was humorous, and Donald is great. Goofy's segment was also a lot of fun (especially loved the slow-motion replay). My favorite though, as mentioned in the poll, is Pedro the Plane. I don't know why it worked so well for me, but it was the one segment that actually had a self contained story, and I liked the cleverness of the narration. The punchline of the story made me laugh too.

I enjoyed Saludos Amigos, but it is just not that memorable. It's short running time is a godsend, otherwise it could've easily overstayed it's welcome. Speaking of which...

The Three Caballeros

At the start I was pleased with how The Three Caballeros gets underway, jumping right into some fun animation with Donald. The following segments don't disappoint either, with a fun little story about a penguin longing for a warmer climate.



The Flying Guachito was okay, but not my favorite segment. Jose Carioca returns and brings a boatload of fun and personality with him. Things are going great, until these people show up.


Ugh, we're pretty much screwed from this point on. Despite a few highlights to come, the rest of the movie is just downhill. The combination of live action and animation is interesting from a technical perspective, does anybody know if this was an innovation at the time? I can only imagine it was an influence to Mary Poppins years later, but I'm curious if it had been done before. But anyways, the way it's used here just isn't very good.

The final sequence goes absolutely insane in Pink Elephants on Parde drug-trip style, but it's more "WTF, this is stupid" than, "WTF, this is awesome!"




Despite a stronger start than Saludos Amigos, the longer length and abysmal second half push The Three Caballeros into my last place slot. (and for the first time, there's a definite gap in quality between these movies and the next up the list)



1. Snow White
2. Bambi
3. Dumbo
4. Pinnochio
5. Fantasia
6. Saludos Amigos
7. The Three Caballeros

1SO

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Great screenshots explaining the back half.  It really is a bit of a tragedy.  I would be all for remaking the movie, keeping the front half in tact and creating new setpieces for the back half.

Of course I assume when we refer to the 2nd half as being terrible, nobody is including "The Three Caballeros" song in with the rest of the heap.

edgar00

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The Three Caballeros (1944)


This, the second Disney produced film that was part of the Goodwill mission for Latin America put into execution in the 1940s. For this reason, the film, its and characters and 'plot' included, concentrate all its time on visiting various Latin American locations. Brazil is back for another segment, and some new locations that weren't seen in Saludos Amigos make appearances, such as Mexico and the South Pole (wtf?)

This will be one of the shorter reviews I write for the marathon,  mostly because I'm going to echo much of what has been written thus far and because, again like the other, this is a weak sequel (if it can be called such) to Saludos Amigos, which was already one of the weaker entries in the franchise to begin with.
 


I wish to get something off my chest immediately. It turns out that I can only handle Donald Duck in small doses. As a supporting character (as was the case in Saludos Amigos) or when he only has a brief cameo, I can handle. But a feature length film in which he is awarded the spotlight? No thanks. I find his attitude and voice become grating very quickly. Truth be told, I had to play some bits of dialogue a second time because I didn't understand what the heck he was saying. Apologies to Donald Duck fans out there, but I ain't joining your camp any time soon. He is the focus of much of the humour for the entirety of the movie and I simply wasn't that amused with him.

I think the main issue I had with The Three Caballeros was how it took some of the good parts that were featured in Saludos Amigos and made them drag for too long. The inclusion of song and dance numbers, while interesting because I do in fact kind of like some kinds of South American music, was oversused.  I can understand that the neat part about those sequences this time around lied in the fact that both animated characters and live-action footage were combined together in individual sequences, and I won't lie, it is a neat trick. For about 5 minutes. But they milk it, and milk it, and milk it. Yes it's cool, but damn that sequence with Donald and José dancing with the Brazilian chick is long. What I liked about Saludos Amigos was how the filmmakers found inspiration for many kinds of stories on Latin American culture. Dance, music, gauchos, nature (the Andes most notably). Here it seems like they were content with giving the viewer a bunch of song and dance numbers. I know this may sound weird since only a few weeks ago I praised Fantasia, which is essentially a series of musical numbers, but I didn't find it as impressive here. For a film that's longer than its predecessor, there seems to be less variety this time around.




The new supporting characters weren't all that amusing here either. José Carioca may have had a big mouth, but there was something smooth and cool about him. He talked a lot, but he was somewhat classy about it. This Pistoles parrot or whatever the heck is has got nothing on José. He just yells, jumps and shoots his pistols in the air. How many freaking bullets do those guns carry anyhow? Fine, that opening song when he appears is alright, I can't deny that, but I felt the quality of his presence goes way downhill from there on end. And there were these weird little touches that I couldn't wrap my head around. Magic carpet rides, Pistoles turning a picture into some kind of portal to the real world with a zap emanating from his wings (wha?..), José and Pistoles stuffing Donald with fire crackers near the end,etc. This I felt was doubly unfortunate because José pretty much gets the shaft from that point onwards. I felt the same kind of pang inside when that little singing bird makes its appearance. Wow, that wasn't funny. That's the kind of character my 6 year old brother would like. I'm not 6 years old.

As strange as it may sound, my favourite part, despite its weaknesses, was the opening episode, which actually deals with a penguin living in the South Pole who wants to go to South America. It has its fair share of funny moments, even though there were some moments I really didn't get. If he's a penguin, and from what I know all penguins can swim, why the heck does he want to take a boat to his fantasy island? You can call me out for fishing for things to criticize about the movie, but I did find that pretty silly. And what was up with that last line, something like 'It's in human nature, even for penguins'? That came off pretty weak.

Another episode I was at least lukewarm towards was the flying donkey segment. I liked the narration, which was played around with depending on what was happening on screen.





This will get people asking what's wrong with me, but I didn't buy the entire 'Donald' in love with human woman. For me that just came off as silly. Yeah, it lead to some good sequences in which animation and live-action were used in combination, but the premise had me shaking my head. How the heck do you explain that? Is this woman going to reciprocate? Maybe this is just some small part inside me that has been in a desperate search to bitch about stuff in this marathon since the beginning. So far, the movies have been good to great, so that little part inside me has gone thirsty until now. 'But Edgar, it's just a cartoon, chill out man!' Yeah, I know it's a cartoon and I found that silly. If you remember, I did point this out in my 'questions and oddities' segment for Pinocchio by wondering why the heck Jiminy was going all goo-goo eyes over wooden female puppets and toys. I just don't get it when stuff like that happens.

Good amination (to be expected by now however), some clever combining of cartoon characters and their live-action counterparts, good music in parts, but overall this was mostly unfunny, showed less variety than its immediate predecessor, and to me, was plagued by these weird plot points (a penguin wanting a boat, Donald obsessing over human females). This was in my opinion the worst film by far in this marathon. Because I'm a decent bloke, I can't call it terrible for the few bright spots I pointed out, but overall I was very unimpressed.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2009, 09:56:28 PM by edgarchaput »
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edgar00

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The final sequence goes absolutely insane in Pink Elephants on Parde drug-trip style, but it's more "WTF, this is stupid" than, "WTF, this is awesome!"


I should have just quoted you.
-Le Chiffre: You changed your shirt, Mr Bond. I hope our little game isn't causing you to perspire.

-James Bond: A little. But I won't consider myself to be in trouble until I start weeping blood.

https://twitter.com/Betweentheseats
http://crabkeyheadquarters.wordpress.com/

Melvil

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The Three Caballeros taught me that Donald Duck is horny as hell.

But yeah, it's a little weird. I think your whole assessment is fair, I had most of the same problems with it as you, although it sounds like I probably got more enjoyment out of it.

I wonder if some kind of Saludos Amigos / The Three Caballeros mashup could be made to combine only the best parts of each. It would be a whole lot more watchable. ;)

Of course I assume when we refer to the 2nd half as being terrible, nobody is including "The Three Caballeros" song in with the rest of the heap.

Yeah, I think I said there were still some highlights in the second half. That was one of the better moments.

Melvil

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One thing from The Three Caballeros I forgot to mention.


I thought this was a really interesting sequence for a Disney film. It's a very different style than what we're used to from them, and granted it's not actually animated, I liked seeing such a different approach being used to tell this story.

edgar00

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I wonder if some kind of Saludos Amigos / The Three Caballeros mashup could be made to combine only the best parts of each. It would be a whole lot more watchable. ;)


There wouldn't be a whole lot from Three Caballeros that would make it into that film. Maybe the flying donkey episode.
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1SO

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I wish to get something off my chest immediately. It turns out that I can only handle Donald Duck in small doses. As a supporting character (as was the case in Saludos Amigos) or when he only has a brief cameo, I can handle. But a feature length film in which he is awarded the spotlight? No thanks. I find his attitude and voice become grating very quickly. Truth be told, I had to play some bits of dialogue a second time because I didn't understand what the heck he was saying. Apologies to Donald Duck fans out there, but I ain't joining your camp any time soon. He is the focus of much of the humour for the entirety of the movie and I simply wasn't that amused with him.

You're thinking is not too far outside the mainstream.  When the film went into production, it was widely believed by the studio that Donald's character couldn't sustain a whole feature.  However, he was popular enough to sell a lot of tickets, and his screen time allowed the studio to advertise the promise of a feature-length Donald even though they knew he would wear on the viewer.

Having Donald be such a woman chaser I think may be more a reflection of the more openly sexist time when the film was released.  It was like Disney was selling vacations to Mexico on the promise that the women there find our chasing after them to be amusing and they will happily return the lustful favor.  In truth, it confused kids who wondered why Donald was cheating on Daisy... and with a human, of all the nerve.

The interaction between live action and animation was something that Walt previously attempted with a series of shorts known as Alice Comedies.  In the Alice Comedies, a live actress (Alice) is introduced into the cartoon world, whereas in The Three Caballeros animated characters are in the real world.  It was decided that the best way of achieving this effect was to use rear projection of the animated characters on a 14ft by 20ft screen, with live actors performing in front.  Great care was taken to make sure the animation didn't lose quality being blown up to such a scale.

1SO

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It's also worth noting that The Three Caballeros are popular enough to justify their own Disney World attraction.  Over at Epcot, there's a boat ride inside the Mexican Pavillion called the "Gran Fiesta Tour".

Once again, the animated caballeros are blended with live action, but it's much more lively and fun here.
It ends with a newly animated version of their signature number.

They also appear outside the pavillion to meet and greet the kids.

Bill Thompson

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Saludos Amigos (1942)

I honestly don't have that much to say about Saludos Amigos. It wasn't a bad film, it just wasn't a film that grabbed me. My lack of detailed thoughts on Saludos Amigos is tied to the fact that the film didn't grab me. It was interesting most of the time, but even when I was interested I wasn't engrossed in what I was seeing. It doesn't sound like much of a distinction, but it is an important distinction to make, interested but not engrossed.

The animation found in Saludos Amigos was good, but it wasn't special by any means. No individual segment stood out to me, nor did any new characters created just for this picture. Watching Donald Duck and Goofy is always fun, and that was what Saludos Amigos had most in its favor. I did have fun watching the movie, but it was more along the lines of background fun, you know, the type of movie that if you see it in the background you think, "Hey, that was fun" but you never go out of your way to make sure you pay attention to what's on the screen.

Saludos Amigos is what it advertises, a travelogue through parts of Latin America that Disney wants to highlight. It is fun, but it is pretty frivolous and not something that will draw you in. There isn't much to Saludos Amigos, there's nothing terrible or awesome about the movie. It's fun, and that's all there is to it.

 

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