Unlike Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros was a film that I saw many times as a kid. I rented it a lot from my local video store and enjoyed it thoroughly. Looking at it now, it's odd that a young kid would have liked it because it's quite surreal in moments but for some reason, it just never bugged me. I guess it was because I had a character I liked, Donald Duck, as my anchor throughout all the craziness. It also may have been because it's mainly animation with live action thrown in at key points. If had been a nutty surreal live action flick like a David Lynch movie, I may not have liked it as a kid. Either way, I really loved this film as a kid and still do to this day. While it's a follow up to Saludos Amigos, I feel it's far superior to that film. Thinking about it, the main reason for that is that it's not as upfront a propaganda piece as its predecessor. Its connection to a political situation of the time isn't as strong and therefore, it doesn't feel as dated.
Like Saludos Amigos, the film has no real plot and is mainly a tour of South America, broken up into different segments. The story device that strings it all together is Donald Duck receiving a bunch of presents from his friends in Latin America. At 71 minutes, it's much longer than its predecessor, has more segments, and even though it does kind of lose its focus near the end, it never ceases being enjoyable. Once again, Donald is joined by his friend Jose Carioca, who has a much bigger role here than in Saludos Amigos, and the film also introduces a new character: a wild, pistol-toting rooster from Mexico named Panchito Pistoles.
The first segment consists of Donald opening the first present, which turns out to be a film projector, and watching a documentary about South American birds. The main focus is a cartoon about a penguin named Pablo who tires of the cold of the South Pole and journeys to warmer climates. Narrated by Sterling Holloway, this is a pretty well done little short. Pablo's half-hazard journey is amusing and a like how Holloway's narration starts off impartial but he gets involved in the story. (I know in my Saludos Amigos review, I criticized the narrator of that film for getting emotionally attached to the story of one segment but honestly, Holloway does it so much better that I actually like it.) We're then introduced to a few more birds, including the bizarre Aracuan, who sings a weird song to himself. While I do like the Aracuan, he only appears twice after this segment and then is forgotten altogether. You're led at first to believe you'll see him in the film a lot more but no, which makes me wonder why they bothered introducing him to begin with. This wouldn't be the only film he'd appear in either. Another cartoon is narrated by a gaucho from Uruguay, as we see him as a little boy who encounters a flying donkey and plans to use him to make a lot of money. This is also a good cartoon, even if the narrator shifts back and forth from rhyming and not rhyming.
The film really gets going when Donald opens his second present, a book from Jose Carioca, who shows up and proceeds to talk Donald on a tour of the beautiful city of Baia. First, there is a beautifully drawn montage of the city set to a rather soothing song. Afterward, Donald and Jose actually go to Baia and dance the samba with the locals, including a very lovely young lady by Aurora Miranda, Carmen Miranda's daughter. This is the first of many segments in the film that put the animated characters into live action footage and the effect works quite well even today. One truly amazing part is when the dance gets very surreal and two men mock fight. They become silhouettes of roosters dueling and slowly turn back into men and it's an amazing bit of animation. The music is also really good here and Donald and Jose singing along with the locals never fails to make me smile. After the segment is over, what follows is a routine that never fails to crack me up. After coming out of the book, Donald and Jose are very small but Jose shows him to get back to normal size by blowing into his finger. Jose does it without any trouble but of course when Donald tries, things go awry. His hands get inflated as well as head, his body becomes like a stretched out balloon, and the top of his head stretches out very far. The music and Jose's reactions make it even funnier.
Donald's opening of the third present is the introduction of Panchito and man, does he arrive with a bang! He comes out, firing his pistols, and yelling a madman. This is when the three of them are christened the Three Caballeros and they sing the title song. (I know it's immature but whenever the lyric, "We're three gay caballeros" is sung, I can't help but think of Brokeback Mountain and snicker.) After the song, Panchito shows Donald his present, a pinata, and tells him of the tradition behind it: Las Posadas, where a group of children reenact the journey of Mary and Joseph, going from house to house and asking for posada (shelter) until they reach a friendly house, where festivities take place. This is told in a slide show type of presentation of painted images. Afterward, Donald attempts to break his pinata and after a lot of frustration (not understanding the tradition as a kid, I always thought Jose and Panchito were being mean to Donald by yanking the pinata away from him), finally manages to break it.
We're then treated to another tour, this time of Mexico. Donald learns the dances of both Patzcuaro and Vera Cruz, the latter being my favorite of the two parts. Watching Donald do his nutty dances and the woman he's dancing with trying imitate it is a sight. Both of these episodes are live action with the characters planed in and so is the segment at Acapulco Beach. After seeing a bunch of lovely women in bathing suits by the seaside, Donald puts on his own old-fashioned suit and joins them. Donald's such a wolf in this part. He's chasing the women around, trying to kiss and hug them, even doing so blindfolded. (It'd be interesting to see what the reaction would be if Daisy saw this!) Jose and Panchito have to basically tear Donald away to get him back home. Next comes a portion taking place in the skies above Mexico City, with another lovely Mexican woman singing while Donald swoons over her. This is kind of slow part to the film, with Donald quacking the song while flying around the woman with flower petals around his neck, but, man, do things get crazy when Donald gets kissed!
The last segment up to the end is a surreal sequence of events similar to the infamous "Pink Elephants" scene from Dumbo. It's filled with crazy colors, flowers, Donald hallucinating about Jose and Panchito (Jose singing a helium-esque voice, which is quite funny) and such. The best part is when Donald winds up among a bunch of cacti and a woman in a sombrero uses a conductor's stick to bring the cacti to life and make them dance. Not only does Donald dance with the woman but a bunch of cacti become imitations of him, then grow into various large sizes while continuing to dance. It's crazy but once again, the animation here on the cacti on is very impressive. (Salvador Dali, who worked with Disney on some stuff, must have loved this.) The segment and movie wind down as Jose and Panchito reenter the film, with Donald ending up inside a bull outfit and Panchito "fighting" him. The outfit is full of firecrackers which are inevitably lit and explode for a whopper of a finale.
To sum it up, despite some minor flaws, The Three Caballeros is, at the end of the day, a very well made and enjoyable film. It's surreal, funny, charming, and informative about South American cultures without coming across as a propaganda piece. The animation is incredible, especially in the surreal segments; the combination of animated characters with live action people is pulled off very skillfully; it's a colorful, beautiful looking film; and the music is very memorable. It may not be one of Disney's classics but it's definitely a standout in the series of package films produced during the war.
No comments:
Post a Comment