The Three Caballeros (1944)
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The Three Caballeros Movie Review
The Three Caballeros is a 1944 animated musical package film which is Disney’s seventh film. It’s a pretty strong, solid sequel that ranks among the better package films.
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“Oh, no, no, Donald! For goodness sake, not Jingle Bells.
In Mexico, they sing Las Posadas“
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The film consists of seven segments. The first two do not contain Donald and therefore they are the weakest. The Cold-Blooded Penguin involves a penguin named Pablo who wishes to move to some warmer place and The Flying Gauchito involves the adventures of a little boy from Argentina and his winged donkey, Burrito.
I found the first segment cute for what it is. It’s rather endearing and sweet, but definitely unremarkable, forgettable and just your regular children’s flick. The second segment actually does have a better story and more memorable characters, but they unfortunately never made use of its potential properly as it pads in pacing, it’s forgettable in action and the second half is particularly weak.
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In the next segment, Baía, Donald Duck thankfully appears and it involves a pop-up book trip through that Brazilian state. It is gorgeously animated, artistic and the most travelogue-like of the bunch, but also definitely slow and forgettable. Las Posadas is the story of a group of Mexican children who celebrated Christmas by re-enacting the journey of Mary, the mother of Jesus and Saint Joseph searching for room at the inn and this segment is the most travelogue-like as well. But having Donald and Jose in this movie means that those travelogue scenes which could have been boring are now at least somewhat involving and they serve their purpose.
Now, the problem I have with Mexico: Pátzcuaro, Veracruz and Acapulco segment is that it is overtly sexual. Donald’s overly expressed desire for live-action women and his eyes popping whenever he sees one is kind of not appropriate and it is also very dated. That aspect alone undermines the film significantly. I did like the interactions between live-action and animated characters, but I did find the sexual tendencies frustrating.
You Belong To My Heart features the song of the same name which is wonderfully sung and it is possibly the most artistic and most Fantasia-like segment in the film. It’s a very charming and particularly well animated segment.
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Finally, Donald’s Surreal Reverie is the last and the best segment. This is a notable scene for live action and animation mixing, as well as animation among the cacti, but the scene is interrupted when Panchito and Jose spice things up for the finale, and Donald ends up battling a toy bull with wheels on its legs. That final scene is what drives this film because it features the charming chemistry between the three, their playful teasing of Donald, who is always the best in those kinds of scenes, and the overall animation and The Three Caballeros song all add up to a wonderful finale which is so much fun to watch and one could wish that the entire movie was so involving and charming as this scene.
So Donald Duck is wonderful here. The overall thread that connects the entire movie and its segments is that Donald got a gift from Jose and he unwraps them and watches stories or experiences adventures in Latin America. He is very funny and the only drawback is his obsession with women, but his interactions with Panchito and Jose Cariora are delightfully cartoony and fun. They share a great friendship. Jose Cariora steals the show once again, but Panchito is also pretty memorable himself.
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The animation is, as in its predecessor, full of artistic vibe. There are scenes where it really can be called an art film because of so much inventive and abstract animation. The animation of the book and that train for instance are all examples of how animation, when done properly, can also add up to the comedy and become a comedic element in itself. It isn’t quite like ‘Fantasia’, but it came close enough. And I would call it easily the best looking package film and one of the most surreal, colorful animated films from Disney along with ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
The soundtrack is quite stupendous. The songs about Baia are so-so and dull, but You Belong To My Heart is a very beautiful ballad. I found it so well sung, romantic and exceedingly charming and exotic. Of course the title song The Three Caballeros is a classic. With wonderful antics from Donald, Jose and Panchito along with catchy and funny lyrics, this song is, without a doubt, one of the very best earlier Disney songs and the song that should pop-up in some top ten lists once in a while, but it does not unfortunately, owing to its notorious package origin and that is why it is probably the most underrated Disney song of all time. It’s a hugely entertaining Latino classic.
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The Three Caballeros is most definitely a sequel to ‘Saludos Amigos’ and thus it is considered to be the first official Disney sequel. It is a big improvement over the original thanks to much better characterization, animation and music. It still has slow pace, uneven quality of its segments and the live-action segments are overwhelming. But the mixing of the two mediums is well done and I do find the film to be among the best when it comes to this package period in Disney history.
The Three Caballeros trumps its predecessor owing to much more screen time between Donald and Jose and the introduction of another great character Panchito. Their scenes are hugely entertaining. It still has its fair share of problems including the first two slight segments, some overtly sexual scenes and the overabundance of live-action footage, but the animation is pretty good and surreal and the soundtrack is quite solid with the titular song being an unfortunately underrated, fun and wonderful Disney classic.
