Donald’s Gold Mine (1942)

Donald’s Gold Mine Review

Donald’s Gold Mine is a 1942 animated short film from the Donald Duck series. It is a surprisingly funny cartoon.

Donald is digging his gold mine, clumsily doing it, which is great fun for his donkey. The issue that I’ve had with this flick is the use of that donkey. He was just there to laugh at the duck with no personality or purpose to him besides that. He could have been cut from the movie and we wouldn’t have lost anything.

What I did love, however, was Donald digging awkwardly and eventually stumbling upon gold only to be swept up by the mechanisms of the mine. That last section was excellent as it was not only gorgeously animated, but also meticulously detailed in all of the machinery and the effects that they had on him. It’s a funny ending and I wished that the rest of the cartoon was as strong.

Donald’s Gold Mine has a superb ending and gorgeous animation, but a weaker first half and a weakly utilized donkey character.

My Rating – 3.8