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Top Five Disney Package Film Characters

The mid to late 40s period was a tumultuous one for Disney. The era was populated with package films that consist of two or more stories combined together into a feature and the quality considerably dropped due to budgetary restraints and WWII. Because these films are musicals with some solid songs, the character list is going to be much weaker than the song list. Thus, I only picked five characters of which the first two are actually terrific.

5. J. Thaddeus Toad

Although his segment is the weaker one in the movie, Toad is simply an unforgettable creation from a classic source material. He’s crazy, consistently trying out new hobbies and highly energetic and conniving. He is so well depicted in the Disney version with a great design and excellent interactions with the rest of the cast.

4. Willie the Giant

I decided to exclude the characters that were previously introduced in earlier films and thus there is no Mickey, Goofy or Donald on this list. But Willie the Giant is a new creation and he is quite memorable and a lot of fun. I particularly liked his childlike personality along with his magic capabilities. But he’s also rather smart which was a great choice.

3. Brom Bones

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is easily one of the finest, most grey stories in the Disney canon when it comes to its characters. As Ichabod is very much both a hero and a villain, the same goes for his rival Brom Bones who is definitely portrayed as a villain early on, but could be interpreted as a hero too. He’s a complex, very realistic, macho man and an underrated character for sure.

2. Ichabod Crane

Speaking of Ichabod Crane, he gets the second spot on my list easily as he’s such an unforgettable, different than all other Disney creations. He is intriguingly designed as a rather ugly, unappealing man, he’s very mysterious too and I particularly loved once again how he is neither a villain nor a hero. Such a great character.

1. Jose Carioca

If you’re going to think about the package film era in Disney history, this Brazilian green parrot is undoubtedly going to spring to your mind first before any other of the era’s creations. That’s because he’s such an entertaining, hilarious and consistently amusing guy who has a great accent and a memorable design, always having a cigar in his mouth. His fast talking is consistently funny as are his hilarious interactions with his best pal from America Donald Duck.

Honorable Mentions:

Panchito Pistoles – The Mexican variation of Jose Carioca is nowhere near as memorable, but still very much an essential part of this highly iconic bird duo.

Willie the Whale – Although not all that well developed, Willie the Whale by far got the finest, most moving and beautiful story in otherwise bland Make Mine Music.

Bongo – This little escaped circus bear is also not particularly well developed, but he’s still cute, endearing and with a solid little story to himself.