The Three Caballeros

Release Date: February 3, 1945

Watch Date: February 1 – February 2, 2023

    I’m not quite sure at what point it was decided that Donald Duck would be the ambassador from Disney to the Latin community, but man did they run with it once the decision was made.

    I’ve been watching this movie since I was in daycare. It was the only movie they let me watch when people were sick and the weather was bad. So maybe that’s where my generally bad feelings about this movie come from – being stuck in a darkened living room during quiet time because some kid had a runny nose.

    Maybe it’s because this film super, super racist.

    Bob would say the latter point should affect me more.

    This movie is a collection of shorts – which I hate. Actually it might be why I hate anthologies, come to think of it. One of them contains the most annoying character Disney had ever made: the Aracuan Bird. Every time this thing has popped on to my screen, for my entire life, I’ve wanted to pull off my ears. And I like hearing. But man, oh man, do I had that dumb bird.

    This movie is also well known for being one of the first times, especially for Disney, that live action and animation ever truly crossed paths. At least in a way that really showed them interacting with one another. There was of course that brief interaction between Mickey and the conductor during Fantasia but that was black outlines and shadows. This was people who had to truly act as if they were on screen with Donald Duck, like he was taking space next to them. No hiding. No outlines. Everyone perfectly in view, in colour, interacting.

    It’s a long way from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ or ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’, but it was the start of something new and that should be appreciated.

    The racist, racist, start.