"The Three Caballeros" is a fun, classic Disney cartoon... once you survive the first 1/2-hour. As is the case with "Saludos Amigos," much of this geography lesson feels very disjointed as the writers try to string together several segments about South America. The biggest problem with this film is that the main characters barely appear in the first 30 minutes... but are then the focus for the remainder of the film (which coincidentally is the entertaining part). It still can't compare with the cohesive stories of Disney's other feature-length animated films (except for the dreaded "Black Cauldron") but, unlike "Saludos Amigos," this one is definitely worth watching because of its excellent mixes of live-action and animation. In fact, it is worth watching just for its most famous sequence in which Aurora Miranda sings and dances with Donald and Jose Carioca. I also really love the sequence where Donald is running around the beach with all of the live-action girls - Walt Disney always had a great vision and his creativity is very obvious in the second half of this movie. My favorite caballero (and one of the coolest Disney characters ever) doesn't come in until the final section of the film (Mexico), but Panchito Pistolas is worth the wait! The film jumps up 10 points in the "fun" category once he enters. This film is worth watching as preparation for the Mexico pavilion at EPCOT in Disney World, but the next time that I watch this I plan on beginning half-way through. The first half is so unrelated that the film will make perfect sense and then I'll be able to enjoy the film's creativity without being forced into a 1/2-hour nap beforehand.
[Pictured: Donald Duck, Panchito Pistolas, and Jose Carioca]
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