The Three Callaberos is a one in a string of mostly forgotten films made by the Disney Studios in the mid-to late 40's. Disney's technical masterey of the animated film unfortantley worked against them in this period. The goverment ordered the studio to make propaganda and technical training films for the troops, so it was unable to make it normal entertainment product. This meant Disney was the only studio not to propser finicially in the WWII era, and it took several years for the company to come back. Artistically, however, Walt Disney himself would never return, mostly allowing his films to be others, with himself as supervisor. Worse, the man who had pushed the animation film forward became complacent. The artist behind such emotionally stirring films as Fantasia and Bambi now oversaw an empire of blandness.
And "bland" is the best way to describe The Three Caballeros. I like to see movies in order, but I made a mistake and saw this sequel to Saludios Amigos before I saw the original. Both were designed to drum up American support for its Latin American allies in the WWII. In a sense, the film is one long commerical for South America. Like all of Disney's mid-40's output, there is not one continious story, probably because the studio was afraid it would be unable to complete a feature and have to release the material as shorts.
It begins as my favorite Disney character, Donald Duck (voice of Clarence Nash) recives birthday presents in the male from his pals in South America. After he watches two boring movies (one about a penguin trying to move to a warmer climate and the other about a kid and his annoying donkey) he opens a pop-up book and finds his parrot friend Jose Carioca (Jose Olivera) from the last film. The duck and the parrot then go on a tour of South America, where they meet a bunch of live-action singers, who perform some of the worst music ever written for a Disney film.
It's a lot harder to review a movie that is bad because it's boring than one that is bad because of horribly misguided filmmaking choices. Leonard Maltin's book on Disney says that many animations fans like the movie because of its many technical innovations. But so what if the movie is lame? Donald Duck is usually funny but he has none of his usual edge (though all of his usual incomprehensivenss) and there is a reason that Jose Carioca has not joined the family of beloved Disney characters. The movie is interesting because in its attempt to impress American audinces it brings out a lot positive Latino stereotypes. Everyone is happy and plays salsa music (plus the weather is amazing). I wonder why white audinces from this period where unable to accept people different from them as fully human but with a different culture, but instead needed obvious characitures.
Unless you need to see every animated Disney film, you can skip this. I have a feeling that the rest Disney's 40's movies after Bambi are going to be the same. But that's not going to stop me.
The Three Caballeros (1945)