by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
I’ve always had a soft spot for animation. More years than not, at least a couple of animated features find their way onto my top 10 list. So, I’m setting out to shine a light on some films that may have passed you by. The idea here is to take a look at some underseen gems—so no Toy Story or Frozen here.
Let’s get started.
With the upcoming release of Moana 2, we’re going back to the Disney well for two months straight and taking a look at The Three Caballeros.
The second of two straight Latin America-inspired Disney films featuring Donald Duck, the film takes place in the Wartime Era sandwiched between the previous Golden Age and upcoming Silver Age that I covered last month. This one celebrates Donald’s 10th anniversary, and is a string of a vignettes of him opening his gifts from well-wishers. Though less blatant perhaps than some other wartime efforts, the propagandic purpose of the film is still noticeable here, as part of FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy to better relations in Latin America with the looming threat of the Axis powers.
The vignettes follow three major gifts Donald receives:
The first is a film projector, telling the tale of a penguin dreaming of the tropics and the birds more suited to that climate, including fourth wall-breaking Aracuan pops up throughout, and a winged donkey.
The second is a popup book of Brazil, including a song about Bahia and a trip through the book with Donald and José Carioca, combining live action and animation. (The two characters originally met in the previous Disney animated film, Saludos Amigos.)
For the final gift (from Mexico), Carioca and Donald team up with Panchito Pistoles to form the titular group, including more live action/animation hybrid, as Donald learns more about the customs, people, and places of Mexico.
Though a feature of this era of Disney, I find these more scattershot musical vignettes to be a fascinating result of what the studio was able to produce at the time. Disney’s obviously no strangers to musicals, but the lack of a through line throughout the narrative (or at least just a very loose one) is wild to see in so many of the features of this time, as wartime productions limited the studio’s ability to focus on more traditionally streamlined narratives.
The mixing of live action and animations is fascinating to watch in the middle and final sequences — particularly in certain sequences that place the actors in the middle of a scene, with animated aspects both in the foreground and background. Not nearly as famous as the Mary Poppins chalk scene, I found the similarities to be fascinating roughly 20 years previous to a bona fide classic in the studio’s catalogue. These particular sequences get a bit trippy, too, with some wild and crazy use of color that the studio would go back to in other, more recognizable features.
With something that’s 84 years old, it’s dated in some regards — particularly its portrayal of other cultures (which a message prior to the film on Disney+ mentions). Though certainly not the most egregious example in the company’s history (the whole goal of the film was to foster good will with countries in Latin America with propaganda after all), it certainly does not meet the standards we expect in more modern content. Though a lesser Disney feature, it did spawn a 2018 TV series also currently on the streamer, Legend of the Three Caballeros, which means there had to be enough of a reputation to feel the project was worth a shot.
Warts and all aside, it’s a fascinating feature that’s unlike anything Disney makes anymore — mostly probably for the better — where story takes a back seat to spectacle, and gives a taste of some techniques the studio would later perfect.
I’m excited to continue to geek out on some great animated work you may not have had a chance to catch. Next month, I’m taking a holiday break, but I’ll be back after New Year’s with another underseen Best Animated Feature nominee.
You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd