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An improvement over Saludos Amigos, but only barely, The Three Caballeros plays less like its own film and more like an extension of the previous one. I don’t mean that it plays like a sequel, I mean that it plays like the leftover story ideas that didn’t make it into the first film shoved together to make this one.
There’s another wrap-around segment, this time it’s Donald Duck celebrating his birthday and opening presents from his friends in Latin America. It works well enough, and a few of the segments actually improve upon my problems with the prior film in that they’re more engaged with various cultures. There’s also less of an inclination to make the segments strict narratives, and the best ones are actually the surreal, expressionistic ones that abandon a story in favor of eye-popping colors and experimental animation.
There’s seven segments this time, so let’s start by talking about the ones that don’t work as well. “The Cold-Blooded Penguin” narrated by Sterling Holloway is about a little Antarctic penguin who dreams of living in warmer climates. It’s too cutesy for words, and doesn’t engage enough with any particular culture, treating Latin America as an idealized exotic land. “Las Posadas” features great artwork from Mary Blair, but why they decided to highlight a Christmas tradition instead of unleashing their immense talents on a Mexican myth is odd. A flying sarape tour of Mexico displays Donald as a horny aggressor towards a group of spicy senoritas, and it’s exactly as questionable as it sounds.
There’s a cute segment called “The Flying Gauchito” about a little boy in Uruguay who discovers a flying donkey that straddles the line. I think fall harder on the enjoyment side of things than on finding it questionable. I just find that it times it rests too hard on technical skill, and not enough on creating something more memorable.
Everything else works much better. The best moment once again belongs to José Carioca and a surreal tour with Brazil. This time we explore the city of Bahía, starting off with a Mary Blair wonderland and ending with an extended musical sequence involving Aurora Miranda. It’s charming, vibrant, and whimsical, and exactly the kind of thing that these films needed more of.
The introduction of Panchito Pistoles, a Mexican rooster, brings about some of the better moments as well. “The Three Caballeros” musical number is quick-paced and has a free hand with the visual gags. It’s charming from beginning to end. Same thing happens with Panchito and José goof around with Donald and a piñata. The explosions of colors and shapes shows the Disney animators playing around in a looser way that recalls moments from Dumbo or Fantasia. “You Belong to My Heart” and “Donald’s Surreal Reverie” are equally fantastic, and if The Three Caballeros had more segments like this I would easily classify it as an unheralded masterpiece of the Disney canon.
