The Magic Kingdom Project: The Three Caballeros 1944

The One That Went Down Mexico Way

The success of Saludos Amigos took everyone by surprise, even Walt. Since it was nothing more than a favour to the US government and a cheap way for animators to keep doing what they love while WW2 was still happening. No one thought it would succeed…

Donald Duck’s poularity had grown in South America and Jose Carioca had had a strong reaction, so Walt decided to team those two up in a second Latin American package film. Plus he had two shorts leftover from Saludos Amigos that didn’t make the cut, so he slapped a framing device on them and The Three Caballeros was conceived. 

In Saludos Amigos, the guys concentrated on South America, whereas in this one, the focus was more on Mexico, especially on a third bird to make up the THREE Caballeros. On the Good Neighbour trip through South America, the guys gained alot of inspiration from Mexican artwork and its bright and unique designs and colours. And, as you might see if you ever watch the movie, that inspiration was put to excellent use.

Once this was greenlit, the animators went back to Mexico to audition new talent for the live action scenes and to further study the locals and their culture. Walt had only dabbled with blending live action and animation in the past with the Alice Comedies he did in the 20s and the studio's infancy. Plus that brief moment in Fantasia when Mickey’s sillhouette shakes hands with Leopold Stokowski. But the Three Caballeros would be the premiere of using this groundbreaking tech in a much bigger way.

THE PLOT

It’s Donald Duck’s birthday on Friday the 13th (and really, doesn’t that explain everything?). He finds a large box with three presents from his Latin American friends; the first of which is a movie projector and a reel of a documentary on South American birds called “Aves Raras” ("Strange Birds”). And this documentary has two shorts, one telling the story of a little penguin in the South Pole who longs for warmer climes. And the other telling the story of an Uruguayan gauchito who befriends a flying donkey while looking for condors in the mountains. If you think that’s odd, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

The second present is a book called Brasil that opens on Joe Carioca dancing to samba and still playing his umbrella like a dang flute. The book tells of Bahia, which is one of Brazil’s 26 states and Donald and Jose shrink themselves down to both enter the pages and, through a brilliant musical scene, the birds meet some Brazilian locals, dance the samba and fall in love with a cookie salesgirl named Yaya, played by Aurora Miranda (Carmen Miranda’s sister, if you’ve ever heard of her). Despite Donald’s best efforts to at least be noticed by this pretty lady, which include trying to eliminate his rivals with a MALLET, Yaya prefers the company of human men, as opposed to an animated duck. But, she does at least kiss him after he brings her flowers, and his reaction to that kiss causes the entire sequence to become a technicolour LSD trip, complete with men morphing into animated birds, dancing instruments, sentient water spouts, and the entire city landscape of Bahía literally dancing with the music before closing with a snap. If you think THAT’s odd, you still ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

When they get back from the trip, and after Donald has calmed down from his love rush, he realises he’s too small to open his last present, SO, José uses what he calls “just a little black magic” (because, of course that’s something he can do), to get him and Donald back to their former size, though in Donald’s case it takes two goes because he does it wrong the first time.

Then they unwrap the last present which we see is from Mexico, and by so doing, they are tranported into what looks like a visual manifestation of the orchestra, with violins, trumpet, drum, bass, guitar, which somehow, Josè is able to physically grab and play. But then Donald tries to grab and play a trumpet and in so doing, is physically sucked into a trumpet and becomes some sort of manifestation of the movie’s soundtrack, in one of the most abstract moments in Disney history. And finally, when Donald becomes a pulsing piñata, Josè stubs out a cigar on his belly, he explodes and out comes a rooster named Panchito Pistolès, guns blazing. The team complete, they perform together the only song most of my generation would know, and then Panchito takes them on a tour of Mexico on a flying serapè. During which Donald takes the first of several opportunities to hit on pretty Mexican ladies. And the rest of the movie… you’d have to watch it to see, because even I can’t explain what the rest of this movie is. Apart from Donald almost desperately trying to get laid. And therein a SPECTACULAR blend of live action and animation that makes all of Disney's previous attempts look amateur. 

So, this movie had a bigger budget than other package films, and it was longer, so it plays much more like the original five movies. Plus Saludos Amigos was definitely made to be educational, where as this… this is just fun. SO much fun. One of the silliest, most fun movies Disney’s ever done. The crux of the plot, or lack of a plot, is Donald’s aforementioned attempts to hit on pretty Mexican ladies. I admit, by today’s standards he comes across as rather aggressively horny and probably wouldn’t take no for an answer; to say nothing of what Daisy, who had been established as his love interest by this point, might say about his exploits. But the filmmakers seem to have temporarily forgotten/disregarded her.

MY VERDICT

OK, so, several people are probably not going to believe this, but this is one of my favourites. I can’t quite remember how old I was when I first saw it, but I’m pretty sure I was about 5, if that. Which is likely why it’s one of my favourites; the whole nostalgia thing. I love this movie and for years it was my number one favourite. And I’ll watch it pretty much whenever I feel like it, since I own the DVD and I can get it on Disney+.

I strongly recommend everyone else give it a watch too, if you haven’t yet.

Is the Three Caballeros a Disney Classic? It’s hard to call any of the package films classics, but this one is definitely the strongest contender, so, yes I’d give it a pass. A weird, surreal hour and 30 of fun.