Film Snark

Donald Duck, a white duck with a blue sailor suit and hat on, sits at a table sharing wine with José Carioca, a green parrot wearing a jacket, high collar, bow tie and straw hat with a black band.
C
Disney Animated Features

Saludos Amigos
Released: February 6th, 1943

This is the first of the "package films" (basically anthologies of shorts). It was.....okay.

This was an all right little film. It's apparently Disney's shortest "feature" film at only 42 minutes, and I'm kind of grateful that's as long as it was. It heavily reuses some content from the Goofy short that's in The Reluctant Dragon (both sketches are about a rider and his horse basically), but it also introduces José Carìoca, who is one of my favorites (at least from nostalgia's perspective - let's see how that holds up when I rewatch The Three Caballeros).

Notable Grossness

Ehhhh....it's a cultural study of South American societies in the 1940s.....nothing overtly racist, but there's an undertone of patronizing in some places. Otherwise, it's actually pretty okay on this front.

Jose Carioca, a green parrot with a yellow jacket and straw hat, holding a black umbrella and wearing a white shirt, dances in a circle, while his hat floats up and down in mid air above his head.  The caption says, 'Dancing parrot is bae'

This is part cultural documentary, part storytelling, and while there's nothing unique about the animation, the cultural perspective is way more respectful than I would have expected from the 1940s. It's cute, and it's short, I like the cartoons, and that's about all I have to say about it. The music is great, though.

December 8th, 2020