The Three Caballeros

The ever-popular and excitable Donald Duck stars in one of his greatest adventures -- a dazzling blend of live action and classic Disney animation bursting with south of the border sights and sounds! When Donald receives a magical collection of gifts from his Latin American friends, they become his passport to a fantastic musical journey with Joe Carioca and Panchito, the charro rooster. With these experts to guide him, Donald hops, skips, and jumps his way through every splash of local color -- each stop full of surprises and sensational songs!

As a Disney oddity, they don't get much odder than Three Caballeros. Donald Duck receives a birthday package from South America, and the film proceeds to unravel like some peyote-induced hallucination. It starts out reminiscent of other Disney films, where shorts are cobbled together, such as "Make Mine Music" or "Fun and Fancy Free." The film has vignettes such as "The Cold-Blooded Penguin" and "The Flying Guachito." After them it careens straight into part-travelogue, part-stream-of-consciousness animation. Not helping out much are Donald's "friends," Joe Carioca (a parrot) and Panchito (a rooster). They spend most of the rest of the film watching Donald chase skirt. That's right, Donald Duck is a wolf in this movie, and he chases every live-action señorita who bustles across the screen. Although some will say otherwise, Caballeros is for die-hard Disney, Donald, or psychedelia fans only. --Keith Simanton