Among his birthday presents, Donald Duck finds a projector, a screen and a roll of film. He puts them on and finds it is a film about his Southern relations - a subject Donald would confess he knows very little about. He watches several stories about a cold penguin, a flying donkey and a cigar chewing parrot who introduces him to the beauties (literally) of Brazilian and Mexican culture.
This film was made in an attempt to expose American audiences to cultures other than their own and encourage understanding - apparently, back in the 1940's, America was an insular country with little tolerance or understanding of the issues regarding the rest of the world (of course, that's all changed now). Anyway, in trying to do this, it is difficult to fault the film for it's intensions but it is a lot easier to fault it for it's accomplishments. The basic plot is split into several sections based around several characters. The first few are more or less cartoons that don't really comment much on the other cultures, but the second half mixes animation with live action in an attempt to show how much fun Brazil and Mexico can be.
The first half is bright and colourful and may distract young children but the second half is only interesting because it is rhythmic and energetic - but did it help me appreciate Mexico? Nope! For me, the bigger failing was that this film wasn't very funny. However I suspected that as I came to it - I am more of a Loony Tunes fan as I prefer the madcap comedy that those cartoons bring rather than the more `wholesome' fun of Disney cartoons of the period.
If I had to pick one cartoon duck, it would be Daffy of course, and I'm not a big fan of Donald simply because I can't understand what he is saying half the time. The various other players here are colourful and do what they are required to do but again I prefer a bit of an edge on my characters - and Disney is not the place to get that. The real people are OK but are not really the people you would have seen in these place at the time (or even now!). They are very airbrushed and more often than not they are have had `ethnic' qualities reduced to costume in an effort to show how `they look just like us'.
Overall this is a bright and colourful feature that will distract young children. It doesn't achieve it's aim of enlightening about other cultures, nor does it have much of a story or laughs to keep adults interesting. It is a worthy try and will appeal to Disney fans but most others will have pressed `stop' before the end.
This film was made in an attempt to expose American audiences to cultures other than their own and encourage understanding - apparently, back in the 1940's, America was an insular country with little tolerance or understanding of the issues regarding the rest of the world (of course, that's all changed now). Anyway, in trying to do this, it is difficult to fault the film for it's intensions but it is a lot easier to fault it for it's accomplishments. The basic plot is split into several sections based around several characters. The first few are more or less cartoons that don't really comment much on the other cultures, but the second half mixes animation with live action in an attempt to show how much fun Brazil and Mexico can be.
The first half is bright and colourful and may distract young children but the second half is only interesting because it is rhythmic and energetic - but did it help me appreciate Mexico? Nope! For me, the bigger failing was that this film wasn't very funny. However I suspected that as I came to it - I am more of a Loony Tunes fan as I prefer the madcap comedy that those cartoons bring rather than the more `wholesome' fun of Disney cartoons of the period.
If I had to pick one cartoon duck, it would be Daffy of course, and I'm not a big fan of Donald simply because I can't understand what he is saying half the time. The various other players here are colourful and do what they are required to do but again I prefer a bit of an edge on my characters - and Disney is not the place to get that. The real people are OK but are not really the people you would have seen in these place at the time (or even now!). They are very airbrushed and more often than not they are have had `ethnic' qualities reduced to costume in an effort to show how `they look just like us'.
Overall this is a bright and colourful feature that will distract young children. It doesn't achieve it's aim of enlightening about other cultures, nor does it have much of a story or laughs to keep adults interesting. It is a worthy try and will appeal to Disney fans but most others will have pressed `stop' before the end.