Don's Fountain of Youth (1953) Poster

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7/10
A Duck Tale With Gators
Ron Oliver16 October 2002
A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Donald tricks his Nephews into believing he's been magically reverted into an infant after discovering DON'S FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.

The always enjoyable Duck gives a humorous performance in an otherwise routine film. Clarence "Ducky" Nash provides Donald's unique voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.
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7/10
Donald devolves all the way to the egg...or so his nephews think.
planktonrules4 July 2020
Donald is taking his three nephews with him on vacation. However, once they arrive in Florida, the boys have no interest in anything other than reading comic books. So, Donald decides to teach them a lesson. He pretends that he drank from the Fountain of Youth and soon he begins acting like a baby. But this isn't enough and soon he places an alligator egg on the ground and the boys think he 'youthed' all the way back to his egg days! Unfortunately, the mother gator isn't thrilled with this plan...so what's next?

This is an enjoyable cartoon with a novel plot. However, it also sports some very poor animation--particularly the backgrounds. While it's not as bad an many late 50s cartoons with super-minimalistic art, it is an obvious step below the great animation the studio was doing just a few short years earlier. Still, second-tier Disney still ain't bad....and the cartoon is definitely funny.
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8/10
This original blueprint for Dizzy World confirms . . .
pixrox117 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
. . . what all free-thinking rational independents have suspected all along: The main theme of this so-called "amusement park" revolves around feeding defenseless young tykes to giant reptiles. Though everyone remembers one highly publicized such Real Life incident of infant ingestion, no one can say with any authority how many other episodes of urchin munching have been covered up by buying off bereaved parents. This is due to the fact that until recently Dizzy was the law of its land, answerable only to itself. However, it's likely that someone screened DON'S FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH--in which a gator gobbles down Don Duck--for Florida's current hero governor this spring, since he immediately revoked Dizzy's dictatorial powers, and essentially banned them from doing any further business in the Sunshine State.
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7/10
Funny, indeed, until.......
Hitchcoc31 March 2019
What a clever idea. Donald, fed up with his nephew's lack of anything but reading comic books, decides to teach them a lesson. When he come upon a fountain that was mistaken for the fountain of youth. He convinces the boys that he is getting younger and younger, until he is an egg (which he steals from a female alligator). But eventually the alligator wants to get into the act. From here on it gets to be the same old chase thing.
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9/10
Hilarious Donald Short
travisimo3 December 2003
I'm a relatively new fan of good, old Donald Duck. After working at Disney World two years ago, I realized that he is by far my favorite cartoon character of all time. Therefore, I'm not much of a Donald aficionado as the guys who previously commented here, but this is a great Donald cartoon! His skirmish with the crocodile absolutely cracked me up, and the crocodile's line at the end is priceless. Plus, I enjoyed seeing the time period this cartoon takes place in, as Donald had to pour water in his old-timer car. My Dad has a 1928 Ford Model A so it's kind of neat to see something like that duplicated in a cartoon. Great cartoon, may not be a classic to some, but I enjoyed it a lot!

My IMDB rating: 9/10
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9/10
A hilarious fountain of youth!
OllieSuave-0078 December 2015
I first saw this cartoon when it was part of the an episode on Disney's Wonderful World of Color named Kids is Kids. Here, Donald Duck takes his nephews on a Florida vacation, and their car breaks down next to a spring that was mistaken for the Fountain of Youth. Donald decides to teach his disinterested and comic-book absorbed nephews a lesson by pretending he has transformed back to a baby by the fountain.

This cartoon was hilarious from start to finish, especially the part where Donald, pretending to be a baby, talks like a toddler to his three bewildered nephews. Another laugh-out-loud scene is when an alligator starts chasing the ducks away because Donald took one of its eggs, pretending that Donald has shrunk to an unhatched egg.

The animation was great and the story is jam-packed with action and slapstick comedy. Lots of fun here - very entertaining and enjoyable!

Grade A
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10/10
Donald Duck and his nephews in a fun adventure
Atreyu_II30 July 2009
I love Donald Duck and his nephews. They're hilarious. Their similar temperaments and duck-like voice make a full plate.

This is a cartoon which is very classic Disney and Donald Duck. It is great fun and there are hilarious moments in it. In one word, classic humor.

Donald Duck, despite his short temper, isn't a bad guy and he likes his nephews very much. But he also has sense of humor and loves to pull practical jokes on his nephews. He isn't just a duck who gets mad all the time. Here, Donald's nephews get in trouble with a crocodile in a very funny way. Donald himself gets in trouble with the same crocodile in a hilarious way.

Overall, a pretty cool cartoon. One of my favorites from Donald Duck.
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4/10
Wasted opportunities
Squonk27 January 1999
While on vacation in Florida, Donald Duck fools his nephews into thinking he's turned into a baby due to having stepped in a fountain of youth. It's a great premise, but then this short makes a complete U-turn and spends most of it's time with Donald and the boys being chased by a crocodile. Eventually the film runs out of steam and ends very abruptly. Donald's done better.
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10/10
Hilarious, one of my favourite Donald Duck shorts
TheLittleSongbird2 August 2012
I have always been a big fan of Donald Duck, and while not quite one of his best, Don's Fountain of Youth is one of my favourites regardless. The animation is very impressive, all the characters are beautifully drawn and the background art is very colourful. The music is jaunty and full of character also, and while the story is routine in a way it is crisply paced and with never a dull moment. Donald is as wonderful as you'd expect, charming and genuinely caring for his nephews while showing his trademark temperament. Huey, Duey and Louie are cute and rascally and have good rapport with Donald including when Donald rips up the comic book pages because he feels that they are enjoying that rather than enjoying the sights.(I also like the "Uncle Donald's a spoiled brat" line) And the gator is a great foil, interacting well with both the nephews and especially Donald. I especially love the parts where she whacks Donald anyway even when he tells her to be quiet and when she quacks in order to tell her babies who she is, the latter is very cute. The voice work from Clarence Nash is impeccable. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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