User reviews

Animators on assignment from Walt Disney tour South America (along with Donald Duck!) to soak up new cartoon ideas. This long-unseen Disney item is full of color and music, but is obviously a holding-pattern release for the company. I watched the film on video, coupled with the quite-entertaining additional 20-minute documentary which regales even more of the non-animated adventures. Never too popular with the kids, probably because a major cartoon segment involving Pedro the Airplane isn't very funny and lacks the local flavor. Otherwise, some visually dazzling bits but not as good as the similar "The Three Caballeros", released in the US in 1945. **1/2 from ****

I think the reviews of the other posters has been pretty accurate. It is very nice in the era of pixar to see the lush animation of Disney. The special feature South of the Border is fascinating. I hope these Disney travelogues are preserved and digitally enhanced because it would be a great shame to lose them. The picture quality is poor but it is better than not having any recollection at all. The narration is pure Disney and its all about the research that went into the main feature. Of course its testimony to history that seen through the eyes of middle upper class Americans its not really as accurate as Walt thought it was. Some of the facts are not facts at all. They call one creature a rabbit in the documentary but its certainly not a rabbit. It is a capybara. In the cartoon they even have an ostrich in South America!! Still despite the flaws the documentary is a charming bonus with some nostalgic images. Saludos is a pretty good cartoon although I thought the little aeroplane story was quaint it is anthromorphism gone crazy. Everyone's favourite duck with a speech impediment is fun. I never understood a word Donald said but loved his attitude. Goofy steals the movie. It took me years to realise Goofy was a dog! Its a pleasant Disney movie while not being a great one.

When I first heard that Disney was going to release a number of films from the early years which had been "almost forgotten," I was very intrigued. Would there be another Sleeping Beauty or Fantasia hiding out there?

Sadly, Saludos Amigos falls very short of "Disney classic" status. It is basically forgettable.

There are a few smile-inducing moments, but overall the piece really does feel like a "keep the Sudamericanos on our side against the Nazis" period piece from the WW2 era. It's strange to watch a movie made in 1943 with live action sequences of South America looking so peaceful and unaffected by the world's events. Sure, the region was less involved in WW2 than many other regions... but, it is still strange to watch.

Anyway, I'd sum it up thusly: 1. Worth buying if you are a Disney collector and 2. Worthy of note simply to see live shots of Buenos Aires, Lago Titicaca, and Rio de Janeiro, filmed almost 60 years ago.

Other than that, you can skip this one.

This more than any other film shows the plight of the Disney studio in the years following "Snow White" and "Pinocchio".

WWII had broken out, cutting off Disney's European market. In addition, striking cartoonists and their formation of a guild/union meant that the massive about of labor needed to create a "Snow White" or a "Pinocchio" now amounted to a substantially higher production cost then either of those two films (which had not been cheap to begin with).

Thus, Disney was trying to explore new ways to both package his product for another market, as well as develop new product.

They released this movie and capitalized on the then-popular South American craze. Now, however, it looks dated.

You can still it watch it though and see the genesis for several of Disney's later films: "The Three Caballeros" and the whole "How-To" Goofy series are the most obvious.

This is the fore runner of the many of the Disney TV shows of the 50's, 60's and 70's, mixing live action travel footage with cartoons that tie into the subject.It is also the first of the multi-short film that Disney would release as feature through the 1940's and early 1950's, but its one of the better ones since the pieces are all about on the same level. This, to me, is a better film than the Three Caballeros which followed it and which more people know about than this.

There are really only only four shorts, Donald a tourist, Goofy as a gaucho, Pedro the mail plane, and a piece set to the song Brazil that introduces Joe Carioca.

The real problem with this film is it just stops. Brazil ends and so does the movie. I know they say leave them wanting more but this is ridiculous.

This is a renter. The DVD box says its 75 minutes, but only if you include the short documentary, which is almost as long as the movie itself. If you and your kids like it, then buy it, but its too little to be throwing 20 bucks away on.

A fairly ordinary Disney travelogue cartoon. Ironically, the live action sequences are more interesting than the cartoons, although Goofy's turn is actually quite informative.

Definitely dated, but still entertaing! More like a documentary than a cartoon! I liked how they show the live action, and then the animation. You can see how the artists incorporated what they were exposed to! The Brazil piece was my favorite, more for the music than anything else!

p.s. - My kids liked this, but they prefer "Three Caballeros"!

I have been a huge Disney fan for as long as I can remember, and I enjoyed Saludos Amigos. I did think it could have been longer(just a bit), one or two parts could have been better paced and Pedro the Aeroplane in my opinion isn't that funny and takes me out of the setting. That said, the animation is very lush with gorgeous colours and colourful settings and backgrounds. Plus all the characters are drawn very well. The title song is also memorable and the score is marvellous with some catchy rhythms. There are several entertaining sequences, Goofy comes very close to stealing the movie, and there is a hilarious meeting with a pesky llama. Donald himself is great with a wonderful cantankerous attitude, but as he teaches him to samba Jose Carioca steals the show as he is funny and delightfully chirpy. Overall, entertaining if not among the best of Disney. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A "package film" wherein Walt Disney and his team of animators, artists, and musicians travel across South America experiencing various geographical and cultural points of interest which lead into 4 animated shorts inspired by their visits.

Following the underperformance of Disney's animated films Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi as a result of World War II cutting off needed European and Asian markets, Saludos Amigos came from a State Department arranged "goodwill tour" for Disney and his team as part of the Good Neighbors Policy to improve relations between neighboring South American countries whom had diplomatic and commercial ties to Axis powers such as Nazi Germany. Looking to recoup losses on his overexpanded studio as well as his commercial failures, Disney accepted the deal with the federal grants helping ot finance the film which proved to be a strong success. While the movie is certainly a curiosity with some good animation, it's honestly not all that much of a "movie" with only a 40 minute runtime with a collection of animated shorts that are serviceable but don't exactly stand out much from the usual Silly Symphonies Disney put out saved for the novelty of South American cultural and geographical Iconography that when coupled with the rather dry documentary footage makes the film feel rather anemic.

The animation par for the course for Disney animation is good (though admittedly it's not as ambitious as Disney's other feature films including Dumbo which while intentionally cheap was at least experimental with certain elements). The film features three shorts, two featuring Donald Duck, one featuring Goofy, and another featuring an anthropomorphic plane named Pedro. The Donald Duck short Lake Titicaca, and the Goofy short El Gaucho Goofy are showcases for some entertaining slapstick (with a suspension bridge sequence with Donald Duck being particularly humorous) and while not being anything groundbreaking they are at least enjoyable enough. Pedro is probably the weakest short as it's basically just a cutesy story with a young plane going over mountains to deliver mail over the Andes mountains. It's animated well enough and you can see some of the artistic staples that would be reutilized for later era Disney shorts like Susie, The Little Blue Coupe or The Little House but other than that it's pleasant but forgettable. The final short, Watercolor of Brazil is definitely the most ambitious of the shorts as we start with a bank canvas that is then brough to life through a paint brush giving us the various flora and fauna of Brazil with good usage of misdirection with some memorable moments being a bunch of bananas that turns into Toucans or a tree that turns into a Macaw. This short also marks the first appearance of José Carioca the parrot who along with Donald Duck shows him some of Brazil and the "spirit of the Samba" and with his dapper appearance and energy makes a welcome addition to the Disney canon.

Saludos Amigos is certainly an important piece of Disney history and you can't argue against the role it played in keeping Disney studios afloat during trying times and giving Disney a tangible foot print in South America as well as changing U. S. public perceptions of South America with its travelogue approach. But as a movie its very thin and while its animation is good by the standards of Silly Symphonies nothing except maybe Watercolor of Brazil elevates it beyond the typical short. Worth a watch for curiosity's sake, but one of the weaker parts of the Disney animated films.

This feature was made to improve relations with South America. It features a few animated shorts with live action breaking the scenes up. The live action is designed to teach about South American culture.

I am someone who really likes this feature (even though it is short). I love the scene with Jose Caricoa (sp?) where Donald can't pronounce his name. "Joe-say...". I would watch this at my old job at a video store every chance I got! I would recommend it to everyone, but since some people are not impressed with this feature I would suggest renting it first.

Overall very good!!!

Sympathetic but not very much.Has its moments,has music but don;t expect more.See it with your kids once.

Like it's sequel, "Three Caballeros," "Saludos Amigos" was made to improve the relations between North and South America and to expose Northerners to Latin American culture. Great music and great fun, though the Latin American culture is a bit sugar-coated. A great family film though the concepts of inter-continental neighborship will go right over the kid's heads.

There's not much to this film. Just a few shorts. The travelogue is mildly interesting but I can't help but feel that it's just padding.

There isn't a great deal to say about this film other than it's something that spawned a lovely ride in Epcot's Mexico Pavilion. It's not unenjoyable and it's broken down into multiple shorts so it's hard to even call it a film. It's worth watching and the Goofy gaucho section is legitimately, laugh out loud funny. Disney+ has a content warning on this film which, like all of their content warnings, is a sham. There is nothing insulting about the portrayals of South America in this film. All the jokes are at the expense of Donald or Goofy or another animated character that most modern viewers have some sort of relationship with. It's all fun and the story of the travelogue is unique and well based.

Watching through the entire Disney animated canon and finally took the time to watch this short film. It is simply, okay. Interesting for its historical context, but hardly a good standalone movie. It's nice that it is only 42min long.

This was surprisingly fun and lighthearted. The animation is pretty good, but the artwork is what is so mesmerizing here. At least to me that is. If you're not that interesting in the animation or artwork it's a bit bland and there's not much to it. But my, especially the segment ''Aquarela do Brasil'' is fantastic. It's a joy to just look at the art. All in all it's very short but fun. Also, rare footage of Goofy smoking(!), and Walt smoking as a bonus.

Saludos Amigos is basically Disney's desperate wartime attempt to find new markets and to make some quick cash, because understandably European markets had something else on their minds at the time. And it shows. Saludos Amigos is straight pandering to South American public and at least it earns some points for honesty and for at least trying to be entertaining.

Nevertheless, it's pretty clear that this was made in some rush and with an extremely limited budget. All of the segments are brief, kind of rough and don't contain much of a story. All are also little more than tourist ads for various South American locations, which isn't as much of a problem as you would think, given that this was done by Disney, after all.

The first and the third segment, featuring Donal Duck and Goofy, respectively, are the two better ones in my opinion. Both heavily resemble the various Disney shorts made before this and in a good way. They're quick with jokes, the two characters are as entertaining as they've always been and as a whole I have nothing major against them.

The second segment, featuring Pedro, the littlest airplane, is the granddaddy of Pixar's whole Car franchise, and that's not a compliment. While the segment contains some of the nicest animation sequences in the whole film, and the various images are both threatening and cute, varying as the scenes demand, the main character is annoying, the story predictable and as a whole it's just painfully childish.

The last segment, featuring José Carioca, is not my favourite, but it's a fun little story about one crazed parrot introducing Donald to samba and various other Brazilian traditions. From what I've understood, José is still a popular character in South America, and I can see why. He has a lot of personality, funny hijinks with his whole "ladies love samba" gigolo routine and he works very well with Donald. The whole segment is painfully advertising, but at least we got a good character out of it.

Saludos Amigos is important part of Disney's legacy, because it was one of the films that allowed them to tide over the war years. It's not a very good film compared to Disney's usual fare, but I like that I've seen it.