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CLASSIC CABALLEROS COLLECTION:
SALUDOS AMIGOS AND THE THREE CABALLEROS
DVD release date: April 29, 2008
 It’s fiesta time as The Classic Caballeros Collection DVD set has not one, but the two Disney South America-themed films, “Saludos Amigos” and “The Three Caballeros.” That’s right, count them, uno, dos.
“Saludos Amigos” was the first released of the two films, in 1942 to be precise. It starts with Disney’s staff boarding a plane to South America and continues to entertainingly educate about the various locations they visit.
 In addition to a short educational live action look at the various locations, you’ll see the artists renderings based on their inspirations of their locations.
The classic cartoon shorts that appear are also inspired by the artists travels. The four shorts in “Saludos Amigos” include Donald Duck in “Lake Titicaca,” “Pedro,” the little plane in Santiago, Chile, “El Gaucho Goofy” in Argentina, and the parrot of many Brazilian stories is transformed in to Jose Carioca, the star of the final sequence, “Aquarela Do Brasil.”
 “The Three Caballeros” was released in 1944 and while it doesn’t have quite the educational value or realistic look at South America, the South American theme is maintained throughout, but with much more zaniness and obscurity.
There’s the cute and typical and not as zany cartoons such as “The Cold-Blooded Penguin,” and “The Flying Gauchito then it gets a bit more obscure when Jose Carioca reunites with Donald Duck to tell him all about Baia… “Ah, Baia.”
"The Three Caballeros" is one of a few Disney classics to combine the animated characters
with live action, when they get the chance to travel and interact in the real live-action world,
and this is before "Song of the South" and "Mary Poppins!"
In this scene, Donald can hardly contain his flirting on the beach of Acapulco.
 While there’s no lack of obscurity in this film, the “You Belong to My Heart” sequence takes the cake for the oddest assortment of obscure occurrence, but perhaps the most well-known sequence, “The Three Caballeros” is the most insanely enjoyable.
The bonus features include two appropriately themed Donald Duck shorts, “Don Donald,” and “Contrary Condor.”
 There’s a fascinating
interview with Walt Disney, an excerpt from a CBC interview, and although it only runs just under two minutes it's very appropriate to learn in Walt’s own words primarily about “Saludos Amigos.”
Finally, there’s the half hour “South of the Border with Disney” 1942 featurette , described as, “a camera record of a survey trip through all of the Americas by Walt Disney and a group of eighteen artists, musicians and writers.” This fully narrated documentary offers more insight into the inspirational trip that “Saludos Amigos” is centered around.
Adios!
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