Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A whimsical blend of live action and animation, "Saludos Amigos" is a colorful kaleidoscope of art, adventure and music set to a toe-tapping samba beat. From high Andes peaks and Argentina's pampas to the sights and sounds of Rio de Janeiro, your international traveling companions are none other than those famous funny friends, Donald Duck and Goofy. They keep things lively as Donald encounters a stubborn llama and "El Gaucho" Goofy tries on the cowboy way of life....South American-style.
Saludos Amigos is a wartime goodwill package — four loosely connected shorts blending live-action travelogue footage with animation. The plot is essentially nonexistent as a unified narrative; it's an anthology with thin connective tissue. The live-action segments are functional but unremarkable. Cinematography earns a modest above-average for the vibrant, lush color palette and the interesting interplay between live-action South American landscapes and animated sequences. Novelty gets a bump for its hybrid format and cultural mission — the Aquarela do Brasil segment introduced Zé Carioca and brought Brazilian music to mainstream American audiences in a genuinely fresh way for its time. However, the individual shorts vary wildly in quality, and the whole feels more like a propaganda/tourism piece than a cohesive film. The ending is abrupt with no satisfying resolution as one would expect from its anthology nature.