Latin Baby ~ Disney’s Latin America Features

“Fortunately, the Walt Disney Family Foundation has commissioned author J.B. Kaufman, the outstanding Disney historian responsible for books like Walt in Wonderland, to write an extensive book on Walt’s Latin American films…”

(Source: “The Lost Caballero” article at MousePlanet)

As a bit of a preview…..an article of Kaufman’s, “Walt in South America,” can be found at the Walt Disney Family Museum’s website, which also has a large amount of footage and audio related to the Latin America trip.

I’m really looking forward to this book.

This happy scene comes from the Name This Toon blog.

“This is a cel from Two Happy Amigos, part of the Walt Disney Presents show of Feb 2, 1960. This is bridge material for segments from Saludos Amigos, which was aired a few years earlier. The new material was done to make the segments more updated and friendly to the TV audience.”

(comment by Brian Mitchell on the original post)

That comment seemed to me the most likely answer, as I can guarantee this is from neither Saludos Amigos nor The Three Caballeros.

Animation Backgrounds has posted a large variety of beautiful background art from the “Baía” sequence of The Three Caballeros:

• Intro and Town shots
• The jungle
• Some abstract artwork and the “Bahia book.”
• More shots of the Bahia book

This is not nearly as interesting as the history of Three Caballeros box art, seeing as Saludos Amigos has only been released once on its own, and twice as a set with Caballeros.

1.) The 1995 Laserdisc Box Set:

This cover is all right, but it’s clearly representative of Caballeros rather than both films.

2.) The 2000 DVD/VHS:

The full jacket (which was the same for both the VHS and DVD) can be viewed here (large file). I suppose this cover is good enough, but the shininess of it kind of bothers me. I also think putting Goofy front and center isn’t all that great a marketing decision - Donald Duck probably sells a lot more. Jose Carioca’s weird anti-gravity hat is also a strange artistic decision. All and all, I think this cover could have been a lot better, especially considering some of the beautiful artwork this film generated:

By the way….if any of you guys know of any alternate covers other than the ones mentioned here (even if they’re bootlegs), post the image link in your comment!

3.) The 2008 DVD Combo Set:

This is worse than the earlier DVD cover. It’s just a crappy mashup of artwork from both DVDs, utterly ruined by the “2-MOVIE COLLECTION OMG!” bargain banner on the bottom. The text on the box is ugly and too large.

Come on, Disney, you could do so much better…. Think about all the old gorgeous Disney posters from the days of theatrical re-releases. Even some of the re-re-re-releases had nice posters!

Feel free to post your own opinions and ideas concerning box art.  You can also read my post about 3 Caballeros box art.

I can’t believe I never linked to these essays before, but the Projections blog, which covers portrayals of Latin America in film, has some wonderful writing on Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros and Melody Time.

It’s always interesting to look at these films through a different academic discipline.

Which reminds me… I haven’t yet turned my film nerd critical eye towards the Latin America films. But I assure you, one day I will.

1.) Rare 1985 Japanese Laserdisc:

(click image for full size. Source: Walt Disney Japanese Laserdiscs)

I like the psychedelic colors of this one, even though the art is a little loopy. It’s quite dynamic and it certainly catches your eye.

One problem - the image on the left on the back of the laserdisc sleeve definitely refers the Tico-tico no Fuba dance, which is from Saludos Amigos, not The 3 Caballeros. These box layout people didn’t do their research.

2.) 1994 Japanese Laserdisc

This had virtually the same box art as the 1995 VHS release…they didn’t even bother to reformat, just slapped it on the cover and put some yellow space around it. (Pictured here)

3.) The 1995 VHS Release

Pretty corny, but it could be far worse. At least this was made before the days of shiny-fied digital “3D art,” which sometimes comes out strangely.

4.) The 1995 Laserdisc Combo Set:

Almost the same as the 1995 VHS release, but more “elegant” to target the highbrow laserdisc machine owner (I hear those things were notoriously expensive). This edition had a ton of extras, and many still haven’t made it onto the DVD releases.

5.) The 2000 VHS/DVD:

This cover is my favorite by far, although the desert-like landscape looks more “Lawrence of Arabia” than “Latin America.” I think this is quite nice, especially when compared to the *other* covers.

6.) The 2008 DVD Combo Set:

I really dislike this one a lot. First of all, it recycles the 2000 box art from the two films; I can’t say the box art for Saludos Amigos was too great, and it’s a shame to see it here, asserting its dominance over the much nicer Caballeros box art. I really can’t stand Jose Carioca’s “anti-gravity” hat here…what were they thinking? They made an effort to incorporate both films into the cover, but what they came up with really stinks. The text is too big and quite unsightly, and I can’t stand the “HEY LOOK BARGAINS 2-FOR-1!” banner on the bottom. I would have rather seen new art….or utilizing some of the amazing poster art from these films.

So, what are your opinions? Which is your favorite? Do you have other ideas?

If anyone has any different bootleg or alternate cover art not mentioned here, post the image links in your comment!

***Additions 6/17/2008 (courtesy of Foxxfur)

Box art for a reel of 8mm film of the “Three Caballeros” song number. I really like this box art! I wish they’d have used this instead of some of the others! The colors/design are a bit off on Panchito, though.

Very grade-school-library-looking….. This is a VHS from the ’80s using box art similar to the ‘85 Japanese laserdisc, but without the technicolor rainbow horizon.

I happen to be in possession of a Chinese dub of The 3 Caballeros. As a follow-up to my earlier post on foreign-language versions of the Latin America films, I decided to upload some clips to showcase Donald, Panchito, and José Carioca’s Chinese voices:

http://www.screencast.com/t/QBwc8cGmn

I apologise for the large file size - it’s about 70 Mb.

I can’t say the actual match-dubbing was done all that well…

Anyone who can speak Chinese - what’s your opinion of the voice acting and translation?

(click for full size)

It’s very “modernist” and simple. Quite different from some of the other posters out there.

I enjoy looking at titles (and clips) of films I like in other languages (namely the two I’ve studied, Japanese and Spanish). So naturally, this line of inquiry led to an investigation of the Latin America films and issues in their titling, marketing, and translation. (And besides, I haven’t written a good, long article in ages). For example, how does a film called “Saludos Amigos” work out in countries where no one is familiar with Spanish? And what was the film called in Portugal? What about the songs and character names? Well, this is what the article covers, so keep reading. (more…)

For lack of something official to post these days, here’s some great fan art by DDShowShoes. It was submitted on the contest page and though it doesn’t really fit in, it was such nice and original art I thought I would post about it separately.

As you can see, it’s a “realistic” Panchito! The rest of the drawings are on the link above.