Donald und die Eicheldiebe

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Chip 'n' Dale decide to add to their WINTER STORAGE from tree planter Donald's big bag of acorns.

Here is another routine Duck versus Chipmunks film. The animation is unremarkable, but the antagonists are always fun to watch. Clarence "Ducky" Nash supplies Donald's unique voice; the Chipmunks are virtually unintelligible.

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.

Donald Duck is a park ranger planting acorns in the forest, sighted by the food scarce chipmunks Chip N' Dale, who were storing as much acorns as they can find. They set on a mission to steal the bag of acorns Donald has and what results is another war-of-the-animals as the duck and rodents duel it out.

What results were some funny gags and slapstick humor, especially the scene where Donald instigates a quarrel between Chip and Dale, and the scenes where they play hockey using an acorn. I used to enjoy watching these cartoons featuring Donald Duck and Chip N' Dale as a kid. However, I've later grown to feel sorry for Donald as he almost never gets a break from his bad luck and seems to never triumph over any of his adversaries, in this case, the chipmunks. But, what remains the funniest are the helping of Donald's classic humor and frustrated personality, and he seemed to get a last laugh in this one.

Grade B-

I can never get enough of these cartoons. No matter how routine story-wise they are, they are always amusing and beautiful visually and musically. Winter Storage is not quite one of the best of Donald Duck or Chip 'n' Dale, but it is no exception to the assets that make their cartoons so watchable. The animation is not exactly exceptional, I have seen other cartoons of theirs that are more vibrant in the colours, but the backgrounds are fluid and the characters are beautifully drawn. Like with all Donald Duck/Chip 'n' Dale cartoons, it is wonderfully orchestrated musically, with a lot of typical energy to it. The humour is mostly sight gags-driven, and while DD/C&C have done funnier cartoons, such as All in a Nutshell and Toy Tinkers, there are some amusing moments, such as Dale accidentally giving Donald a black eye. Donald is a great foil as ever, and Chip 'n' Dale are cute and antagonistic, I've always loved the contrast between Chip's sterner personality to Dale's goofier one. In conclusion, a very nice and amusing cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox