Happy Camping

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Donald's TRAILER HORN alerts Chip 'n' Dale to his attempts to enjoy a quiet vacation camping under their tree.

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.

I happen to like the Donald Duck/Chip 'n' Dale cartoons. True, they are routine and predictable somewhat in the stories, but I find them so cute and funny I don't mind so much. Trailer Horn is one of my favourites of theirs alongside All in a Nutshell, Working for Peanuts and Corn Chips. I also like Gold Nut Donald, Chips Ahoy and Toy Tinkers just as much. The animation is colourful and fluid, not the most beautiful-looking cartoon of theirs, but still looks great, and the music has a lot of energy and lush orchestration. Trailer Horn has its fair shares of cute and funny moments, I liked the bit where the chipmunks were bouncing on the car horn while Donald was trying to sleep, but the best part was the last minute or so of the cartoon, which is a riot. Donald is great, I love his cantankerous personality and facial expressions, and Chip 'n' Dale are an ideal match for him, sweet, funny and a little antagonistic. Is it me though, or did anyone else find Chip cuter than Dale in Trailer Horn? Dale is usually the funnier of the two, while Chip is very no-nonsense, but here Chip is quite adorable in the first minute and a half of Trailer Horn. All in all, a classic and one of the better cartoons of the Donald/Chip 'n' Dale series. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is quite a fun, action-packed, cartoon that sees "Donald Duck" taking his camper van to a remote, rustic, location for some well earned rest. The fly in his ointment are the local chipmunks. They see his visit as an ideal opportunity for some mischief making and so what now ensues is some easy to watch slapstick with "Chip" and "Dale" battling - ebb and flow - with their feathered foe. "Donald" was probably my favourite of the original Disney characters. He had personality, a temper, and those wonderfully expressive eyes and they work well here as he combats with his pesky persecutors. The humour is gently engaging and the animation first rate. Proof that you can pack quite a lot into six minutes and well worth a quick gander (or is that a goose?).

Another Donald bummer cartoon, where he gets plagued by misadventures bigtime when Chip N' Dale disturbs his sleep and later his day at the lake. Great animation, but typical Donald Duck-gets-bad-luck story, but at least Donald got a few whacks at those annoying chipmunks.

Grade D--