Lion Around

I will admit that this doesn't for me rank among Donald's best, but it is a very nice and humorous cartoon. It is rather predictable for my tastes, but you are guaranteed to have a lot of laughs here, because it is very funny indeed. Especially when Donald finds that the lion is real, not his nephews tricking him like he thought.

The cartoon is compensated by firstly some lovely Technicolour animation. Also the music is really pleasant to listen to. Plus the presence of Donald is a real treat, and Clarence Nash as always voices him superbly. Huey, Duey and Louie are as funny and cute as ever. Overall, not Donald's best but a pleasant and humorous diversion if you don't think too much. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Lion Around (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Donald's nephews are once again causing trouble. This time they decide to play a prank on their poor uncle with a lion costume but things take a turn for the worse when a real lion shows up.

LION AROUND is fairly predictable from start to finish but we do get several funny scenes scattered throughout and they make this worth sitting through. Once again the film benefits from some very good animation but would you expect anything less from Disney? The highlight is certainly the action that happens at the end when Donald realizes that the lion is real and he's not playing around.

Donald and his nephews star in a hilarious cartoon where the nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, disguise themselves as a mountain lion so they could fool their uncle and grab a piece of pie he was making. Later, a real mountain lion comes along and wants to make a meal out of the pie and Donald himself.

Plenty of laughs as the lion chase Donald around, while Huey, Dewey and Louie were entertaining themselves, playful and fun.

The animation was great and there are plenty of times where I've found myself laughing out loud. When the Donald is in a cartoon with his nephews, you know that playful mischief and funny misfortune awaits!

Grade A

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Bad behavior from Donald's Nephews draws the unwanted attention of a hungry Mountain Lion.

Huey, Dewey & Louie are up to their usual high jinks again in LION AROUND, a fairly routine, albeit humorous, little film. Coupled with the Mountain Lion (making one of his infrequent Disney appearances) they provide poor Donald with almost more antagonists than he can handle. Clarence "Ducky" supplies he voices for the entire Duck family.

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 baking pies at the hunting cabin. This interests his nephews, who are playing with a mountain lion costume. They use it to get their hands on a pie.... almost. Donald discovers the deception. But when a real mountain lion comes along, Donald thinks it's his nephews again.

Filled with absurd gags, like Donald hiding among a collection of duck decoys -- does he go duck hunting himself? --and a very pert stride for the mountain lion, we get to witness Donald is his Angry mode, only to discover what is actually going on.