Grand Canyonscope

This Donald Duck short starts with some nice laughs. Donald Duck is in the Grand Canyon and a tourguide must stop him from doing some crazy stuff. The part in the middle is very boring, where Donald and the tourguide meet a lion. In the end we have a few laughs again and that is about it.

Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore takes Donald Duck and others people on a tour of the Grand Canyon - displayed here in wonderful, detailed animation. While the ranger is busy giving the tourists a run-down of the canyon, Donald does his share of being a little too overzealous in his trip, bothering Native sand painters, doing a rain dance outfit and arguing with his own echo. Pretty hilarious!

What results next is Donald and the Ranger stumble upon a mountain lion, who chases them around the landmark, resulting in funny slapstick humor and ultimately reducing the attraction to a pile of rubble. Some excitement and action in this cartoon short - not a bad one.

Grade B-

Donald Duck is a tourist visiting the Grand Canyon who gives the tour's guide fits due to his continuous shenanigans including an encounter with an ill-tempered old lion.

This cartoon short is diverting enough in its goofy slapstick fashion only really I wonder if it really needed Donald Duck as its lead at all. In fact, this one seems better suited to Goofy himself to me as really there's no point here where we see Donald Duck's temper rise, which is usually said character's most entertaining aspect. Honestly most any character could have probably fit into the role which makes one wonder if they just didn't pick a popular character's name out of an hat to use for this one.

This 6 minute and 51 second cartoon starring Donald Duck can be found on the first disc of the 2-dvd set of "20,000 Leaques under the Sea". As the first Disney animated short shot in Cinemascope to compliment their first movie to be shot the same way, this has Donald Duck being a pain in the backside to a hapless grand canyon tour guide. And for what it is, is pretty good. Although I think that it might have been edited to make it more P.C. which would be a shame as changing scenes only taints the heritage that we could gain in seeing the original version. As such, I can't give this a great score.

My Grade: C+

Donald Duck and Disney are always entertaining, and while Grand Canyonscope is not as grand as it could've been(my view of course) it is entertaining at least. The middle of the short does drag for my tastes with the pace sagging and the gags fewer and not as funny, and while Donald is still a charismatic character with some amusing moments his personality isn't really played to its strengths, mainly because the story is quite routine and thin on the ground. I also agree that Grand Canyonscope has the kind of humour that is more suited to Goofy. However Grand Canyonscope is not bad, far from it. The animation is bright and colourful and the Cinemascope excellent. The music is jaunty and beautifully orchestrated, merging wonderfully also with every expression and gag. The gags are well timed generally and funny, the beginning and end working better than the middle. Woodlore is a dynamic and fun character, I did like that he had more of a focus, I just wished that Donald was used stronger. Grand Canyonscope is interesting for that it is a Woodlore and Donald short that doesn't feature Humphrey, which people will consider either a blessing or like a cake missing an ingredient. The mountain lion is a good replacement and works well with the other two. Clarence Nash and Bill Thompson are both great, not much of a surprise they always are. In conclusion, interesting short if not quite one of my favourites. 7/10 Bethany Cox