Dodo Donald

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Daisy has a busy night trying to keep a sleepwalking Donald from imminent accident and disaster.

SLEEPY TIME DONALD is a very funny little film as it keeps finding humorous ways to put Donald in danger. Daisy, who usually played second fiddle to The Duck, has an unusually good role this time around. Clarence "Ducky" Nash provides Donald with his unique voice.

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 will always pay off.

Sleepy Time Donald was interesting to say the least. It is not one of my favourite Donald Duck cartoons, it lacks the originality of a cartoon like Modern Inventions in the story and the whole Donald seemingly defying physics and gravity while sleepwalking may seem strange within this concept. However, it is also very funny, the gags while again not the most imaginative on the block are amusing especially the one with the ring and the female ape. The animation is beautiful in Sleepy Time Donald as well, full of lovely colours, fluid backgrounds and good character designs. The music is energetic, dynamic and very action-enhancing, and while Donald does well in a role here that requires not much to do in comparison to his other cartoons I loved that Daisy had more to do here and she really shines, you can really tell she cares about him. All in all, a good Donald Duck cartoon, but not one of his best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Donald is a sleepwalker. In this episode, Donald rises from bed, heads out the door, and goes to Daisy's house. Then we have a series of escapades with the unconscious, walking duck. Daisy follows him and does everything to keep him from waking up. She says if she wakes him it will kill him. Of course, there is the usual personality of our famous duck, with all the irrationality and inappropriateness. Decent episode.

This is an entertaining little short, nothing special but enjoyable. Donald, under the best of circumstances, is rarely charming and often a handful. Here, he's quite seriously irritating and irksome. It is truly a tribute to the patience of others that he is not under glass and coated with and orange glaze, surrounded by peas and carrots! Many a Chinese restaurant should put "Peking" in front of him with the full treatment. Worth trying to find, Disney runs this on Quack Attack on Toon Disney and Ink and Paint Club on The Disney Channel. Recommended.

This is one of the better cartoons featuring both Donald and Daisy where, for a change, the two don't quarrel a lot. Instead, Daisy tries to patiently make a date with Donald, who has been suffering from exhaustion and sleepiness, leading him to sleepwalk at night. It was hilarious seeing Donald sleepwalk through a host of odds and ends stuff such as a lion's cage and doing weird things like walking up a wall.

Animation is great, as usual, and the characters were likable and funny. What I liked was that Daisy was pleasant in this story, not like other cartoons with Donald where she was portrayed as a snob. Overall, it's an entertaining script with plenty of gags and humor - great for the whole family!

Grade A