Le petit-Déjeuner est Servi

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

It becomes THREE FOR BREAKFAST when Chip 'n' Dale arrive in Donald's kitchen and begin to steal his morning pancakes.

This early encounter between the Duck and the Chipmunks would fairly well establish the formula for most of their films: the little thieves want something Donald has and they generally get it by the end of the cartoon. That having been said, this is a humorous encounter and Donald's pancakes do look enticing, so perhaps the pint-sized bandits have some excuse. Clarence Nash provides Donald with his unique voice; the Chipmunks are largely unintelligible.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

Donald Duck bounces out of bed to prepare his cooked breakfast. High on his roof two chipmunks are scraping together a meagre breakfast when they smell the delicious food being fried up. They go down into the house to get some and Daffy is forced to defend his breakfast from the intruders.

The main weakness of this film is the inability of any of the characters to speak well. Donald is hard to understand but that is part of his character, however the chipmunk things are just irritating to my ears and I found their voices (and characters to be fair) pretty off putting. The film sees Donald painted as the baddie or fall guy and the audience is expected to side with the chipmunks, which again I didn't get. Surely Donald is merely trying to eat breakfast when these two start trying to steal it?

Regardless of this some of it is still amusing in part. Not of it is brilliant but it is OK. Another big complaint though is the abruptness of the ending. It finishes with one set-up joke which, barely has the conclusion to that been delivered, than the `The End' slide is up on screen. Why so sharp?

Overall I didn't enjoy this short because it required me to side with the chipmunks, both of whom annoyed me (I hate Chip and Dale too) with their high voices. It was still quite amusing but not worht a second look.

Donald Duck is cooking himself a stack of pancakes for breakfast, with plenty of syrup. Chip and Dale invite themselves along for the meal.

The funny thing about about half of the Donald Duck-vs-chipmunks cartoons is that I am on Donald's side at the beginning. They are, after all, his pancakes, and Chip and Dale are thieves. But Donald loses my sympathy because he takes such pleasure in his revenge, that my sympathies switch. Which is just what they're intended to do.

Donald Duck wants to enjoy the pancakes he made for breakfast, but the mischievous Chip N' Dale wants the food for their own and harasses poor Donald.

What results were lots of funny gags and slapstick humor, from Donald getting stuck in the chimney to the chipmunk getting trapped in a heated toaster.

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. Though cute at times, Chip and Dale can be proved to be the antagonists. But, what remains the funniest are the helping of Donald's classic humor and frustrated personality.

Grade C+

I'd say possibly. I have a soft spot for the Donald Duck/Chip 'n' Dale cartoons, predictable they may be but they are very funny with a touch of cuteness. This is the case with Three For Breakfast. I do agree though that the ending is abrupt with the joke rounding it off perhaps seen as politically incorrect nowadays. That said, it is beautifully animated, with energetic music, a fast-paced and not too predictable story and some very amusing gags, especially the toaster gag. Donald is great as usual, a largely unsympathetic character but there are cartoons where you do feel an ounce of sympathy for him. The chipmunks are both cute and antagonistic, with their contrasting personalities playing off well. Clarence Nash, Dessie Flynn and James McDonald voice the characters very effectively, like they always did. Overall, apart from the ending, this cartoon is great. 9/10 Bethany Cox