Lucky Number

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Donald holds the LUCKY NUMBER which will win him his coveted Zoom V-8 sports car - but only his Nephews know it.

This standard Donald versus Nephews film is noteworthy in that it portrays Huey, Dewey & Louie as teenagers (it had been 13 years since their first cartoon). As if Donald didn't already have enough trouble... Clarence "Ducky" Nash supplies the 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.

This was the final cartoon short in the Kids is Kids Disney video collection, and it consists of Donald working as a gas station owner. He thinks he doesn't have the winning ticket number for a new Zoom V8 car and steps away. But, his nephews hear the radio DJ announce a correction on the winning number and Donald indeed has won the car! But, as bad luck would have it, instead of telling Donald that he won the car, the nephews decide to get the car and surprise him, but doesn't work out as according to plan.

This cartoon short has only a tad of funny moments (like the part where one of the nephews dresses up in drag) but really has that palm on your face element as Donald gets probably the mother of all bad lucks in this one. Instead of having a new car, he jumps to conclusions and takes revenge on his nephews, whom he thinks cheat him out of some gas. He could be riding in his new car and enjoying the landscapes, instead, he is running through them, angrily going after his nephews.

Overall, it's not a very funny cartoon and the story has no redeeming qualities.

Grade D-

On the whole I really enjoy the Donald and Nephews shorts. They are routine in a way, but amusing and full of energy. Lucky Number is no exception, I'd go as far to say that it is one of their better shorts. It is rather standard and routine in the story, there is the idea of the nephews playing tricks on Donald and he goes ballistic which is a common theme in regard to their shorts. And I did think that it would have been better for Huey, Dewey and Louie ought to have told Donald in alternative to surprising him, mainly because Donald wouldn't come across as much of a jerk, especially when he plays a practical joke that backfires on him big-time. Evaluating that point though perhaps Lucky Number would have ended much sooner than it did if they did that. Conversely, it is very funny especially when one of the nephews dresses up as a sexy girl, and it is interesting to see for the first time a more teenage personality to the nephews. The animation is simply beautiful, full of detail and colour. The music has the energy and character that you'd expect also. Donald has always been at his best when he easily gets into a temper, which he does here, but at the same time this is not Donald at his most likable. Huey, Dewey and Louie have a mischievous streak though they have been more rascally and they still have their cuteness. Clarence Nash's voice work is as ever great. All in all, very funny and enjoyable with top notch production values but at the same time it is rather standard. 9/10 Bethany Cox

While working at a gas station Donald listens to the radio hoping that his raffle ticket has won him a new car. He loses, and storms off in a temper, but his nephews continue to listen and hear the correction - he HAS won the car. They attempt to surprise him by bringing the car back themselves but Donald believes he is being tricked and destroys the car before the radio announcer congratulates him.

As always, Donald's temper is his downfall, but I'd like to see him win just once. The cartoon is clever and amusing though not one of the more memorable Donald shorts. It's a bit formulaic and lacks manic energy. Certainly worth a watch though.