Il cugino di Paperino

I know Donald Duck always get the bad luck in Disney cartoons, which gives the character his uniqueness and charm. However, I think Donald got a little too much misfortune in this short.

I know this is a cartoon and I shouldn't dwell on the details. But, Donald's cousin Gus is one annoying bird, who pays Donald a visit and eats him out of his house and food. When I watched this as a kid, I wished Donald would have thrown this creature out and locked all the doors so he could enjoy his lunch. Too bad Donald didn't get the last laugh in this one.

Grade D

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

DONALD'S COUSIN GUS Goose arrives with his inexhaustible appetite & bottomless maw.

The Donald finally meets his match in this very funny & well-made cartoon. Clarence `Ducky' Nash supplies Donald's voice. Gus did not prove popular enough with viewers to justify his return as a featured player in further films; when last heard from he was operating a tiny seafood restaurant in Redondo Beach, California.

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, Bambi, Peter Pan and Mr. Toad. 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.

There are times when even cartoons become annoying. This big moose of a goose shows up at Donald's door uninvited. Like many worthless relatives, he expects to be fed, big time. He has no manners and no sense of priority. I actually felt sorry for Mr. Duck in this one because he was generous to the guy and he just kept coming back. Quite tiresome.

This cartoon remarkly marked the debut of Cousin Gus, which the only Duck family's members which appeared on Disney animated shorts so early.

On my word, Gus should be OUT for sure, let alone violent-tempered Donald, I truly wondered why did the note was wrote" He doesn't eat much". This could really be a cheater, and when Gus rudely devoured Donald's dishes, like bananas, peas, and even sucked Donald's coffee by the loaf of bread!

Besides the cartoon was being funny, I guess this kind of relative in reality should be kicked out for sure! But Donald can't stop Gus, so poor Donald!

Ranted 8/10.

This is a real shame as I love Donald Duck and Disney. But Donald's Cousin Gus just wasn't them at their best for me. It certainly has its good points. The animation is absolutely beautiful, as pretty much always it is nothing to complain about, and I'll say the exact same for the music too. Donald's trademark personality is put to good use, mainly through his priceless reactions to what's going on, though could have been done better in a more inspiredly written situation. Some of the gags at the beginning and a couple of Gus' sly ways with stealing the food especially the one with the cake work very well, and Clarence Nash's Donald voice is impeccable. Sadly, the story gets routine very quickly, and it doesn't help that most of the gags are too more of the same. The barking hot dog gag was an interesting concept and quite an original one, but came across as contrived here instead. Also not helping is that outside of the sly food-stealing Gus doesn't have much of a personality and his playing dumb gets annoying and predictable at the end of the day. Overall, lacking but not bad. 6/10 Bethany Cox