Walt & El Grupo

When I heard this film was being made, I could hardly wait to see it. I was a story artist at Disney Studios for many years and the trip to South America was that of legend. Having know Frank Thomas and an admirer of his work and that of the group that went to South America, I found the film inspiring and thoughtful. I didn't want to rush through the film and savored how it took it's time and revisited each location. I would say that if you are unfamiliar with Disney history then this film will not hold the same meaning.

I have a painting from that trip hanging in my sitting room painting by one of the Blairs. I look at it with different eyes now. I'd say as a Disney fan, it's a film I'll be watching again.

This is a highly nostalgic look back at a very long goodwill tour Walt Disney took along with a group of artists from his studio. Apparently, there was an animators strike going on and no work was being done, so Walt accepted an offer from the State Department to go on a visit of several South American nations--and to get inspiration for some projects incorporating South American culture. Unfortunately, there are some major problems with the film even though in some ways the documentary can be engaging. First, the people involved in this tour are mostly dead and the sources are almost exclusively second-hand and third-hand. Second, the pacing was slow...glacially slow. The film could easily have had half an hour trimmed, as so much of the film was filler. Too many long musical sequences where nothing is being said. And, thirdly (and this will surely ruffle some feathers), the projects inspired by the trip were incredibly bland. I know some Disney-philes out there might be having palpitations when I say this, but I have always hated "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros". So, as the people in the film are reminiscing fondly, I am left feeling a bit confused--because what they are talking about sounds great but the films certainly were not! As a result of all this, the film is one I'd recommend only to the staunchest Disney fans. Otherwise, it's slow going and not nearly as interesting as you might expect.

By the way, one of the video extras on this new release is "Saludos Amigos". I gave it another watch to see if it was as bad as I remembered. It was.

Like many documentaries, the documentary seemed to lack a specific point. It comes across as interesting as watching someone's home movies. It talks about the various staff who travelled with Walt Disney to South America and people who they met with.

But it's just an info-dump with no real focus as to any goal. There's some mention as to why Disney travelled there and how some of the materials gathered were used in Disney films, but it would have been better if the documentary had shown more of the connection with how specific material had been used in the films.

There was also no mention of the Tiki Bar Lounge in Disneyland, however after seeing the documentary it's obvious that it must have contributed to it's creation.

Walt Disney's sojourn in South America on behalf of the Roosevelt Administration's "Good Neighbor Policy" would make for an interesting film, but this isn't it. The film is not so much a documentary as a dry recitation of the itineraries of the people involved, often read by surviving family members, with little or no perspective into what the trip meant (save for allowing legendary design artist Mary Blair to blossom professionally) and what it ultimately accomplished. Some of the footage is interesting, but rarely does any of it contain the energy of the poster image of Walt swinging a lasso. While Disney's appearance in S.A. was no question big news down there, the film implies that it was also unique. Other Hollywood figures--notably Orson Welles--were also sent down south by FDR (and in Welles' case the almost-result was the unfinished "It's All True"), while other South American performers were invited up to Hollywood. Perhaps most telling is the subtext that runs throughout the film, blaming the 1941 strike at the Disney studio, which forced it to unionize, as the factor that killed both the studio's spirit and its brief Golden Age of innovation, a dubious (but Disney-sanctioned) interpretation of the facts. This isn't a terrible film, just not a particularly interesting or informative one.

The footage and some of the stories are interesting, but even the "modern" footage looks like it was shot in the 70's. Not sure if they intentionally processed the film to look that way or if this is just a recent recutting of older footage. Mostly I wish the footage had been weaved into a true story and/or placed into context with other stock footage so you had a sense of what was going on in the world. As-is, it's a lot like listening to my older family members telling stories without being able to ask them questions. But don't miss the bonus features since the dvd does contain the full 40+ minute Saludos Amigos.