MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

John T. Ryan ALTHOUGH THE EFFECT of this animation/live action hybrid was less spectacular than Disney's other efforts, such as SNOW WHITE, FANTASIA, BAMBI and DUMBO; it certainly was a success. Both at the Box Office and in critical praise, SALUDOS ANIGOS was adjudged a winner; both domestically and in the overseas marketplaces.SUCCESS IN THE third area of its reasons for existence were even more overwhelmingly effective than had been anticipated by anyone. The behind the scenes genesis of the film was an alliance between Disney and the United States Department of State. Presents us with a most perfect example of collaboration between the Private Sector and the Public in the form of the U.S. Federal Government, Roosevelt Administration.UNLIKE MOST SUCH experimentations, this one worked and paid big dividends for both parties.IN MMAKING SHORT work of a long story, the State Department underwrote a good will tour by Walt and a group of his artists, musicians and writers. The tour was of South America with stops in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Chile and some others. The purpose was two fold. One being as a sort of bulwark against the growing fascination with Fascism on the Conytinent; with the other's being an extended junket by the Disney Company in discovering the customs, manner of dress, language, literature and music of the many countries and regions of South America. Both ends were highly successful.THE SCENARIO FOLLOWS the real life tour of the Disney crew and uses the tour by airplane as the link between four animated segments. The first finds American tourist, Donald Duck, replete with faithful camera, visiting the Bolivia-Peru border at Lake Titicaca. The second finds a story very much like LITTLE TOOT (the tugboat); but has at its center a family of anthropomorphic airplanes whose job is to fly the mail over the Andes Mountains. The third examines how the Argentine Gaucho is the South American equivalent of the Cowboy of the Old West. Segment four brings Donald Duck to Rio de Janero in Brazil; where he meets and interacts with Portuguese speaking Parrot, Jose Carioca.ONE FURTHER OBSERVATION which we found was regarding the format that they used in framing the individual story segments. As a central dramatic device, Disney chose that of the touring artisans being moved about the continent from one country to another their charter airliner; much in the same manner that the real tour did. THE FICTIONAL MOVIE flight reminded us of our 4th grade geography book. In it one character "Peter Martin" was privy to his father's trans-global flight in which the two (along with us 9 year olds) visited all of the continents save for Antarctica.THE GREAT STORY of behind the scenes story of SALUDOS AMIGOS and its sequel, THE THREE CABALEROS, is told in the 2008 documentary film, WALT & EL GRUPO.

MartinHafer "Saludos Amigos" is a very short full-length film that actually consists of several short films created as a result of Walt Disney's good will tour of South America just before the US entered WWII. This tour is discussed at length in the documentary "Walt & el Groupo" and "Saludos Amigos" is a special feature included on this disk--though it was originally released in theaters in 1942.I know some will be shocked when they read this, but the fact is that the two feature films created as a result of this trip were pretty poor--mostly because they came off more like travelogues than the typical Disney film. IN addition, they simply are not fun and kids will hate them. Of the two, "Saludos Amigos" is the best--but it still is sub-par Disney. It consists of several shorts all released together instead of separately. Apparently Disney realized that the shorts had very limited marketability, so he had them bundled together and released. Imagine how sad people must have felt when they saw this dull stuff!The first short involves Donald Duck in Peru. While it has a few moments, it comes off as a dull travel film and not much more. Then, the film switches to an odd and not particularly entertaining film about a tiny plane called Pedro. This really seemed to have little to do with Chile. Then, footage of Walt and his employees visiting the Argentine gauchos is shown--followed by a short featuring Goofy as one of these cowboys. It's a lot like the typical Goofy educational film and shows the differences between the American and Argentinian versions. This is probably the best short of the four in the film but once again, it's far from their best work. Finally, the film jumps to Rio where there is a lot of samba music and lots of footage of Carnival and the short "Watercolor of Brazil". The music is the same title music to the Terry Gilliam film "Brazil"--a film about as different from this Disney film as you could imagine. This short features Donald Duck and a new character, Joe Carioca--a talking parrot. Mostly you just see them dancing about to samba music and they don't have a lot of personality...or fun.Overall, a pretty dull lot but made a bit better if you see the accompanying documentary. I certainly wouldn't recommend you rush out to see this.

Eumenides_0 I vaguely remember this cartoon from my childhood. Personally, I don't even find it a particularly interesting piece of Disney fiction and magic. The movie is divided in four segments across the South America, I can only remember three of them though: one in Lake Titicaca where tourist Donald Duck fumbles with a stubborn llama; a rather dull segment about an airplane on a perilous journey across the Andes...This definitely is not the stuff Disney is famous for! However, the last segment, lovely titled 'Aquarelas do Brazil' makes the whole show worthwhile. It follows nothing less than the birth of the amazing José Carioca, a Brazilian parrot who'd go on to become one of the most famous Disney characters in South America! I fondly remember reading his adventures in comics as a child. The cartoon doesn't yet show Carioca with his characteristic traits, namely a mixture of tramp/conman figure who's always broke but always succeeds through luck and wit.In 'Saludos Amigos' he's still in his infancy although one already sees his love for fun and folly. Priceless is watching him teach Donald Duck how to do the Samba and both hitting all the nightclubs in Rio de Janeiro bringing to life the exuberant life of the '40's Brazil! Also beautiful is the song 'Aquarela do Brazil,' which Terry Gilliam would later use in his masterpiece, 'Brazil,' which I've recently seen and made me reminisce about this long-forgotten piece of my childhood.

Ronald-Philip Tanner (GWMJedi) When I first heard that Disney was going to release a number of films from the early years which had been "almost forgotten," I was very intrigued. Would there be another Sleeping Beauty or Fantasia hiding out there?Sadly, Saludos Amigos falls very short of "Disney classic" status. It is basically forgettable.There are a few smile-inducing moments, but overall the piece really does feel like a "keep the Sudamericanos on our side against the Nazis" period piece from the WW2 era. It's strange to watch a movie made in 1943 with live action sequences of South America looking so peaceful and unaffected by the world's events. Sure, the region was less involved in WW2 than many other regions... but, it is still strange to watch.Anyway, I'd sum it up thusly: 1. Worth buying if you are a Disney collector and 2. Worthy of note simply to see live shots of Buenos Aires, Lago Titicaca, and Rio de Janeiro, filmed almost 60 years ago.Other than that, you can skip this one.