This film is featured as bonus material on the "Classic Caballeros Collection" DVD.
This Donald Duck short features Donald as an egg collector who is mistaken by a mama condor as her baby. Featuring a narrator, the tone captures that of traditional nature documentaries. As the narrator presents the facts about condors, the silly antics of Donald trying to survive as the babe of the giant bird are a wonderful humorous contrast. The mother's real baby, of course, makes Donald's dilemma even more feather ruffling. Donald's attempts to avoid his first flight lessons are some of the high points.
Produced in the same year as Disney's second Latin American feature THE THREE CABALLEROS, this Andres-set comedy is actually more humorous than any section of Donald's work in the full-length film. While the narrator often drains character development from CABALLEROS sequences, in CONDOR, the contrast between the narrator's matter-of-fact information and the reality of Donald's shenanigans works in a humorous way reminiscent of the Goofy "How To" shorts. While some of the gags are repetitive and the pacing lags at times, the overall short has enough laughs to be successful. In our more PC age, the idea of Donald stealing eggs for fun is less than sympathetic, but the trouble that ensues gives the baby-snatching duck what he has coming to him I suppose.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
