Even without having seen the film in its entirety, I had a strange interest in Disney's classic film The Three Caballeros and in the early days of my family's ownership of a dialup internet connection, spent hours waiting for video clips to download so I could view clips from the movie. When I got into the furry fandom, I always had a strange obsession with anthropomorphic characters in Mexican cultural settings and clothing and would eventually see the film in full when Disney+ became a thing. I ultimately learned of a series inspired by the movie, Legend of the Three Caballeros, which I gave a watch on the streaming platform since I have fond memories of the film from which it was based.
The series opens with Donald Duck celebrating his birthday on Friday the Thirteenth, with the number 13 being a running gag throughout the classic shorts featuring him such as "Old Sequoia." As in said short, Donald works for a jerkass boss, this time at his latest crappy job as a barber, and after botching a child's haircut, is terminated, going home to find his home incinerated due to forgetting to turn off his stove. He quickly finds himself heir to an old cabana with a ton of artifacts owned by his great-grandfather Clinton Coot that leads to his reunion with his fellow Caballeros, the debonair parrot José Carioca (by the way, his first name is pronounced "joh-zay" since the Portuguese pronounce the letter J like Anglophones do) and the loony Mexican chicken Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González III, or simply Panchito.
They discover a mystical book that releases an ancient goddess named Xandra when opened, who reveals they are the descendants of their past heroic equivalents that stopped the sorcerer Lord Felldrake from taking over the world, having been sealed within a staff. Wouldn't you know it, his descendant Baron Von Sheldgoose finds said staff and becomes possessed, with the eponymous heroes seeking to stop him before he resurrects his ancestor. During their myriad quests, Donald continues to have woman problems with his on-and-off girlfriend Daisy Duck, whose nieces April, May, and June help during the Caballeros' adventures as they visit various world locales with mythological influences.
The use of Daisy's said nieces, along with the appearance of other vague characters from past Donald Duck mythos like Dapper Duck (featured in the old short "Donald's Double Trouble," then unnamed) and references to things like Donald's middle name Fauntleroy (only seen on paper in "Donald Gets Drafted") is one of the brilliant aspects of the series, along with the humor that's actually pretty good at times, occasional musical numbers, and overall great animation. The voice acting is also well-executed, although I still find Donald Duck to be really excruciating, next to Lisa Simpson one of the most irritating cartoon characters ever. Many elements from the film are also Bowdlerized such as Zé's smoking and Panchito's firearm obsession, but the series is still an entertaining romp.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
| The Bottom Line | |
| A great modern spin on The Three Caballeros. | |
 |
|