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Walt
and El Grupo
is a documentary on
Walt Disney and a
few of his elite
workers going to
South America. The
story misses too
many details to be a
must-watch, but it
does help you get a
look at the big
picture of how
incredible a man
Walt really was.
In
1937 Disney came off
of the Box Office
success of
Snow
White.
He then started work
on
Pinocchio
and
Fantasia
but both movies were
proving to be costly
adventures and
didn’t do great at
the box office.
After having
millions in the
bank, Disney owed
millions to the
bank. He had his
back to the wall
with that problem,
but he also had a
problem with workers
and union issues.
Some animators that
had been there for
years, made 10 times
more than the
animators who didn’t
have the same ties
to the company, it
was a ridiculous
disparity. So a lot
of animators and
people in the
creative departments
at Disney went on
strike. Walt didn’t
just have his back
to the wall; he was
backed into a
corner. In came
Uncle Sam. The
government offered
Walt funding and
guarantees on movies
that would be made
on South America, as
long as he went on a
trip down to the
continent and served
as an ambassador of
sorts. Walt and El
Grupo chronicles
that trip the best
it can with no one
that took the trip
still living and
very few witnesses
that interacted with
the group on their
trip alive.
Instead of having
first person
accounts of what
went on during this
trip we get second
and third person
stories told by
people who saw the
group on the trip,
or the groups’
children who read
the letters that got
wrote to them while
their parents were
away. We also see
some video footage,
but mostly we get a
lot of photography
montages with some
news clippings
thrown in. All of
these moments are
heartfelt when
someone is reading a
letter, but it’s not
the same as having
the story from the
person who went on
the trip. We just
can’t help but think
that we’re getting
an hour and a half
of overview of the
trip, but none of
the details.
There
are some good pieces
of information in
the film, most of
them revolve around
a relative of the
Disney film, but
there are also some
very odd and/or
boring segments on
the disc. The bonus
feature-
Saludos Amigos
is the movie from
Disney that was
inspired by the
trip.
The main problem
with this movie is
it’s a documentary
that should have
been made about 30
years ago. Or at
least should have
been talked about 30
years ago so we
could get some
people’s first-hand
accounts of what
happened. Instead
we’re relegated to
hearing letters and
seeing pictures, it
just doesn’t feel
like a movie. There
are some good pieces
of information here,
but this movie isn’t
for everyone… Just
big-time Disney
fans.
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