Simply Perfect

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Donald's Ostrich (1937) ** (out of 4)Donald is at work when a package suddenly springs open and it's an ostrich. There's a note attached to it saying that the ostrich will eat anything and for the next several minutes that's exactly what he does.DONALD'S OSTRICH is a pretty bland short, which is shocking considering this was Disney after all. It's not that Disney never made a bad film but this one here is really lacking any laughs and I'd argue that it's really not all that creative either. The entire running time basically has the ostrich eating various items and reacting to what it has eaten. This just isn't all that funny and the one-note gag gets rather old quickly.

In this cartoon short, Donald Duck is the baggage handler at a railway station and encounters Hortense the Ostrich. The ostrich turns out to be too friendly of an animal and eats everything in sight, from an alarm clock to balloons, ending itself with uncontrollable hiccups.Donald's classic frustrated and temperamental personality works well with the character and is very entertaining. However, the Hortense character proves to be too cute and overly cuddly, making it annoying and not very funny to look at. The hiccup gags get old quick throughout the short and consumes much of the picture, losing less room for other humorous stuff. But, Donald does pull through with some laughable moments and radio bit was amusing.Grade C

I say this as a big fan of Disney and Donald Duck as I have said several times. Donald's Ostrich is certainly not a terrible short, it has great animation with the characters well-drawn, the backgrounds crisp and the colours vibrant, the music is very pleasant on the ear and is full of energy and helped by Clarence Nash's impeccable voicing, Donald's easily frustrated and temperamental persona works well with him. However, Donald would have fared even better if he had a strong character to work with. Unfortunately Hortense is not really that compelling, animated great but not very funny(in fact sometimes annoying above all else) and the chemistry with Donald is rather bland. The gag where anything in sight is eaten is a good one to work with, but is undermined by the fact that it gets repetitive fast. Also the premise of Donald's Ostrich is simple, not a bad thing, the real problem is that it all feels routine and not much is done with it. Of the gags, the only one that I really found more than amusing in effectiveness was the one where the radio as a device is used, a very inventive gag and used well. Overall though, didn't work despite some good points. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Donald is now employed at a train station out in the country. A package off a train breaks open and out pops Hortense the Ostrich. Wow, a recipe for chaos if there ever was one. Obviously Hortense falls in love with Donald and gives him loads of kisses, which he strangely doesn't like. Donald chases Hortense all over the station as he tries to keep her under control and stop her swallowing alarm clocks and accordions and stuff.Yes, it's the usual mayhem and nothing particularly remarkable. From the mild entertainment of this cartoon it's easy to see why Hortense the Ostrich never came back.