Beach Picnic (1939)

• Year: 1939
• Released: 09 Jun 1939
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031086/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beach_picnic
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Approved
• Genre: Animation, Short, Comedy
• Runtime: 8 min
• Writer: Carl Barks, Jack Hannah
• Director: Clyde Geronimi, Burt Gillett
• Cast: Lee Millar, Clarence Nash
• Keywords: short film, cartoon,

6.6/10

Beach Picnic Storyline

Donald Duck is at the beach and tries to ride a rubber horse. He notices Pluto sleeping at the shore and decides to have some fun with him by sending the rubber horse over to Pluto which completely mesmerizes him. Meanwhile, a tribe of ants abduct Donald’s picnic lunch. Donald lays out fly paper to stop the ants. Pluto follows one of the ants and, of course, he and later Donald become enmeshed in the fly paper.

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Beach Picnic Movie Reviews

Donald Duck teams with Pluto for a day at the beach

Kudos to Turner Classics for offering up three early Disney cartoon shorts that many of us probably would never get a chance to see. “Beach Picnic” was the middle one of the trio, sandwiched in between ‘Hawaiian Holiday’ and ‘It’s the Simple Things’. In this one, Donald Duck becomes increasingly frustrated by an inflatable sea horse that behaves very characteristically like one of those over-sized inflatables we’ve all had trouble getting on and off of. He hands things off to Pluto who also has his share of misadventures with the darn thing. Then a horde of red ants plays havoc with Donald’s picnic lunch, and with current movie fave “Ant-Man” currently in theaters, we’re once again reminded that ants can lift and carry many times their own weight. I’m not sure what the motivation would have been to have the ants mimic Native American Indians, but this was an era way before the age of political correctness, and I doubt even today if many would be offended other than those who find fault with just about everything. The cartoon short closes out with Pluto battling an uncooperative sheet of flypaper, all of which Donald finds absolutely hilarious.

Not funny

In this cartoon Donald goes to the beach for some fun in the sun. He takes a giant inflatable horse (called Seabiscuit) with him to play with in the water. Everything seems fine until Donald decides to torment Pluto for some reason by blowing water and air into his face, or something. The cartoon lingers on this bit of unfunnyness for a few minutes before it goes to the typical ‘picnic being stolen by ants’ routine. Good God, man. How many times have I seen that in a cartoon?

Donald and Pluto try to take them on but lose to their own arrogance and stupidity. No, this cartoon is not really that funny at all and Donald surely deserves better than this. I don’t rate Beach Picnic very highly I’m afraid.

Has some great animation and music as well as a good sequence, but Donald and Pluto don’t quite gel…

That is a shame actually, because I thought they did very well in Donald and Pluto, despite the fact that Pluto was more dominant. The two sadly don’t gel here, partly because they are rarely on screen together, and when they are it is not long enough, and partly because their personalities are too different. Donald works best when he is easily frustrated at things and people around him which apart from one scene was shown enough in Beach Picnic. Pluto is cute and energetic, and works best in contrast when he is curious, wants fun or is causing chaos. Again that side wasn’t shown enough here. Another major problem is that what Donald and Pluto are given to do is not very funny. Donald’s battle with the raft was a good idea to start with, but comes across as simplistic and unfunny, while him laughing at Pluto trials with the raft was rather cruel. I also thought it could have been developed more. Likewise the parts with Pluto being stuck in the fly paper are limply paced and get tiring fast. On a more positive side, one sequence does work and that was the one with the ants, not because it was funny as such, actually it was amusing but what made the sequence was how the ants invading the picnic were characterised with war drums and all and also the viewpoints of Donald and Pluto. Donald chasing the ants off is much more effective than what Pluto gets saddled with, which is elevated just when Donald has his comeuppance and gets stuck in the fly paper with him. The animation is lusciously coloured and fluid, and the music is beautiful and full of the usual characterful energy. Clarence Nash’s voice acting is excellent. Overall, the animation and music are top notch and I liked the sequence with the ants, but the limp gags, Donald and Pluto’s lacking chemistry and the fact that neither character are used to the best of their ability brought Beach Picnic down to a rather lukewarm experience for me. 5/10 Bethany Cox