Grand Canyonscope (1954) Poster

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7/10
Some funny, slapstick humor at the Canyon.
OllieSuave-00725 May 2017
Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore takes Donald Duck and others people on a tour of the Grand Canyon - displayed here in wonderful, detailed animation. While the ranger is busy giving the tourists a run-down of the canyon, Donald does his share of being a little too overzealous in his trip, bothering Native sand painters, doing a rain dance outfit and arguing with his own echo. Pretty hilarious!

What results next is Donald and the Ranger stumble upon a mountain lion, who chases them around the landmark, resulting in funny slapstick humor and ultimately reducing the attraction to a pile of rubble. Some excitement and action in this cartoon short - not a bad one.

Grade B-
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7/10
A Woodlore and Donald short without Humphrey and in Cinemascope
TheLittleSongbird10 April 2013
Donald Duck and Disney are always entertaining, and while Grand Canyonscope is not as grand as it could've been(my view of course) it is entertaining at least. The middle of the short does drag for my tastes with the pace sagging and the gags fewer and not as funny, and while Donald is still a charismatic character with some amusing moments his personality isn't really played to its strengths, mainly because the story is quite routine and thin on the ground. I also agree that Grand Canyonscope has the kind of humour that is more suited to Goofy. However Grand Canyonscope is not bad, far from it. The animation is bright and colourful and the Cinemascope excellent. The music is jaunty and beautifully orchestrated, merging wonderfully also with every expression and gag. The gags are well timed generally and funny, the beginning and end working better than the middle. Woodlore is a dynamic and fun character, I did like that he had more of a focus, I just wished that Donald was used stronger. Grand Canyonscope is interesting for that it is a Woodlore and Donald short that doesn't feature Humphrey, which people will consider either a blessing or like a cake missing an ingredient. The mountain lion is a good replacement and works well with the other two. Clarence Nash and Bill Thompson are both great, not much of a surprise they always are. In conclusion, interesting short if not quite one of my favourites. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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6/10
Donald Duck, Walking Disaster?
Space_Mafune1 January 2008
Donald Duck is a tourist visiting the Grand Canyon who gives the tour's guide fits due to his continuous shenanigans including an encounter with an ill-tempered old lion.

This cartoon short is diverting enough in its goofy slapstick fashion only really I wonder if it really needed Donald Duck as its lead at all. In fact, this one seems better suited to Goofy himself to me as really there's no point here where we see Donald Duck's temper rise, which is usually said character's most entertaining aspect. Honestly most any character could have probably fit into the role which makes one wonder if they just didn't pick a popular character's name out of an hat to use for this one.
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7/10
Donald the Insufferable Tourist
Hitchcoc8 March 2019
Donald Duck never has followed orders and this is no exception. He is part of a tour group, and despite warnings, he manages to constantly disobey, causing havoc on the great canyon. It is certainly well done and colorful, showing Mr. Duck to be about as destructive as one can be.
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7/10
Nice start, nice end
rbverhoef28 April 2003
This Donald Duck short starts with some nice laughs. Donald Duck is in the Grand Canyon and a tourguide must stop him from doing some crazy stuff. The part in the middle is very boring, where Donald and the tourguide meet a lion. In the end we have a few laughs again and that is about it.
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7/10
White-washing history?
movieman_kev27 October 2005
This 6 minute and 51 second cartoon starring Donald Duck can be found on the first disc of the 2-dvd set of "20,000 Leaques under the Sea". As the first Disney animated short shot in Cinemascope to compliment their first movie to be shot the same way, this has Donald Duck being a pain in the backside to a hapless grand canyon tour guide. And for what it is, is pretty good. Although I think that it might have been edited to make it more P.C. which would be a shame as changing scenes only taints the heritage that we could gain in seeing the original version. As such, I can't give this a great score.

My Grade: C+
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8/10
"Spread out....this is Cinemascope"
planktonrules1 January 2020
Ranger Woodlore stars in this one...one of the only shorts I can remember that also doesn't star Humphrey the Bear. In this one, his nemesis is Donald Duck and Donald is simply AWFUL...but funny.

The story is set in a national park a lot like the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon combined. As the Ranger tries to conduct a tour, Donald keeps doing the most awful things which could destroy the natural beauty of the place. Sadly, when I visited the Grand Canyon and Bryce I actually saw many folks doing similar stuff--such as climbing over barriers to get 'the perfect shot'! In the end, Donald and a mountain lion end up destroying everything!

While the art style is very 50s and was thereby simple and a shadow of the great shorts by Disney of the 30s and 40s, this IS fun...which is most important. I also like how this first Cinemascope cartoon by Disney makes fun of itself. Well worth seeing despite the subpar art style.
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7/10
Any time a film is powerful enough to inspire . . .
pixrox121 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
. . . Real Life events, reviewers are obligated to give it high marks, and hardly a day goes by in this Our Modern 21st Century when well-informed people do not read of more outrageous acts of vandalism in our once-pristine and hallowed American National Parks. During GRAND CANYON-SCOPE, Don Duck destroys so much of the popular title sanctuary that he's sentenced to dig a replacement canyon in a flat stretch of desert. Landscape desecration is a pervasive theme of Dizzy Nature Films, conveying the insidious idea that environmental vandalism is hilarious fun. A member of my immediate family saw first-hand the sort of depredation resulting from this film--one whiff of English toffee still turns his stomach, due to the stench of mule "rest areas" he inhaled while working on the park's rim for a long, hot summer after the malicious Dizzy Doodlers popularized convoys of tourist mules with this movie.
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10/10
A Duck Tale With Mountain Lion
Ron Oliver7 October 2002
A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

The Little Ranger enjoys his job as guide at the Grand Canyon, until tourist Donald and a ferocious Mountain Lion give him a really bad day...

This enjoyable little comedy doubtless got its name as it was one of Disney's first releases in Cinemascope. It also marked the final appearance in a Disney cartoon of the Mountain Lion, who retired to a cave in California's Hollywood Hills. Clarence "Ducky" Nash provided the voice for Donald; Bill Thompson did the honors for Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.
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4/10
Weaker Donald
Horst_In_Translation5 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
It is actually not too common that you know exactly where these 7-minutes Disney/Warner Bros. cartoons are set. Usually they play outside, but that's all we know. This Disney movie here is an exception in terms of that as you already know from the title. Donald is in the Grand Canyon area, but just won't start listening to the guide and constantly causes trouble, mostly to himself, but also to the guide. We see several local animals, even some pretty much extinct one for that area and Donald causes mayhem wherever he goes. I thought, this was fairly weak for Disney standards. A smartly animated comedic scene here and there, but compared to other films from the 1950s, also by Disney, it falls flat. Nichols, Schaffer and George have done better on many occasions. Not recommended, or only for the biggest Donald lovers like myself
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