"Don Donald" has the distinction of being Donald's first solo cartoon. That's its only distinction. It offers no more than occasional, incomplete glimpses of Donald's personality, which had been far more fully developed in his cameo in "The Band Concert" (1935) and the ten or so cartoons that had been made since in which he had co-starred.
The basic problem is one of casting. Donald may be the greatest, richest cartoon creation of all time, but there are some things he can't do, and role-playing song-and-dance is one of them. This is more the kind of cartoon that was assigned to Mickey at the start of HIS solo career. Mickey was born to play roles. Donald was always best as himself. (That's one of the reasons why Mickey's segment in "Fantasia" would be, if it were separate, one of the best short cartoons ever made, while the best that can be said of Donald's segment in the generally ill-conceived "Fantasia 2000" is that it was a game but doomed effort.) It's surprising that a director as talented and astute as Ben Sharpsteen could have made so elementary a mistake.
Donald's solo career would soon take off. Later in 1937 he'd appear in "Modern Inventions" and "Donald's Ostrich", both the real thing.
The basic problem is one of casting. Donald may be the greatest, richest cartoon creation of all time, but there are some things he can't do, and role-playing song-and-dance is one of them. This is more the kind of cartoon that was assigned to Mickey at the start of HIS solo career. Mickey was born to play roles. Donald was always best as himself. (That's one of the reasons why Mickey's segment in "Fantasia" would be, if it were separate, one of the best short cartoons ever made, while the best that can be said of Donald's segment in the generally ill-conceived "Fantasia 2000" is that it was a game but doomed effort.) It's surprising that a director as talented and astute as Ben Sharpsteen could have made so elementary a mistake.
Donald's solo career would soon take off. Later in 1937 he'd appear in "Modern Inventions" and "Donald's Ostrich", both the real thing.