Donald's goes on an adventure in which it is explained how mathematics can be useful in real life. Through this journey it is shown how numbers are more than graphs and charts, they are geom... Read allDonald's goes on an adventure in which it is explained how mathematics can be useful in real life. Through this journey it is shown how numbers are more than graphs and charts, they are geometry, music and magical living things.Donald's goes on an adventure in which it is explained how mathematics can be useful in real life. Through this journey it is shown how numbers are more than graphs and charts, they are geometry, music and magical living things.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
- Red Queen
- (uncredited)
- The True Spirit of Adventure
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- …
- Donald Duck
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Billiard player
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was the first Disney cartoon ever televised in color, in 1961, as the first episode of "The Wonderful World of Color" (NBC's new title for The Magical World of Disney (1954) when it switched from ABC-TV to that network).
- GoofsDespite this being a mathematical education film, a character incorrectly recites the value of the mathematical constant pi. The character states, "Pi is equal to 3.141,592,653,589,747, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera." The correct value of pi (to the same number of digits) is actually 3.141,592,653,589,793. (The last two digits are different.)
- Quotes
The True Spirit of Adventure: The mind knows no limits when used properly. Think of a pentagram, Donald. Now put another inside, a third, and a fourth. No pencil is sharp enough to draw as fine as you can think, and no paper large enough to hold your imagination. In fact, it is only in the mind that we can conceive infinity.
[the infinite progression of pentagrams turns into a hallway of doors]
The True Spirit of Adventure: Mathematical thinking has opened the doors to the exciting adventures of science.
Donald Duck: I'll be doggone! I've never seen so many doors before.
[Runs back and forth from one door to another]
The True Spirit of Adventure: Each discovery leads to many others. An endless chain.
Donald Duck: Hey, hey! What's the matter with these doors? Hey! These doors won't open! They're locked!
The True Spirit of Adventure: Of course they are locked. These are the doors of the future, and the key is...
Donald Duck: Mathematics!
The True Spirit of Adventure: Right. Mathematics. The boundless treasures of science are locked behind those doors. In time, they will be opened by the curious and inquiring minds of future generations. In the words of Galileo, "Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe."
- ConnectionsEdited from The Magical World of Disney: Our Friend the Atom (1957)
Donald Duck is transported to Mathmagicland. In this land, various happenings in normal life are explained through math, and an ominous voice talks to Donald, voiced by Paul Frees. Donald learns how instrument strings are mathematically designed, and how the game of chess in a math process, how the game of pool can be mathematically calculated, and much more.
This is not much of a story. It makes no sense, and has no real ending, but it's still a great short. The animation is fantastic. The animation features constant morphing of shapes and it's hard to imagine that these animators could use these techniques 50 years ago. The live action is thrown in well, also. The scene where they teach how to calculate pool is the most interesting in the movie, and the mixture of live action pool and Donald Duck looks excellent, and is a nice throwback to techniques used in Donald's earlier picture "The Three Caballeros".
Paul Frees is an excellent narrator, and Donald Duck is the perfect character to send to this inexplicable math land. The animation is great, and this educational Disney film is brilliantly animated and very informative.
My rating: *** 1/2 out of ****. 30 mins.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Donald der Rechenkünstler
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime27 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1