Hitchcoc
I know I saw this at least four times in public school. Disney did some instructional films during his tenure. In this one, Donald Duck with his whiny squawk and lack of discipline, bemoans the "fact" that he finds mathematics boring. But in steps the disembodied voice of Paul Frees (Boris Badenov) who leads Donald to Mathmagicland where he can see all the benefits of learning about numbers and geometric concepts. After one viewing in about fourth grade, this film was indelibly stuck in my head. We learn about why there are diamonds outside the rails of pool an billiard tables. We see how formulas are constructed. Mostly, it's a history lesson, showing how mathematics has aided people moving into modern time. And Donald is his usually squawky presence.
John E. Huculak
When I was a freshmen student at the start of high school in 1967 my math teacher brought this film to class to wake up the lethargy and the lack of interest for math in the class. Everybody laughed when he was setting up the projector since it was a cartoon with Donald Duck. The general feeling was it was for 3rd graders and it was going to be a very long and boring 30 minutes. Once the shades were drawn and the lights turned off however the laughing stopped in about 5 minutes into the film. You could hear a pin drop the rest of the way through the presentation. After the film was over the questions started and never really stopped until the end of the semester. That film breathed new life and interest into the world of mathematics for all of us in that class. Our teacher was a great instructor and I guess he had similar experiences with that film in his other classes as well. That film woke up an interest in me that stayed with me through high school and college and even now to this day. I have a copy and I still watch it once in awhile just for the great memories of so long ago.
Tommy Nelson
Donald in Mathmagicland is the Alice in Wonderland of educational cartoons. It makes very little sense, and to explain the nonsensical happenings, is the simple fact that this is mathMAGICland. If you're into some strong story telling, this is not for you, but if you want an entertaining and educational Disney flick, than this one is for you.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.
shakaboom2000
In Grade 11 Trig class, we made our teacher rent this as a going away present for the Seniors who were graduating early. This is a great example of the teaching power of film. In straightforward fashion, Donald overcomes his fear of numbers through illustrative examples. Plus, it teaches kids to play pool! Learn to use the diamonds on the table, and you too can improve your game with geometry and simple arithmetic. Recommended!
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