Ain't That Ducky

"Ain't That Ducky" seems to me to be a sort of crossroads of three different kinds of Daffy Duck cartoons. On the one hand, a not-too-smart hunter (I interpret him as what Elmer Fudd would be after surviving a stroke) is trying to turn Daffy into dinner; apparently, members of the genus Anas* are always among the tastiest animals. Also, there's a crying duckling with a suitcase; every time that Daffy or the hunter asks the little guy what's up - or what's in the suitcase - the tyke gets very hostile (later, in "The Up-Standing Sitter", Daffy had to watch over a chick, but the chick proved to be one bad mother). Finally, in one scene Daffy notes the absence of a barrel in which to hide and demands that the animator draw one; after the animator obeys, Daffy exclaims "J.L. is going to hear about this!" (later of course, Daffy's disagreements with the animator formed the plot line for "Duck Amuck").

Admittedly, I may be the only person who interpreted the cartoon this way. Mostly, it is nice, fun entertainment. You're sure to love it. I assume that "J.L." refers to Warner Bros. executive Jack Warner.

*Anas is the genus to which ducks belong.

As a big fan of Daffy Duck, I saw Ain't That Ducky realising it was one of the few cartoons I hadn't yet seen of his. I liked it, though I may be biased as I love a vast majority of the Looney Tunes shorts. But is it one of the best? Not for me. The story is very simple in concept and is rather routine in spots. And while the duckling's appearance is cute, he does very little other than cry and shout and while what is shouted is funny the delivery is unsubtle and can grate depending on who you are. However, the other two characters are great. The hunter character is amusing, almost like Elmer Fudd gone Rambo, and judging from his vocal performance you do wish that Victor Moore did more voice-overs. Daffy is as always spot on, I absolutely agree that a mix of his early manic and later greedy personas are here as well as a sympathetic side and I loved that. The animation is fine as well, there were more fluid character designs later on but the backgrounds are very detailed and the colours are shaded beautifully. The music is as energetic as you'd expect, while the writing is fresh and witty and the sight gags imaginatively timed and clever. Mel Blanc's voice work for Daffy is stellar, but rather overdone for the duckling(even his voice work in A Tale of Two Kitties was an unsubtle as this). The ending twist is just great. All in all, likable and fun but some may be annoyed by the duckling character. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Sometimes Lee Eisenberg can produce very good reviews. He has commented on this and has pointed out something in his review that I agree on:

Lee Eisenberg: "Ain't That Ducky" seems to me to be a sort of crossroads of three different kinds of Daffy Duck cartoons.

I agree! One road is the older Daffy, one road is the sort of middle Daffy and another road is the much more modern Daffy.

It took me two times of watching this episode to like Daffy in this, but for some reason I found him really likable, mainly because his kind side is stronger than his nasty side. The plot is fun, anyhow, pretty much a typical "daffy duck runs away from hunter" plot. I may not know who Victor Moore is (who plays the hunter) but he is good as the hunter in this! The other new character, well, it depends how you feel once you have watched the whole thing whether you like him or not.

Basically, Daffy is having a lovely, huge bath in a pond. He hears a new, yellow duck resident crying and goes over to see what is troubling him. The little yellow duck is upset over a briefcase, but becomes very angry when Daffy wants to have a look inside. Then the hunter comes along...

Good for people who like the muxed ip Daffy Duck and people who are intrigued by the plot mentioned in the previous paragraph, I recommend "Ain't That Ducky". Enjoy! :-)

We meet a couple of ducks. One is a woeful yellow duckling weeping all over a mysterious suitcase, the other one is Daffy. Then a Fudd family member (or at least a card carrying member of the same hunting club) steps into the picture. You know the type: beady eyes, big black eyebrows not matching the brown hair above his ears and carrying a rifle that has an enormous kickback. 'Squinty' decides Daffy is just the right size and sets out to make him suffer like succotash.

Daffy's chase capers are usually even more far out than his rival Bugs. This Duck knows and accepts his status as a cartoon character and will always try to put this knowledge to good use. So he forces a forgetful animator to draw a barrel as per the script and threatens his pursuer that 'J.L. will here of this'. At one time he takes a cardboard cut out of himself (for promotional purposes perhaps?), convincing the hunter he's just run over his prey. Daffy then dresses up as his own son, saying "you broke his little head", etc. Unexpectedly, the foolish follower decides to adopt this 'orphan' on the spot, forgetting he was planning to have duck for dinner a minute earlier.

Unfortunately that other little duck keeps reappearing and turns out to be far more annoying than good old Daffy D. ever was. Imagine the shock to learn this second stringer is more than just a running gag: the lure of the suitcase proves too much for the two chasers. They form an uneasy alliance to find out what exactly that yellow belly is crying about. They won't like the answer inside, it's fantasmagorically awful (or so the Daffster claims).

3 out of 10