Daffy Duck for President

In honor of today being Election Day and having previously seen both Betty Boop for President and Olive Oyl for President, I just went to the Misce-Looney-ous site to watch Daffy Duck for President which it linked from YouTube. Originally storyboarded by Chuck Jones and turned into a book before his untimely death, this latter-day Warner Bros. cartoon was another entertaining lesson on American customs which Jones had previously done with Porky Pig on Old Glory back in 1939. Daffy decides to run as the Commander-In-Chief thinking he'll be able to make a law abolishing rabbits. Bugs tells him that the president can only enact laws so Daffy runs for Congress in order to get rabbit season to occur "12 months of the year". Turns out he's the only supporter of that bill! Basically this was a good way to get children to learn the Constitution and the three branches of government involving two beloved cartoon characters. Joe Alaskey was a fine pick in continuing the familiar voices created by the late Mel Blanc. And kudos for the two directors, Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone, for doing Mr. Jones proud with their pacing of the animation scenes as well as printing a dedication to his memory. My favorite punchline came from Bugs, "At least you're not a lame duck!" This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 2 DVD set.

This was a "first" for me: a short Looney Tunes cartoon in surround sound. It was great to hear. It's Daffy Duck, but done only a few years ago, in 2004.

Daffy's running for President of the United States and if he wins, one of the first things he'll do, he tells Bugs Bunny, is "outlaw rabbits."

Bugs quickly sets Daffy straight: a President can't enact laws; that's the job of congress. He shows Daffy the laws right from The Constitution. Hmm, Daffy isn't pleased. Bugs, for some reason, encourages him. "There have been a lot of funny boids elected to congress," he states, "but you would be the first duck."

Soon, Daffy comes back an elected congressman from Long Island, telling Bugs he'll make a law ordering rabbit season to be "a minimum of 12 months a year." Bugs doesn't seem perturbed.

Daffy's "no more duck season" bill fails, as does his other political efforts which includes a trip to the Supreme Court, on Bugs' suggestion.

In all, this is a quick civics lesson; not very funny, but informative. Lost in the politics is the colorful artwork and the decent job done by Joe Alaskey who performs double duty, voicing both Daffy and Bugs. He does a fine job, particularly with Daffy. It would be harder to match the great Mel Blanc as Bugs.

I appreciated the final graphic in here that says, "In loving memory of Chuck Jones." That was nice. This can be seen as part of the "features" on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Three DVD.

Daffy Duck is elected into congress. Seem the perfect opportunity for hilarious madcap hijiks to ensue, but alas they don't. Nope, this is an educational short to tell the young ones about the three branches of government. It pretty much fails at saying anything more then what those three branches are and leaves it at that. Not really that educational at all when you think about it. And as such it doesn't warrant multiple viewing, heck I'd be hard pressed to say that it even warrants one viewing. This recent animated short can be seen as an extra on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

My Grade: D