Être ou ne pas être canardé

To Duck or Not To Duck (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Elmer Fudd and his beloved dog Rover are out duck hunting when they com across Daffy Duck. Soon Daffy and Elmer are in a boxing ring where you know the duck isn't going to play by the rules.

If you're a fan of Daffy and Elmer then you're obviously going to want to check this early teaming out. I don't think this here is one of the best shorts together as the series would eventually get much better but there are still plenty of nice laughs here that make it worth viewing. There's no question that the highlight happens early on when there's some "duck shot" being fired at Daffy as he flies through some clouds. As you'd expect the animation is of the highest quality.

I guess I might have enjoyed this cartoon a lot more if it weren't for the fact that there were so many better Looney Toons cartoons that also paired Daffy and Elmer Fudd. The most famous of these later pairings also included Bugs Bunny and it was all about whether or not it was duck or rabbit hunting season. There also was another where Elmer took Daffy home after a hunt and Daffy pretended to be Santa! Both of these are classics.

As for this cartoon, the animation isn't quite as pretty as some of the cartoons from the late 40s, but it's still awfully good. The story begins with Elmer and his dog hunting. Daffy is hit and caught but he begins to verbally attack Elmer for "unsportsman-like behavior" and challenges him to a very one-sided and obviously fixed boxing match--with another duck as the referee. The laughs are there and there is a lot to like--but I never loved this or laughed like I did for the later times that I saw these two great Looney Tunes characters together.

A great cartoon. The unpredictable set-up (Daffy backs Elmer through the marsh up into a boxing ring!) begins a hilarious pro-duck boxing match. Elmer is of course, completely over-matched and clueless (but surprisingly gets back and Daffy and Co. at the end), and Daffy has a funny line to the audience-"Ain't he a dope?". The referee is a strong, (literally) well-rounded character, too. But the best line might be from Laramor the dog, "There's something screwy about this fight, or my name isn't Laramor...and it isn't". I know that they can't have them all on the Golden Collection, but this, among other early 40s' shorts should have been included and hopefully will be available soon on DVD.

While the Daffy Duck of the `50s and `60s was funny, there is no beating the Daffy from the `30s and `40s and here is proof of that and who can forget the famous Daffy laugh which inspired the Woody Woodpecker laugh? I don't know if it was because of Woody that the Daffy laugh was absent in the `50s and `60s but I don't think so because both Woody Woodpecker and Daffy Duck were performed by Mel Blanc.

To Duck... or Not to Duck was a very good cartoon, if not quite outstanding. The story is on the routine side, and the cartoon starts off a tad slow in comparison to what happens later. But once we are introduced to the boxing match, which is by far and away the highlight of To Duck... or Not to Duck, it picks up considerably. The animation is pretty to look at, not the most pristine looking cartoon of the Looney Tunes cartoons, but it looks handsome enough to me. The music is very good, the dialogue is great(Daffy and Elmer both have their fair share of great lines but Laramar the Dog gets the best line of the entire cartoon in my opinion) and the sight gags are interesting. Daffy and Elmer are very entertaining, Daffy being manic and witty and Elmer being a worthy if clueless foil, while Laramar is great support. Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan both do a stellar job once again with the voices. Overall, entertaining and fun, not outstanding but very good all the same. 8/10 Bethany Cox