Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur

Daffy Duck & the Dinosaur employs some good, solid gags, but I'm not a huge fan of the early, manic-like Daffy. I thought the real star of the show was Casper Caveman, who is supposedly a caricature of Jack Benny (I'll take Paul Penna's word for it, because I really don't know!) Nevertheless, Casper had some great mannerisms and was just a funny, unsuspecting victim of Daffy's crazy plans. Speaking of crazy plans, the ending was also quite funny and refreshing when Daffy gets a little too caught up in his scheme. Overall, this is a good, solid Daffy Duck cartoon. It's not the funniest out there, but it definitely has its moments.

My IMDb Rating: 8/10

I'm not remotely a fan of Chuck Jones, but this is one of his better efforts. The premise is intriguing: Daffy Duck (or one of his ancient ancestors) was alive 'trillions' of years ago, and crossed paths with a hungry caveman.

Casper Caveman has a pet apatosaurus named Fido, who is drawn and animated as one of Chuck Jones's usual insufferably twee critters. However, I laughed out loud when the dinosaur tags along behind his prehistoric master. Two-legged Casper and four-legged Fido each have a distinctive gait, and when they walk in unison the visual counterpoint of their movements is very funny.

For some reason, many Warners toons of this period begin with a multi-plane shot, apparently hoping to convince audiences that they can be just as 'arty' as Disney's cartoons. However, the very crude multi-plane pan near the beginning of this toon (more of a 'bi-plane'; only two planes!) is not remotely as impressive as Disney's multi-planes in 'The Old Mill' and elsewhere.

This cartoon violates the laws of physics even more than usual for Termite Terrace standards, with objects and characters able to pause in midair and change direction ditto.

Various sources have stated that the character Casper Caveman in this cartoon is a caricature of Jack Benny. Well, yes and no. The vocal performance (by Jack Lescoulie) expertly copies Benny's distinctive delivery and some of his catchphrases ('Good night, folks.'), and Jones's animation even duplicates a few of Benny's gestures. However, the character as drawn simply doesn't look like Benny, neither facially nor physically. I wonder if this was an attempt to avoid a lawsuit. Or perhaps it was down to the fact that Jack Benny (who had already made some film appearances dating back to the late 1920s) was at this point best known as a radio star, so movie audiences might not be sure of what he looked like.

An advertisement for 'Duckies' in this toon is a parody of a contemporary real-world ad for 'Luckies', i.e., Lucky Strike Cigarettes, which were the long-term sponsor of Jack Benny's radio show. (He had better luck with his next sponsor, Jell-O.)

A nice try at a slight variation of the usual Warners formula, and I'll rate this one 7 out of 10.

It is the time of the dinosaurs. Caspar Caveman and his pet dinosaur are going hunting. They encounter Daffy Duck at a local lake, but the duck keeps escaping.

Casper Caveman is Fred Flintstone but less appealing. I am not sure to whom he is supposed to be referencing. The character needs to be dumber and less too cool for school. He seems to be modeled after a crooner. I do not like him and that is the vast majority of my problem. The Honeymooners is still over a decade away, but that's what this needs to be. He needs to be Ralph Kramden. I really do not like Casper's design and personality.

Millions of years ago, in stone age times, a cave man wakes up hurt and heads out to hunt for food with his trusty dinosaur for help. They come across some open water and spy Daffy Duck swimming and decide that he'd make a good meal - that was their first mistake.

This cartoon opens with a disclaimer that informs us that, for no great reason, this cartoon is set millions of years ago - just in case the audience can't guess that from the presence of cavemen and a dinosaur. This short features Daffy in `crazy' mood, which I always enjoy more than his bitter and cynical mood. The action is quite funny even if it isn't that imaginative at times.

The cave man sounds a little like Elmer Fudd and even vaguely resembles him to the point that I wondered why they didn't just get him in instead. Daffy is hilarious and is what makes the cartoon such fun, the dinosaur of the title doesn't have that much to do but has a few laughs - although he is a bit of a dumb animal.

Overall this is a good cartoon because I believe that any chance to see Daffy in crazy mood is worth a look even if the material is not as imaginative as it could have been.

Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939)

*** (out of 4)

A caveman wakes up hungry so he grabs his dinosaur and the two go out looking for food. They stumble across Daffy Duck but he's not going to be so easy to catch.

This is another very funny short that manages to have two great characters and one less than stellar one. I will say that I think the caveman isn't all that interesting and even the vocal work for him is rather forgettable. With that said, the rest of the short is full of fun action and plenty of nice laughs including one sequence where Daffy paints a duck with bad results for the caveman. As you'd expect the animation is excellent and with the laughs this is certainly worth watching.