Daffy's Rhapsody

I had heard Mel Blanc's rendition of Daffy's Rhapsody somewhere in the distant past ... on a lazy Sunday afternoon or something on a radio or TV station that doesn't exist anymore. And then I had heard it once or twice more over the years, and again, the source escapes me.

And, as of 30 seconds before writing this review, I saw an illegal YouTube upload of WB's CGI toon with the same name; "Daffy's Rhapsody".

I have to admit right here and now I think CGI is okay for lots of things, but CGI doesn't add to the texture of the classic WB characters, nor does it really take anything away from them. It's just a different way of viewing them.

Having said that, I can't say I found this too amusing. There's been lots of attempts at rediscovering the comedic animation formulas the classic WB animators used to make their incredibly funny and highly entertaining cartoons. Todays animators, over the last 20 years, have tried to speed up the animation and compensate for poor writing with quick gag delivery. PIXAR's shorts are notorious for this.

What made the classic WB cartoons (and occasionally the classic Disney cartoon) funny was that they had good writing and direction. And by that I mean the creative forces really let themselves go with the notion of "Wouldn't it be funny ..." And no topic was too sacred; suicide, sex, war, starvation, taxes, infidelity, cross dressing, divorce, child care, and homicide in various aspects. You don't really think of those things in their proper context when you see these cartoons because, hey, if you did, you'd drive yourself nuts.

Comedy is knowing that you're not dumb enough to let misfortune happen to you. It's why you laugh when you see some guy obliviously drive his car into a brick wall, knowing full well that it's coming and doing it with a smile on his face. YOU certainly wouldn't do that. Would you? In a cartoon sense we spare his life (or maybe not) and the audience his grizzly fate by keeping out the blood and gore and other gory details of his fate, and instead show him a little roughed up, but probably otherwise fully functional as he staggers from his destroyed vehicle. That's comedy. He either died or was seriously injured, and if he died then it was clean and he was done away with some comedic honors.

But you don't get any of that in today's cartoons. It's all quick delivery of socially expedient gags which aren't funny 99% of the time.

And that's kind of what this is. Mel's song as he voices Daffy Duck is funny without the animation. We know the character, and hearing him go on about how and why he's hunted and his frustration of why hunters don't go after other animals, all syncopated to a classic score, IS THE JOKE. Adding animation to it, CGI no less, puts a grin on my face, but it's almost like reanimating "Duck Amuck", which I'm sure someone is planning already.

An A for effort, but I've seen better.

Halfway through I was bored and had to stop. I don't really like the characters being portrayed in CGI. It's just ugly and heartless.

While it's a bit odd seeing classic Looney Tunes characters being animated with realistic textures, I think it was a decently made short.

At least plot-wise, this short animation keeps the main essence of the Looney Tunes instead of trying to completely reimagining them for a modern audience.

As crazy as it sounds, I think a CGI Looney Tunes movie done in this style could work.

When I first heard about this, nobody liked it! I wasn't impressed. I heard about I TAWT I TAW A PUDDY-TAT. And I didn't see it. So when I heard about the new Daffy Duck CGI cartoon. I told it to my friends, online and offline and they said "This is Looney Tunes not Looney Pixar-cash-in-attempts!" I agree, when others heard about it, they are wild to see it. So I watched it. And I liked it! This short along with THE THREE STOOGES movie and THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW (read my comments) rank in the category of guilty pleasures. I don't like it because it is CGI, but I like it because it has a feel of a Daffy Duck cartoon from the good old days. I am happy about the character design and I felt like I fell into their world or the characters jumped into our world. I somehow like it a lot. I had a laugh. So, OK CGI has some good moments. So I'll let it pass. By the time you read my reviews about guilty pleasures of mine, you will see more soon. Bottom line: I recommend it. Rated G alright, so it is fun for the entire family.

Like I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat last year, this computer animated Warner Bros. cartoon takes a record Mel Blanc made for Capitol Records and makes it the soundtrack of a new short starring whatever character he was voicing that happened to be owned by Warners. In this case, it's Daffy Duck singing the lyrics that were added for Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Michael Maltese, Warren Foster, and Billy May in which he sings of wanting hunters to chase after someone other than him. In addition, Billy West does the voice of Elmer Fudd as he's added to the proceedings. This was almost as hilarious as the previous short I mentioned. So on that note, I highly recommend Daffy's Rhapsody.