Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
Arthur Davis may not have been one of the all-time greats when it came to animation directors, and he was in the shadow of a stiff competition of animation directors (won't name them right now because that wouldn't be fair on Davis) with more distinctive and imaginative styles. He was nonetheless a competent director with enough solid cartoons under his belt. 'The Foxy Duckling' is another one of Davis' cartoons seen recently that fits under the solid, good but not great category.
'The Foxy Duckling' does a lot right. More so than it does wrong. And actually there is not a lot to dislike here, merely that other than the somewhat different concept in the quest for a duck's down rather than for food it does tend to be predictable, with the story and material treading somewhat familiar ground, and there is not much hilarious.
Amusing and well-timed but the only gag that properly rises above the amusing is right at the start. The end though was effective. So there is not much to criticise here, it's really that it's stuff that can be found elsewhere too and done in those cases with more freshness.
However, the animation is excellent. Beautifully drawn, very detailed and the colours are vibrant, complete with some great expressions and Davis' distinctive style of the characters moving from foreground to background.
Carl Stalling's music score is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, it's also beautifully synchronised with the action and gestures/expressions and even enhances the impact.
Everything is well-timed and well-engineered and nothing misfires, while not being much special on the whole. The characters are a lot of fun, as is their chemistry. The fox is especially well realised. The ever versatile Mel Blanc's voice work is stellar as one would naturally expect from a legend.
In conclusion, good cartoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox
