Happy Go Ducky

'Happy Go Ducky (1958)' is the last of the Hanna-Barbera 'Tom & Jerry' toons. It sees the titular duo gifted with an Easter egg from the Easter bunny, from which a swimming-obsessed duckling soon hatches. The short doesn't really feature any of the classic cat and mouse chasing you expect from the series. Instead, its two leads have to prevent the duckling from contaminating every body of water in their home. The piece is decent enough, providing passive enjoyment throughout. Sadly, it suffers from a marked drop in animation quality, feeling relatively lifeless as compared to most of its predecessors. The sight-gags aren't particularly funny or inspired and the story isn't all that compelling, either. Still, it's a decent short film, overall. 6/10

I've never been a big fan of Quackers the duck, but here he outdoes himself, being much more irritating than usual.

Quackers arrives at Tom and Jerry's house in an egg delivered by the Easter Bunny and proceeds to swim in just about anything that will hold water—the fish tank, Tom's bowl, the bath, the sink and the shower—all the while wishing the cat and mouse a Happy Easter. Naturally, this quickly gets on their nerves, so they try to ditch the duck at the local park, but somehow he finds his way back… with four other equally obnoxious ducklings.

Not only is this cartoon very annoying thanks to the little feathered fellow and his friends, but it also features some truly gaudy animation that makes me think that the artists responsible were colour blind.

The Easter Bunny delivers a gift to Tom and Jerry one Easter morning - a brightly-colored egg. The two adversaries fight over it, until it hatches on Tom's head. It turns to be "Little Quackers," a tiny yellow duck who has been in a handful of other Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Here, the little guy has two sentences he repeats over and over: "Happy Easter" and "Oh, boy!" He says the latter each time he sees a "swimming pool" such as Tom's milk dish, or the household aquarium. the water cooler, the bat tub, etc.

Neither Tom nor Jerry are thrilled with this little duck, and they follow him around, get wet a number of times and try to get rid of the duck. They come up with a good plan, but the duck has the last laugh at the end, which is cute. It's refreshing to see Tom and Jerry on the same page, for a change. Overall, not a lot of yuks but a very charming cartoon and definitely recommended.

This is one of the few shorts in which Tom and Jerry were actually friends instead of enemies. They both get a surprising Easter present: A duck! Both try to help the cute little baby duck live in water. Eventually, all succeed.

There are many classic Tom and Jerry cartoons(The Cat Concerto, The Little Orphan and Tom and Jerry at the Hollywood Bowl). Happy Go Ducky is not one of the classics, partly because it was one of the cartoons made when Fred Quimby wasn't in charge, but it is nowhere near as bad as what was going to come with all the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry output(the best was Calypso Cat and that was only mediocre) and some of(not all, some are decent if not as good as those of the 40s and mid 50s) the Chuck Jones efforts. Where Happy Go Ducky isn't so good was in the animation, instead of lushly coloured and fluid like the best of Tom and Jerry the quality looks rushed and sparse with also a lack of vibrancy. Not all the pacing is as secure as it could have been either, it's neither rushed or plodding but there are times where it does lack crispness for my tastes. The music though is great, it is very catchy and enhances the action and how the characters are feeling, which in my mind is exactly like good music in good cartoons should be like. The story while routine is very sweet and charming, and the gags are amusing. The characters are all likable, it was nice to see Tom and Jerry on the same side and while annoying to them Little Quackers to us for all his limited vocabulary is adorable. In conclusion, not one of the best of Tom and Jerry, but it is a nice one. 7/10 Bethany Cox