L'Île fantastique de Daffy Duck

Honestly, I'm not much of a fan of Daffy Duck's short films, so I was not expecting much from this movie, but I was wrong, the movie is very good, with great characters, great jokes, a great animation and a fabulous mix of sound. Highly recommend.

The biggest problem with this film is a common one in all these compilations: you can see (and probably have seen) most of this material elsewhere (mostly in Saturday-morning kiddie shows on TV). However, anyone looking for the trademark anarchic, sometimes surrealistic humor of the WB cartoons, surely won't be disappointed with "Fantastic Island". Of course, some episodes are more enjoyable than others; there is one dud (Porky Pig as a producer searching for talents), but there is also at least one short, starring a jive-talking rooster ("Crazy, man. C-razy!") that can perhaps be fully appreciated only by adults. (**1/2)

"Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island" is Friz Freleng's third compliation film, following his previous two successes "Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie" and "Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales". This third feature is a tremendous success in its' own right and it continues the winning formula Freleng introduced in his first film: he creates one humdinger of a story to place the footage in.

This time, Freleng spoofs the hit TV series "Fantasy Island" with Daffy Duck in the Ricardo Montalban role and Speedy Gonzales in the Tattoo role. It opens with a side splitting gag (Speedy tells Daffy: Ze Plane! Ze Plane!) and it never lets up for all of its 78 minute screen time. Freleng also uses the film to continue his Yosemite Sam/Bugs Bunny fight which occupies about 20 minutes of this feature.

Well, anyway, back to the story. The premise is that Daffy and Speedy are stranded on a deserted island which has a wishing well. Daffy, being the self described "greedy coward", decides to open a resort that can grant wishes. That's where the classic footage comes into play.

There are many highlights: Tweety, Sylvester and Spike in a pet hospital, Foghorn Leghorn and the womanizing rooster, Yosemite Sam will inherit several million pounds ONLY if he keeps his temper in check and Bugs is the executor of the will! And Daffy Duck is STUPOR DUCK!

As per the previous films, they work on two levels. For kids, as simple entertainment. For adults, savage satire. Most of the shorts here are shown in their entirety, although a few are trimmed for time. This is wonderful entertainment and a worthy addition to any video library.

**** out of 4 stars

"Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island" is basically an animated rip-off of "Robinson Crusoe" and "Gilligan's Island". Daffy Duck and pint-sized side-kick Speedy Gonzales (who has always been ridiculed falsely as a stereotypical character of Hispanic Americans) get stranded on the titled island and come into contact with a magical well that will grant wishes to all comers. Naturally Yosemite Sam and the dreaded Tasmanian Devil are along as the villains here. Once again new animation is glued together with older shorts. In the end the film is about as good as it can be, but that is not really saying much. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales are marooned on a desert island. Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil lose a sea battle with Bugs Bunny and a treasure map. Daffy and Speedy use the map to find a wishing well which grants any wish to the owner of the treasure map. Daffy creates a Fantasy Island resort which grants wishes to its visitors.

This is really an excuse to show old Looney Tunes episodes. The premise is bare-thread and unimpressive. It starts off with some odd pairings and then it becomes just an exercise in recycling. I'm a fan of the oldies and that keeps my interest. These are some of the better classics. However, it does nothing to create new material. The wishing well is no more than intermission between the old episodes.