Le Noël des Looney Tunes

I rented this movie today. I thought it was OK, but the main problem was the company that produced it. Warner Bros. Animation hasn't been the same since 2002, when Sander Schwartz took over and ruined everything. The company mostly focused on cartoons featuring the DC superheroes ("Justice League Unlimited," "Teen Titans," "The Batman"), crude Flash-style cartoons that try to bring in humor ("Mucha Lucha," "Xiaolin Showdown"), and some other action shows. They also tried taking over production on Scooby-Doo, and totally killed the magic of the show with changing the voices and sound effects and animation style ("What's New, Scooby-Doo?," "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue," "Aloha Scooby-Doo"), and also completely changed Tom and Jerry (with "Tom and Jerry Tales," which looks even worse than the Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones T&J cartoons!). Despite turning out all this mediocre product, the studio tried a couple of times to produce Looney Tunes cartoons in the old spirit, with poor-quality shorts like "Museum Scream," "Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas," etc., and ultimately, "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." But when the latter flopped at box-office (hey, it was a bad idea, "Finding Nemo" was poisoning the other animated flicks of that year!), the future of Looney Tunes was at stake. Termite Terrace churned out "Baby Looney Tunes," "Duck Dodgers" and "Loonatics Unleashed," which are NOWHERE near the quality of the classics, even nowhere near the quality of the cheap late 1960s Warner-Seven Arts cartoons! This current addition to the Looney Tunes filmography, "Bah Humduck!," is the latest attempt by Warner Bros. Animation to do a Looney Tunes cartoon. The current staff at the animation department had no or barely enough experience with the classic (but near-obscure) Warner Bros. cartoon characters. Gossamer and Marvin the Martian and Hubie and Bertie and a few others are poorly drawn here, and the music is NO MATCH for Carl Stalling (or even Milt Franklyn.) Heck, even Bill Lava could do better music than that. If they wanted Carl Stalling-style, they could've hired Steven Bernstein, music composer for "Animaniacs" and "Pinky and the Brain," as well as the 1994 Animaniacs-esquire Hanna-Barbera special, "Arabian Nights." Also, Wile E. Coyote is always treated like that he is always silent or deaf or doesn't know how to talk, and that he can only use signs. I know Wile E. Coyote. He talked a couple of times. And you know what? I actually LIKED his voice! Mel Blanc gave him a great British-sounding voice that matched really well with him. But alas, Mel Blanc has gone, but there are many others out there. They could've hired Kevin Michael Richardson, whom voices Tech E. Coyote (who, unfortunately, sounds NOTHING like Wile E. Coyote!) Also, Billy West does a good Elmer, but a bad Bugs Bunny! I LOVE Billy West's Fry from "Futurama," as well as his Stimpy (but his Ren wasn't the best Ren voice though). Speedy Gonzales's voice is also really bad, too. He is designed in the same style as you see on most merchandising. The best Speedy Gonzales design out there was the 1955-1967 Speedy.

But anyways, it shows that the Looney Tunes are still struggling to make it into today's culture. If they do, and the quality improves or Sander Schwartz leaves the studio, it could lead into a Looney Tunes renaissance!

When you've got a mere 46 minutes to tell a highly condensed version of a classic Xmas story then it's obviously a good idea to cram as much story in there are possible and try your hardest to create a cosy, Xmas atmosphere. There's not much of that to be had in Bah Humduck! Cartoon writers have been milking the Christmas Carol goat for years. Modern spins on the story rarely work (Scrooged being a meta-fictional exception) and Bah Humduck distances itself from the source material so much that it is barely recognizable. Daffy stars as the boss of a huge department store who loves exploiting people in order to make many Xmas dollars. The Ebeneezer Scrooge story is shoehorned into this setting, but the colour schemes are far too high key and bright to evoke a true Xmas feel. Almost the entire feature is set inside this bland environment.

Far too much time is given to hijinks utterly void of comic timing. The first 11 minutes, which establish Daffy as a bad boss, are really nothing but him flying across the screen and smashing into various things. It's not funny in the slightest.

I feel that the people who made this were only interested in churning out a quick, easy product and had no interest in making it something special. A Charlie Brown Christmas was half the length and has been consistently popular for well over forty years. Bah Humduck will disappear without a trace.

Bah Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006) is a straight-to-video Looney Tunes Holiday themed movie that is basically A Christmas Carol and it was a great time.

Positives for Bah Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006): I liked seeing these characters taking part in the Christmas Carol story set in modern day. Daffy Duck is a pretts good Ebenezer Scrooge. I also liked Porky Pig and his daughter Priscilla Pig. You get the classic slapstick humor with the Looney Tunes characters. And finally, I loved the ending to this movie and it was very sweet.

Negatives for Bah Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006): This movie only exists because Warner Bros. Likes to capitalize on opportunities. Daffy Duck can be a little insufferable at times. And finally, the movie doesn't have the impact or wonder that you would expect from A Christmas Carol.

Overall, Bah Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006) is a good straight-to-video Looney Tunes movie for the Christmas Holiday.

Daffy Duck is the rich greedy arrogant owner of a big superstore. Bugs Bunny warns him to be nicer in this Christmas time. He is the Scrooge in this version of A Christmas Carol. He is visited by three ghosts and learns his lesson. This is new animation. I don't like the crass consumerism style of the cartoon although I understand the need for it. The animation looks alright. It doesn't have the beautiful old classic look but it's good enough. All in all, it's a fine version of the Christmas Carol. I would put this on a second tier. There are many better versions even if one select only the kiddie versions. At least, this isn't recycle old cartoons.

This was so good. I admit- I was hesitant to watch. Sometimes when a "newer" rendition of the Looney Tunes is presented, it tends to let down. But this was true to the Looney style.

The re-telling of a Christmas Carol with the faithful characters of the Looney Tunes was great! Making Daffy the Scrooge was inspired and the twists that the writers added to give that Dickens flavor was refreshing.

Bottom-line: my young kids loved it, my teenager loved it, I loved it... even my hubby was laughing.

Grab the popcorn, wrangle the family in and get ready to enjoy a holiday moment with Bah Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.