Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny are Looney Tunes' most recognized faces. Bugs Bunny is calm yet sly while Daffy is animated and hot-headed. In Duck Amuck, its Daffy's time to shine or rather get smudged, erased, abused, tormented, and blown! In a matter of six minutes, Chuck Jones delivers a tour de force short, with full (in) justice given to Daffy's character- be it its arms, legs, stomach, voice, face, even its tail. The opening scene, in which Daffy originally plans to take on enemies, is sword is interrupted by a white screen. Daffy himself seems perplexed, and whispers to the 'the guy in charge around here' to add some 'tschenry!' Every time the wrong scenery is added till Daffy gets fed up and confronts the creator. This is a genius part because when we look at it, we as audiences feel Daffy is talking to us as we laugh at his misery.
My favorite moment is when Daffy tries to vent his anger but his voice changes. The way he gets agitated and embarrassed, with the constant gesticulations (clenched fist, hand on mouth, shaking hands) is a joy to watch. Another highlight is the ab(use) of the scenery with the vivid distortion of 'Close Up' and contortions in Daffy's character when he demands the creator to give him a body.
I can now realize Chuck's intentions- with every little distortion created, Daffy still remains the main focus. When the creator 'erases' Daffy's character, we recognize his distinctive voice, when he gives Daffy an amorphous body, we recognize his bill, and even though his temper reaches boiling point, there is always a quirky touch to it (referring to the 'double duck sequence').
The most inventive moment was when the screen literally falls on him and he keeps a stick under it to hold it. It's a pity such humor is missing now because most of the target audience would not appreciate it now. Even watching those Mickey Mouse shorts made in 1930s makes me wonder why the new animation focuses on being so 'realistic' and does not want to experiment? At least some shorts can come up on cartoon channels that tend to break the rules and give life to anything and everything ( in Mickey Mouse, even a steam engine was given life in one short!)
Duck Amuck is where Chuck Jones' jackpot struck! My rating: 9/10
