A-Haunting We Will Go

This cartoon is really nothing more than a reworking of Broomstick Bunny with Daffy replacing Bugs and Speedy Gonzales worked into things as well. There's a great visual gag lifted from Duck Amuck as well that fits perfectly and is the best thing about this one, which isn't terribly original, save for how they use Speedy, which is quite hilarious. Worth watching for Speedy fans and the best Chuck Jones cartoon Bob McKimson ever made. Recommended for Speedy fans.

Personally See Ya Later Gladiator is the worst of the Daffy/Speedy cartoons, but A-Haunting We Will Go is a very close second. The redeeming qualities are the opening with Daffy and his nephew, Speedy behaving like himself in his witch guise and Mel Blanc's vocal talents(though his Daffy voice was getting a little too abrasive at this point). The animation though lacks fluidity and is instead very flat- very washed-out- and blocky, especially in the character designs and movements of Hazel. Bill Lava's music doesn't enhance the action at all, it sounds very stock and canned and is also dull and repetitive. There have been times when it works but like cartoons like The Music Mice-Tro this is an instance when it doesn't. The writing often is a strong point with the Looney Tunes cartoons but falls completely flat here, it is often witless and the freshness and timing is nowhere to be heard, the dialogue is some of the most banal of the Daffy/Speedy series. Of the gags, two work but the main joke with Daffy turning into different creatures though with its moments is far too drawn out, gets tiresome and is actually rather predictable. Some of it looked as though it was lifted out of Duck Amuck, one of the best cartoons Looney Tunes ever made and an animated classic. The story has no originality or spark and disadvantaged by laboured pacing. And then we have the characters, Daffy's nephew did have potential but the writers practically ignored him after the opening so that was a waste. A-Haunting We Will Go is one of those cartoons among where Daffy is at his least funniest, that's criminal considering that he is one of Looney Tunes' best characters, here he's bland and at times like most of the cartoons with him and Speedy too mean-spirited. Speedy has one good gag, the rest of the time he serves little point to the story and gets under your skin. Witch Hazel is funny in her cartoons with Bugs Bunny, but here she is exceedingly annoying and the normally great June Foray voicing her is little better. Overall, a few moments but a disappointing mess on the most part. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This was made during the final days of Warner Bros. animated shorts, when DePatie-Freleng was the producing entity. Most of the shorts during this time were formulaic stories featuring Daffy Duck fighting Speedy Gonzalez in some way.

Despite having a limited budget and a strict formula, one might think that the injection of a character not typically seen into the mix, such as Witch Hazel, might liven things up a bit. But one would be wrong.

Much of the cartoon is literally re-traced or re-used animation cells from 1956's "Broom-Stick Bunny." Daffy's nephew is in the exact same outfit, and doing the exact same movements as Bugs, from that cartoon. Much of the witch's frantic running around is from that cartoon. When she sits at the table with Daffy, she says the exact same things that she does when Bugs was sitting there.

As if all that weren't bad enough, the filmmakers also copy exactly a crazy Daffy Duck design from 1953's "Duck Amuck." The design was hilarious and brilliant in the first cartoon. It falls completely flat here.

There's very little plot here; the whole thing just meanders. Daffy's nephew runs through some of the same shtick that Sylvester the Cat's son would go through. (Other than Sylvester, why is it that every other male cartoon character of the period had some nephew that looked and sounded exactly like him?)

Since Witch Hazel didn't appear in that many cartoons to begin with, this cartoon is an interesting footnote in animation history, but not much more.

Here is another good Looney Tune cartoon for Halloween, starring one of my favorite Looney Tune characters, Speedy Gonzales. This short also stars Daffy Duck and Witch Hazel. Although Speedy had a small role in it, I still consider it a Speedy cartoon.

In this short, it's another Halloween for Hazel. But she found it boring and she needed a vacation, so she tricked Speedy by giving him a piece of cheese (contaminated with a magic potion). And when he ate it, Speedy turned into Hazel's double while the real Hazel flew off to Hawaii, leaving Speedy to "take care of the shop." Meanwhile, Daffy is taking his nephew up to Hazel's house to "prove" that Witch Hazel is a mere old lady. Then Speedy (in his Hazel-guise) invites Daffy in and fixes him a cup of tea, which was really a potion that turned Daffy into a... whatever. Uh-Oh! Speedy blew it.

You know, I've heard Looney Tunes fans dislike these Speedy cartoons from the late 1960s, but I actually enjoy them, including this one.

*NOTE* Ten/Ten Stars for storyline and character dialogue.

When I was really young, part of what I always liked about the classic Looney Tunes cartoons was the beginning, when the Warner Bros. shield would zoom towards the audience through the concentric circles. For some reason, later on they made up a less creative intro, like the one seen in "A-Haunting We Will Go".

Oh well. I guess that it's not really fair to criticize the intro. I read that this cartoon was basically a clone of an earlier one with Bugs Bunny. This one has Daffy Duck's nephew scared of Witch Hazel, and so Daffy tries to prove that there's no such thing as witches. Meanwhile, Hazel turns Speedy Gonzalez into a witch, and Daffy meets him in that form. I could tell that some scenes were lifted out of "Duck Amuck", so that weakened the cartoon somewhat. But otherwise, it's still good for a few laughs. Not bad, but not the best.