A-Haunting We Will Go

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.

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.

What's With all the horrible reviews? I quite liked It. Reused animation is always a stinker, and while this has a bit of it, Its still really funny, And the Animation and setting is so much fun, perfect to watch on halloween. I wasn't going to review this one originally, thinking my reviews would be too similar to other ones already given on this page, but What? I watched this with a much younger individual, and she absolutely loved it. I am a looney tunes fan, and I love a lot of their cartoons, and this one isn't so bad. Not perfect, No, but Definitely gives off that perfect halloween vibe.

6.9/10.

Crummy Speedy & Daffy short made during the waning years of the Looney Tunes classic era. This one features Witch Hazel in her last appearance in the same era. She's Caucasian colored in this one instead of green. The cartoon starts off with Daffy's nephew Scrappy Daffy visiting Witch Hazel on Halloween in the exact same costume Bugs wore in the classic Broom-Stick Bunny. He gets scared and runs home to Daffy, who doesn't believe in witches and decides to go check it out. But by then Speedy Gonzales is at Witch Hazel's house and looks like her because she wanted to go on vacation, so....sigh, you know what, who cares? This is really a stupid cartoon made during a low point for all of these characters. The animation is poor, the music is canned, and it reuses stock footage from Duck Amuck and the aforementioned Broom-Stick Bunny, both far superior cartoons to this. The only remotely good thing about it is the voice work of legends Mel Blanc and June Foray.

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.