Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Tex Avery knew what his audience/fan base liked:fast paced cartoons with a surreal twist. Here's further proof. Two dog duck hunters (no names,but you know it has to be Lenny & Junior)are trying to bag a duck, despite the fact that they can't shoot ducks before six a.m. When the right time arrives, they manage to shoot down a freshly hatched baby duck right out of the sky. This is no every day duck. This is a duck with an evil agenda. The duck manages to terrorize those two hunters through out the short with a non stop grab bag of dirty tricks. Some more sadistic fun from the crew at MGM. No dialog here (unless you count the little duck's silly laugh as dialog).

This isn't the best Tex Avery directed MGM cartoon short, though it is still very good. Plus, even a run-of-the-mill Avery cartoon is still better than most Disney and Warner Brothers cartoon shorts of the same era. That's because all all his MGM shorts are so darn funny and the laughs just keep coming so fast and furious! In this film, two hunters are out looking to catch a duck. In one of the funnier scenes, as the film starts you see hundreds of ducks all dancing the Rumba all around the intrepid hunters because hunting season hasn't yet opened. And, the second it begins, they all completely vanish--all but a little sadistic duck who spends the rest of the movie torturing the hunters. This is wonderful fun except for the duck's really annoying laugh--again and again and again! Still, it's a wonderful film.

This is one of Avery's funniest cartoons. Take one baby duck, add two hunters who aren't exactly the shiniest pebbles in the pond, put the three into the hands of Tex Avery and stand back. The hunters have about as much chance of coming out on top as Ronald McDonald has of becoming president of PETA! Standard Avery gags that work no matter how often you see them, but the way he plays with conventions is probably the best thing here. Watch for the Technicolor gag, it's hilarious. Well worth watching. Most heartily recommended.

The Plot: a couple of dogs chase a duck from sun up to sundown. So why is this such a great toon? Simple. It's FUNNY. Hysterically funny. One sight gag after another, for 7 whole minutes, without pause, without mercy. If Tex Avery was the king of sight gags (among other things) this has to be his masterpiece, his piece de resistance, his Mona Lisa. It's a real gem and I enjoy it as much now as ever.