Don't Believe the Hype

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Blistering performances.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.Being somebody who holds Friz Freleng in very high regard, considers Daffy Duck one of her favourite animated characters of all times and has always found Porky Pig while not a favourite a likeable character, 'Slightly Daffy' had potential to be decent. With music from Carl Stalling and voice work from Mel Blanc, masters in their fields who rarely if ever disappointed, personal interest got bigger. Sadly 'Slightly Daffy', a vastly inferior remake to the pretty good 'Scalp Trouble' as has already been noted, was a pretty big disappointment. 'Slightly Daffy' really isn't one of Freleng's best efforts and is not a good representation of him. In fact, personally found difficult to believe it came from Freleng when he was hitting his stride, it could easily have passed for being directed by somebody else. Ok, 'Slightly Daffy' is not a complete waste. Carl Stalling's music score, as always, is outstanding, with inspired use of pre-existing music, beautiful and clever orchestration and full of rhythmic energy that adds to and enhances the action expertly. Despite the way it is used, the animation quality itself is crisp, meticulously detailed and fluid.Mel Blanc shows why he is rightly considered a legend in voice acting, showing an unparalleled ability to give individuality to more than one character. 'Slightly Daffy' also shows why Daffy and Porky work so well together, Daffy, in full manic mode, was always the funnier and more interesting character of the two though Porky does effectively play it straight which works wonderfully when partnered with Daffy (it's these dynamic character contrasts that make their chemistry as good as it was).Conversely, there is not much to add to what has already been said regarding the short-comings of 'Slightly Daffy'. Material shortages do come through loud and clear and it overall is basically a cheater with little point to it. The cartoon is little more than a hodge-podge of pre-existing material from previous cartoons (including the cartoon it's remade from) strung together, but with less than lively pacing, a lack of zany wit and gags that are not particularly clever or imaginative. While the actual animation quality itself is far from the bad, there is a big problem with how it is used. Again a hodge-podge of recycled material choppily edited. The story is basic and not much of one, if one at all, what there is feels rushed and thrown together. The cartoon lacks energy and the supporting characters are lazy and racially insensitive stereotypes. In summary, mediocre, one doesn't expect this from Freleng during this period of his career. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Just about every cartoon studio during animation's golden age did remakes of their cartoon shorts every once in a while. More often than not, they were color remakes of black and white cartoons, such is the case with this short.This short is a remake of the black and white Looney Tune SCALP TROUBLE (1939), which was directed by Bob Clampett. Friz Freleng directed the remake. Not to bash Freleng as a director (he was a good one), but he didn't have a feel for Clampett's zany sensibility. This was also evident when he remade another one of Clampett's earlier shorts PORKY IN WACKYLAND (1938). This is one of the reasons why this short suffers.The other reason this short suffers as a remake is that it reuses animation from various other shorts. It's basically a hodge podge of late 1930's animation sequences, redone as a mid-40's short with no originality. Of course, this is someone speaking in a time where it's much easier to spot these shortcuts, than it was in years prior. This is one of many cartoon remakes that was produced as a cost cutting measure. Had Clampett remade his own short, I can imagine it being a better short. I recommend the original over the remake.

. . . as well as the rampant cheating to which this sorry franchise has resorted during this bogus so-called 21-game "winning" streak. For starters, remember that this bunch from "The Mistake on the Lake" has not even won a World Series since SLIGHTLY DAFFY was released 75 years ago! This Cleavered Bunch is so woeful that even when only the most cursed squad in the Universe--the Chicago Cubs--stood between them and a championship, and the Lake Erie crew held an "insurmountable" 3-1 lead in last year's World Series--they STILL managed to snatch Defeat from the Anal Portal of Victory! Secondly, seven of these "Great" Triumphs--that is, exactly one-third--came against the Detroit Tigers AFTER the Motor City Nine sold off ALL their stars, becoming essentially the Motown Mudhens! (And the "Tribe" felt so threatened by these teenage pussycats that they even turned on the outfield sprinklers in the middle of the game!) Finally, TV replays clearly showed that the three-run "homer" in the Lake Mudville group's 21st "win" was not even "out"--instead of "winning" 5-3, they actually LOST 3-2!! SLIGHTLY DAFFY ends with the notation that "Yanks Beat Indians 11-3" (at the 5 minute, 54 second mark). Consolidating THAT prediction with the rest of the clues embedded in SLIGHTLY DAFFY, it's clear that Warner Bros. is warning these lame "Indians" that the Kansas City Royals will best them 17-7 Thursday night, Sept. 14, 2017. Remember, you saw it here first!

This cartoon could be considered a "cheater" because it uses quite a bit of footage from Scalp Trouble, presumably because of material shortages during wartime and because the animators were also doing war-related projects and it saved time. Though Scalp Trouble is better, Slightly Daffy is good enough to see for its own sake. Worth watching. Recommended.