My Little Duckaroo (1954)

the audience applauded

A Major Disappointment

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"My Little Duckaroo" is a cartoon from 1954, so it is already over 60 years old, and it runs for 7 minutes like they usually do. Despite the combination of the legendary Chuck Jones, Michael Maltese and Mel Blanc working on this one, the outcome is not too memorable. Daffy is in the Wold West again and tries to take care of a bad guy who is much bigger and stronger than him. And this time, not even his comedy relief Porky can save him from the bad guy. The villain's name already tells us that a lot in here is about playing cards. If we learn anything from this little movie, then it is that western films were extremely popular in the 1950s and even made it into the animation genre. The jokes aren't all bad, but it's nowhere near the best Warner Bros have to offer around that time. I personally do not recommend the watch unless you really really love cartoons.

I didn't know the date of the episode before I watched it and while I watched I presumed it was a 1960's Looney Tunes cartoon, almost definitely made by I Freleng and like many of his cartoons a whole bag of references to earlier classic episodes. When I saw this was a cartoon made in 1954 and it was made by Chuck Jones, I was very surprised.Still, this is an episode all right to watch, if exceedingly similar to "Drip Along Daffy." Like in "Drip Along Daffy," Daffy Duck is a western-hero and Porky alongside him is a "Comedy Relief." There are some fun songs at the beginning, which is relatively common in Looney Tunes, but still excitingly lovely all the same. Daffy Duck is the Masked "Evenger" (that's how he pronounces "Avenger," anyway) and he sees a wanted poster for a major criminal. The Masked Avenger gallops to the criminal's house and attempts to arrest the desparado....The episode may be predictable and cliché, but for Daffy Duck fans it is still overall worth at least one watch, as the personalities of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig are very entertaining.Recommended to people who like Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, enjoy "My Little Duckaroo"! :-)

Sort of a re-imagining of Chuck Jones's earlier "Drip-Along Daffy", "My Little Duckaroo" casts Daffy and Porky as a western hero and sidekick out to battle evildoers. Daffy of course can't take on their quarry.While the cartoon mostly has a repeating gag - Daffy challenges Nasty Canasta but nothing comes of it - I noticed something. Early in the cartoon, after identifying himself, Daffy basically explains that he's totally in it for the money. Certainly under Jones's watch this lisping member of the genus Anas had become very greedy - often bragging about his avaricious side - while Porky would bring some sanity to the situation. And now Daffy giddily talks about how he hopes to collect the reward.That's the main point that I notice in the cartoon. I figure that "MLD" was mostly intended as a placeholder. Worth seeing.

Driven by a desire to see wrongs righted (and claim the massive reward), the Masked Avenger decides to go after criminal Nasty Canasta and bring him to justice. However, Canasta proves to be more than a match for the Avenger - mask or no mask.I'm a big fan of Daffy Duck but I vastly prefer him when he is in fully `crazy' mood, doing all sorts of manic things; I find that much funnier than his later greedy & selfish personae. Here, however he is in selfish mode - not in itself a sign of a bad cartoon, but here it is all part of the problem. Along with Porky as comedy relief, Daffy goes after a criminal but has very little response form him. Why the script decided to do this is beyond me as it means there is very little happening to really laugh at. The material throughout is pretty uninspiring and relies heavily on Daffy's delivery alone to make it enjoyable.Sadly, for me, Daffy's greedy character just isn't that funny at times (here being one of them) and his delivery in this cartoon is average at best. It's the fault of the material of course, and I was surprised just how weak the whole thing was. Porky is named the comedy relief but he has absolutely nothing to do outside of two or three lines of dialogue. Canasta is like some of the other `old west' villains that have tangled with other WB characters, but the decision to have him do almost nothing was a daft one.Overall this cartoon offers two big names and a mildly amusing set up, but, like me, I imagine many people will be bewildered by just how uninspiring the thing is.