Rich, cruel, and greedy Daffy Duck misuses his employees and ignores the true meaning of Christmas. I think we all know what happens next: three spirits of Christmas show up to compel him to change his ways. 46 min.
A Christmas Carol? Again? I like the book. Really, I do. And several of the movies. But enough is enough. Children are now born with the tale coded into their DNA. Is there anyone in the Western Hemisphere who can’t recite it, and write their own version? Warner Brothers had already stuck the Looney Tunes into the story in 1979 with Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol. Is it so tricky to come up with a new plot? It would be nice to see a little imagination at work.
But lack of imagination runs through every facet of Bah Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas. It isn’t bad. It just isn’t interesting, funny, or innovative in any way. I’d never know from watching this that fifty years ago, Bugs Bunny and company set the standard for witty animated shorts. Oh well, this is no What’s Opera Doc.
I suppose I’m being harder on this insignificant cartoon than it deserves, but it is pertinent that it’s all been done before. Perhaps because of that, the visits of the three spirits is given short shrift, leaving more time for slapstick. I’m happy to see anything added that puts a different spin on the material, but the myriad moments of irrelevant violence don’t alter the basic story. They are minorly amusing, which is about as good as it gets.
In place of clever writing, most of the old Looney Tunes characters are marched out in hopes that fans require nothing more than seeing them to be happy. Daffy, Porky, Sylvester, Granny & Tweety, Yosemite Sam, and The Tasmanian Devil at least have roles in the story. Also on hand are Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Pepe Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, The Road Runner, Willy E. Coyote, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, Miss Prissy, The Bears, Claude the Cat, the mice Hubie and Bertie, Pete Puma, Ralph the Dog, the sad Penguin, and others I’d need a picture-list of Looney Tunes characters to name. Some have lines, while others stand around in the background to be counted by observant viewers.
Are these characters too well known, too untouchable, to ever be funny again? That could be the problem. A bit of the old Looney Tunes zing was visible in Tiny Toon Adventures and Pinky and the Brain, but is sorely lacking here. The timing is off, as if the new animators aren’t sure what made the old cartoons funny. Young kids won’t mind spending an hour with this reminder of better days, but it’s a bore to anyone older.
Other short takes on Dickens’s story reviewed on Foster on Film: Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Beavis and Butt-Head: Huh-Huh-Humbug!, Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol, and Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol.