So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

A Major Disappointment

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

. . . about upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti, with a special emphasis on the U.S. Presidential Election of 2016. MY LITTLE DUCKAROO is just one in a string of such cautionary tales covering the first campaign in which the majority of Americans hate BOTH major party nominees. Named for the Trumpeter Swan in Real Life, Rich People Party Pol Don J. Trump is captured here to a "T" by that Mercenary Solipcistic Braggart, Daffy Duck. Playing Crooked Hillary is card cheat Nasty Canasta, who trumps Trump's "Royal Straight Flush Full House with Four Aces High" by waving a Three of Clubs and a revolver in the Vince Foster position. As Porky Pig paraphrases the Trumpster Throngs' chants of "Lock her up, Lock her up!" Nasty unveils Hillary's October Surprise Deus Ex Machina by GOING TOPLESS at the 6:10 mark of this animated short. Just as Julie "Singing Nun Mary Poppins" Andrews precipitated more than one thousand fatal Baby Boomer heart attacks by baring her breasts in a later flick called S.O.B., Nasty is telegraphing us that Hillary will try to squeak past Trump by seriously (if not permanently) incapacitating the Dittohead Hordes through a Third Debate Wardrobe Malfunction fully exposing whatever Kazongers she might be harboring.

"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.

As a sequel of sorts to "Drip-Along Daffy" (1951), "My Little Duckaroo" features the blundering, incompetent Daffy Duck as the Masked Avenger and Porky Pig as his comedy relief sidekick. Their target is the burly outlaw Nasty Canasta, for whom there is a $10,000 reward. Sure, Daffy can fix his wagon! My favorite scenes: Being a music lover, I almost always enjoy hearing the Looney Tunes characters burst into song, even if off-key, as Porky sings and plays guitar during the opening credits of this cartoon short. Daffy accidentally shoots the top of his head, with a nice honking horn sound effect as his ten-gallon hat plops back onto his now bald head. During a trumpet fanfare, Daffy shouts, "This looks like a job for....", when suddenly his cape covers his head and the fanfare stops; his horse then burps during Daffy's enthusiastic introduction of himself. And check out Daffy's Mexican bandito getup.If you can overlook the absolutely weak ending, you may agree that "My Little Duckaroo" is a fine comedy Western cartoon. Most of the time, the loudly arrogant Daffy tries to prove his worth to Nasty Canasta, who in return offers Daffy not the least vestige of recognition!

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.