The short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.Although I was never big on Looney Tunes, I saw most of them. Maybe all of them. And some are clearly more memorable than others. This has to rank among the most memorable of all, because it just had such a strange approach to the whole idea of cartoons.Maybe now it is not too odd to break the fourth wall, or manipulate cartoons. It has happened. And in some cases, they sure have gotten much stranger. But Daffy as that weird flower creature? What the heck is that? Chuck Jones (or whomever) was going beyond Dali and others and just being quite surreal.

Daffy Duck lives up to his name in this completely wacky cartoon in which he's at the mercy of an unseen animator who puts him through his paces and then some. There's a wild streak of Disney going through all this, derived from the way the Disney artists used their brushes to create characters and backgrounds for THE THREE CABALLEROS and SALUDOS AMIGOS. So no, the idea isn't completely original. The concept has been used before.But it's definitely a superb example in the way it treats the idea of an animator having complete control over backgrounds and situations, as well as costuming and design. It works on every level.The surprise twist at the end reveals who the animator is.Summing up: An essential Chuck Jones cartoon. Not to be missed.

Duck Amuck is a brilliantly done cartoon. Too often cartoons are just seen as a bunch of random wacky jokes, but Chuck Jones adds another level: character driven comedy. To be sure, this cartoon is VERY wacky. But but what makes this cartoon really work is the exploration of the character of Daffy Duck. Chuck Jones was the driving force behind Daffy's change from a hyperactive, insane character who harassed others for no apparent reason into the scheming, easily angered, self centered character he is best known as today. In Duck Amuck, Jones crystallizes his vision for Daffy's new direction, showing him as a character who wishes to put on a good show for his audience, but is so easily frustrated that everything seems to be working against him. Instead of going with the flow, he flies off the handle at everything that goes wrong, which in turn is worsened by whoever is doing all of this stuff to him. In his best characterization, Daffy manages to be sympathetic enough that the audience still roots for him, even though he probably deserves whatever he has coming to him. In his worst characterization, his greediness and anger take over to the point he becomes completely unsympathetic. This cartoon and the so-called "Hunter's Trilogy" feature Daffy's best characterization, the cartoons featuring Daffy and Speedy Gonzales made in the mid 1960's have the worst.

This is probably the most clever and inventive short I have ever had the opportunity to watch. It shows Daffy Duck, being made VERY VERY ANGRY by being drawn into many different messes. Daffy Duck is perfect in this episode. He is well-animated, nice enough and gets angry easily when necessary (In some episodes, I feel as if he is being unnecessarily cruel and he's not in this one, he's trying to be nice!).This short also has some MASSIVE humour. Just when you have finished laughing, yet ANOTHER joke comes on - and of course - you HAVE to laugh again!Recommended for all Daffy Duck and cartoon animation fans! Enjoy!