To Duck.... Or Not to Duck (1943)

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

Blistering performances.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

To Duck or Not To Duck (1943) *** (out of 4)Elmer Fudd and his beloved dog Rover are out duck hunting when they com across Daffy Duck. Soon Daffy and Elmer are in a boxing ring where you know the duck isn't going to play by the rules.If you're a fan of Daffy and Elmer then you're obviously going to want to check this early teaming out. I don't think this here is one of the best shorts together as the series would eventually get much better but there are still plenty of nice laughs here that make it worth viewing. There's no question that the highlight happens early on when there's some "duck shot" being fired at Daffy as he flies through some clouds. As you'd expect the animation is of the highest quality.

To Duck... or Not to Duck was a very good cartoon, if not quite outstanding. The story is on the routine side, and the cartoon starts off a tad slow in comparison to what happens later. But once we are introduced to the boxing match, which is by far and away the highlight of To Duck... or Not to Duck, it picks up considerably. The animation is pretty to look at, not the most pristine looking cartoon of the Looney Tunes cartoons, but it looks handsome enough to me. The music is very good, the dialogue is great(Daffy and Elmer both have their fair share of great lines but Laramar the Dog gets the best line of the entire cartoon in my opinion) and the sight gags are interesting. Daffy and Elmer are very entertaining, Daffy being manic and witty and Elmer being a worthy if clueless foil, while Laramar is great support. Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan both do a stellar job once again with the voices. Overall, entertaining and fun, not outstanding but very good all the same. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Directed by Chuck Jones, "To Duck....or Not to Duck" is a Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd cartoon that is not Warner Bros.' finest hour, but then, even the best in the business (like Chuck) have their failures now and then. The problem with this particular cartoon is that it doesn't really go anywhere. Daffy challenges Fudd to a boxing match, in which the hapless hunter is absolutely no match for the swaggering duck.Only two scenes in this short that I find funny: First, at the very opening, Daffy frolics and sings while flying, and he points out the "duck shot" that narrowly misses him. And second, after Daffy says to Elmer "A great sportsman, eh?", Daffy is hilarious as he rapidly grunts and wildly gyrates his body.I can't really recommend "To Duck....or Not to Duck" very highly, but if you wish to see it for yourselves, at least there'll be no harm done. Catch it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 Disc 1.

After Elmer declares himself to be a great sportsman, Daffy Duck challenges him to a boxing match to see if he's such a great sportsman without his rifle and hunting dog. This cartoon uses one of the most memorable gags that I can remember from any cartoon. As the boxing referee goes over the rules, he uses Elmer as a dummy on what not to do (None of this, or this, or like so). That will never leave me and I hope to use that tactic to my own advantage someday (Hee, hee, hee!) The boxing match is pretty much the only highlight of the cartoon. Everything leading up to it is so-so, but it is a very memorable sequence of comedy. I especially liked when Elmer's dog, Laramore, was pelted with garbage from the all-duck crowd when he booed what was going on in the ring. This is just a classic cartoon for the Warner Brothers team.My IMDb Rating: 9/10