I had heard Mel Blanc's rendition of Daffy's Rhapsody somewhere in the distant past ... on a lazy Sunday afternoon or something on a radio or TV station that doesn't exist anymore. And then I had heard it once or twice more over the years, and again, the source escapes me.
And, as of 30 seconds before writing this review, I saw an illegal YouTube upload of WB's CGI toon with the same name; "Daffy's Rhapsody".
I have to admit right here and now I think CGI is okay for lots of things, but CGI doesn't add to the texture of the classic WB characters, nor does it really take anything away from them. It's just a different way of viewing them.
Having said that, I can't say I found this too amusing. There's been lots of attempts at rediscovering the comedic animation formulas the classic WB animators used to make their incredibly funny and highly entertaining cartoons. Todays animators, over the last 20 years, have tried to speed up the animation and compensate for poor writing with quick gag delivery. PIXAR's shorts are notorious for this.
What made the classic WB cartoons (and occasionally the classic Disney cartoon) funny was that they had good writing and direction. And by that I mean the creative forces really let themselves go with the notion of "Wouldn't it be funny ..." And no topic was too sacred; suicide, sex, war, starvation, taxes, infidelity, cross dressing, divorce, child care, and homicide in various aspects. You don't really think of those things in their proper context when you see these cartoons because, hey, if you did, you'd drive yourself nuts.
Comedy is knowing that you're not dumb enough to let misfortune happen to you. It's why you laugh when you see some guy obliviously drive his car into a brick wall, knowing full well that it's coming and doing it with a smile on his face. YOU certainly wouldn't do that. Would you? In a cartoon sense we spare his life (or maybe not) and the audience his grizzly fate by keeping out the blood and gore and other gory details of his fate, and instead show him a little roughed up, but probably otherwise fully functional as he staggers from his destroyed vehicle. That's comedy. He either died or was seriously injured, and if he died then it was clean and he was done away with some comedic honors.
But you don't get any of that in today's cartoons. It's all quick delivery of socially expedient gags which aren't funny 99% of the time.
And that's kind of what this is. Mel's song as he voices Daffy Duck is funny without the animation. We know the character, and hearing him go on about how and why he's hunted and his frustration of why hunters don't go after other animals, all syncopated to a classic score, IS THE JOKE. Adding animation to it, CGI no less, puts a grin on my face, but it's almost like reanimating "Duck Amuck", which I'm sure someone is planning already.
An A for effort, but I've seen better.