I grew up watching Looney Tunes cartoons and when I was older, I started collecting Looney Tunes things.  I still love the characters and keep hoping that they will be used in new movies and cartoons.  I think I first saw something about Bah Humduck!, a version of A Christmas Carol featuring the Looney Tunes, in December of 2007.  I was recently doing some shopping online and came across the DVD and quickly grabbed it up.

On Christmas Eve, Daffy Duck was trying to figure out how he could make more money at Lucky Duck, the huge store he owned.  Daffy decided that the best way to make more money and take advantage of last minute shoppers was to have his story open on Christmas day.  He insisted that all employees, including assistant manager Porky Pig, work instead of spending the day with their families.  Daffy didn't care about anything other than making more money.  Bugs Bunny, who was in the store doing his own shopping, tried to warn Daffy to change his ways.  Daffy didn't listen and faced visits from the Christmas ghosts that night.

Since Bah Humduck! was a version of A Christmas Carol, anyone who has seen one of the many other versions of that story will know how this works out.  That didn't bother me since I thought this version was entertaining.  Having the Looney Tunes characters involved did give a different twist to the story.  All the Looney Tunes characters were themselves instead of playing characters from the original story.  That did make it slightly different from some of the other versions of A Christmas Carol that I've seen.  I thought it worked perfectly to have Daffy as the Scrooge character.  He's been a bit greedy for years, so he made a great Scrooge.

Bah Humduck! was a bit more fun and light hearted overall than most of the other versions of A Christmas Carol that I've seen have been.  There was a lot of humor throughout the movie, which hasn't been done with many of the other versions.  I think most of the other versions I have seen have been more serious overall even when they have included a bit of humor.  I thought the more humorous approach to the material worked very well and made it a bit more child friendly as well.  The humor was more on the silly side, which is typical for something featuring the Looney Tunes characters.  Certain things could be too silly for some viewers.  There was a lot of slapstick humor used which usually resulted in Daffy getting hurt in some way.  The movie still shared the same moral and I felt there was a good balance between the more serious aspects and the funny.

Some time was taken when Bah Humduck! began to show Daffy and his attitude.  When he arrived at the store, he went around inspecting things and making sure the staff wasn't slacking off.  It was very clear in no time that he didn't really care about anyone or anything other than making more money.  After that, it wasn't long before he was visited by the first ghost, Sylvester the Cat, who was a former business tycoon that Daffy had looked up to.  The actual visits by the different ghosts didn't last that long.  It would have been nice if those scenes could have been a little longer.  The ghosts didn't show Daffy as much as has been shown in other versions of the story.  The movie itself was very short at only forty-six minutes, so I'm thinking that it might have originally been made to air on television as an hour long movie.  The shorter version of the story still worked well, but I do think it would have been nice if it had been longer.
    
I think that Bah Humduck! was created with computer animation, though I could be wrong about that.  The characters mostly looked the same, though a few like Gossamer - the large red monster that Bugs gave an interesting hairstyle too in a classic cartoon - looked a bit different to me.  Part of that might be because he was wearing a security uniform.  I did think the animation was done well, though the backgrounds looked more static in several scenes. 

Daffy ended up being the main character in Bah Humduck! with most of what was going on being somehow connected to him.  The character has always been some what greedy and not overly caring towards others, so it fit that he was the Scrooge for this version of the story.  His store seemed to be very successful, but he was still trying to find a way to make more money.  Bugs was around, but only as a supporting character who was basically watching what was going on.  Porky probably had the most to do of any of the other characters as the assistant manager of the store.  He was filling the role fo Bob and I think that worked.  He did have a daughter that he was wanting to spend Christmas with, but there wasn't anything wrong with her like there has been with Tiny Tim.  It seemed like Porky was a single father and there wasn't an explanation for where Priscilla's mother was. 

Many of the other various Looney Tunes characters turned up at least briefly in Bah Humduck!, with most of them working for Daffy.  Even Elmer Fudd was working at the store.  I really liked seeing so many of the characters again, but it would have been nice if they had more to do.  Many of them were really just shown in the background of a scene or two, so they basically had nothing to do.  Sylvester was only around as a ghost, which did disappoint me since he was always my favorite of the characters.  Granny and Tweety served as the ghosts of Christmas past.  Yosemite Sam was the ghost of Christmas present and Taz was the ghost of Christmas future.  Those characters did fit the parts of the ghosts well.  Since most of the characters were only briefly shown, it wasn't clear if they were acting like they had in the original cartoons.  Penelope the cat actually ended up willingly kissing Pepe Le Pew, something completely out of character for her, though I did think it was cute.  The voices were slightly different than the ones that Mel Blanc created for all of them, but they were very close.

Voice Cast

Joe Alaskey - Daffy Duck/Sylvester/Marvin the Martian/Pepe Le Pew/Foghorn Leghorn
Bob Bergen - Porky Pig/Speedy Gonzales/Tweety Bird
Jim Cummings - Gossamer/Taz
June Foray - Granny
Maurice LaMarche - Yosemite Sam
Tara Strong - Priscilla Pig
Billy West - Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd

Charles Visser - Director

DVD Information

I recently picked up the DVD of Bah Humduck! for $8.  There was a little game that involved maneuvering Daffy through the store and avoid obstacles called Bah Humduck! the Lucky Duck Dilemma Menu Challenge.  There were a few deleted scenes that would have helped to further establish Daffy and also give Bugs a tad more to do.  There was a also a music video that I haven't watched yet.

Bah Humduck! was a cute, entertaining version of a classic Christmas story featuring the Looney Tunes characters that I have loved for years.  It was really nice to see them in something new and I keep hoping for more new cartoons or movies to feature the characters.  This is a good family friendly Christmas viewing choice.  Fans of the Looney Tunes should also give it a chance.

Christmas Movie Reviews
Alvin and the Chipmunks ~ Bad Santa ~ Best Christmas Movies ~ A Christmas Story ~ Christmas With the Kranks ~ Deck the Halls ~ Die Hard ~ Die Hard 2: Die Harder ~ Elf ~ The Family Stone ~ Fred Claus ~ Home Alone ~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) ~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) ~ The Ice Harvest ~ It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie ~ Jingle All the Way ~ Just Friends ~ Lethal Weapon ~ Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas ~ The Muppet Christmas Carol ~ Muppet Family Christmas ~ National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas ~ The Polar Express ~ The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause ~ Scrooged ~ Trading Places ~ Unaccompanied Minors ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD