When you think of Looney Tunes you usually think of zany and wacky comedy yet they did also dip there toes into parodying other things. With Bugs Bunny starring in spoofs of Red Riding Hood among other things therefor it wasn't out of the blue to discover that they also really did a parody of Sherlock Holmes and well with the new Enola Holmes films out next week I thought that now was the right time to take a look at this classic cartoon and so then join me as I review the cartoon that sees Daffy Duck take on the role of Dorlock Holmes with the cartoon in question being called simply just "Deduce, You Say!" enjoy.
The plot of this cartoon is the great duck detective and his pig companion take on there most dangerous mission yet when they get from the infamous The Shropshire Slasher. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. With the cartoons plot being a really fun plot and one that you can very easily picture being filled to the brim with classic Looney Tunes characters should there have been sequel to to it however tho the plot of this cartoon is about as basic as it gets. Which is fair enough given the fact that the Looney Tunes cartoons never really ran longer then eight minuets and therefor they did have to go the more basic route with there plots alot of the time but at the same time when your spoofing something like Sherlock Holmes then basic isn't going to be good as you do need to go the extra mile in making the plot of the cartoon feel alot more different then the plots of the average Daffy Duck or even Porky Pig cartoon for example however tho going the more simple route is something that does work for te Looney Tunes brand as it does allow them to pack in more jokes and just to have fun with the story which is something that they wouldn't be able to do if the plot of this cartoon was even a little bit more complex, the plot of this cartoon whilst it doesn't stay true to the world that Arthur Conan Doyle created it is a world that does very much belong to the Looney Tunes with the cartoon plot fitting in rather nicely in this regard with the plot of this cartoon also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this cartoon is Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck / Dorlock Homes , Porky Pig / Dr. Watkins , The Shropshire Slasher , The Telegram Deliveryman , Alfie and The Bartender and June Foray as The Shropshire Slasher's Mother and Lady Ashtabula. This cartoon dies have two of the three best Looney Tunes actors in it and my god can you tell that they had fun making this cartoon as while alot of the cartoon is just Mel Blanc talking to himself which is the case for alot of the Looney Tunes it's when we get to see hm June Foray that we get to hear just how much both of them are having in this cartoon. As they do have some really good chemistry together with June of course playing all of the female characters in the cartoon and Mel playing all of the male characters in the cartoon but even so you do get the feeling that Mel was just happy to have someone to bounce off of in the studio as usually it was just him with him accusationally being joined by Arthur Q Bryan which again does hit home the point that he must have been really happy to have someone literally anyone in the recording booth with him as it must have been hard for him to record alot of these cartoons just on his own but even so you don't really get the feeling that he was missing just talking to another person in this cartoon as you can't tell that it was just him playing all of these characters as he makes all of the cartoon characters sound so unique and different from each other and while we do of course know the voices for both Daffy and Porky the fact that he does go the extra mile and give even these one shot characters there own unique voices is something that does make it easier to tell just whom is talking to who and when and while June doesn't play as many characters she again gives both of her characters unique sounding voices that your not going to confuse for say Granny for example.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. The fact that this cartoons acting was as good as it is isn't something that's all new as all you have to is look at whom is starring in this cartoon to know full well that we are going to be getting some really good acting and this is something that we get in this cartoon and it is something that will never be a bad thing as you never just what kind of performance that both Mel Blanc and June Foray will bring in given cartoon. With the best actor in this cartoon being of course Mel Blanc just die to the fact that does voice the overall majority of the characters in this cartoon and with each and every one of them he does give us a unique performance with this being something that would be hard for even voice actors today to do and yet him it almost feels natural almost as if he'd been voicing these characters for decades as he is just so natural playing them and while that is of course true for both Daffy Duk and Porky Pig it's also true for all f the one off characters as well with this being something that des make him stand out as a voice actor as he never just does a silly voice and call it a day he puts on a performance and this is something that does shine through in his performance in this cartoon. With the acting that's in very cartoon really being helped by the fact that this cartoons script is just so good that all this cartoons actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very cartoon.
Doing the animation for this cartoon is Abe Levitow , Richard Thompson , Ken Harris and Ben Washam. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. Look granted all of the Chuck Jones directed Looney Tunes cartoon do have some really good animation in them and whilst this cartoon is of no exception to this rule one can't help but notice that the animation in this cartoon is not up to the high standards set by cartoons like Robin Hood Daffy or Duck Amuck for example. As while the characters do have some really nice fluid movements to them and while the cartoon does get a lot f mileage out of Porky's expressions the backgrounds in the cartoon do look very flat and uninteresting and the designs of all of the background characters do look really weird and almost off putting this is something is never an issue with other Looney Tunes cartoons and very here it is something that does seem to be all over the cartoon, with Chuck Jones you do have the expectation that the animation quality will be really high and to this is extent it is still very high quality animation and heck you could even argue that the animation in this cartoon is alot more better then the animation in cartoon released today as here you do get to see all of the blood , sweat and tears that the animators have poored into it but even so when the backgrounds just look this dull and lifeless it does make you wonder the makers of this cartoon back when they first made this cartoon as there is more life in the background of Roan Runner cartoon then there is here just to be clear this isn't to say that the backgrounds are really bad as there not it's just that there not up to the high standards that we see in other Looney Tunes cartoons.
This cartoon does of course spoof the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and while having the idea of having Daffy Duck playing Holmes is a good way to send the character up the cartoon doesn't really spoof Sherlock and Watson all that much. This is something that the cartoon really should have done even if it's just by having knock off s of characters from those book it still would have been something and heck the cartoon even could have spoofed the common tropes seen in not only those books but also in detective fiction as well as that is something that would have made the cartoon be alot more interesting and yet the makers of this cartoon don't really do any of that with them instead just choosing to have knocks of Holmes and Watson. Which don't get me wrong is a good idea as the team had used Porky and Daffy as a team together in other Looney Tunes shorts but the thing is tho in those shorts when they were spoofing something they went as far as they could have done with it thus making the parody alot more better where as here it feels like that they are holding themselves back when really they should have been going as far as they could have done with it like for example why not have a knock off version of Moriarty only now he's as dumb as Daffy is and why not have Mycroft in it only now he looks exactly like Daffy there are so many things that the makers of this cartoon could have done to really send up Holmes and Watson and yet they don't do it weather or not the makers of this cartoon were fans of the original books and films is hard to say as what we do know is that hen Chuck Jones is a fan of something he does go all out on spoofing it like he did in What's Opera Doc where he did an entire opera in seven minuets of course it very well could have been a budget reason which is something that does make sense as the cartoon does take mainly take place in this one bar but either way the makers of this cartoon could have done more with spoofing Sherlock Holmes.
The idea of having Porky and Daffy team up in a cartoon is a really good idea as it does allow for a combination that we never new we wanted until we got it. Whilst yes they did team in the Duck Dodgers short and Drip Along Daffy it is a team up that works as Daffy gets to be usual crazy self and Porky gets a chance to show his more sarcastic side and it is something that does make him more thought out as a character as Daffy is the only character in which Porky could get away with being sarcastic to as he can't do it with Bugs as Bugs to smart for that and he can't do it with alot of the other Looney Tunes as like Porky they are the straight man in there comedy double act. Yet for one reason or another alot of people very rarely have the two of them team up in this way with the closest that we got to that being The Day The Earth Blew Up and even then you could make the point that Daffy was being his crazy self and Porky just wasn't taking any of it where and yet this and other cartoons like this do show you that having these two team up in this way is something that does work as it does allow for Daffy to be the funny man and it allows for Porky to be the straight man where as anyone who teams up with Bugs has to be the straight man and therefor there aren't that many combinations that you could do with Bugs Bunny, with this cartoon even sticking very much to the funny man and straight man routine and it is something that dos work as you know right away just what Dorlock Holmes is going to say and do but what we never know is what Watkins is going to say or do and yet nine times out of ten they do feel right for those characters and while if course it would have been nice to see daffy team up with another character just to see how well that they bounce off of each other having him team up with Porky Pig is something that we know works and it is something that works just as well in this cartoon.
Whilst te cartoon doesn't really take full advantage of the fact that it's spoofing Sherlock Holmes The Shropshire Slasher oddly enough does feel the most like a villain from one of those books and movies. As while we don't get to find out his crime or why he's called that in this cartoon just the very fact that Holmes does choose to seek him out does help to make him feel like a credible threat with it being helped by the fact that The Shropshire Slasher towers over both Holmes and Watkins which is somethin that does make him feel more intimidating as a villain as we the audience can see that Holmes is quite literally in for the fight of his life and while we do of course know that it will only be Holmes that gets beaten up in this cartoon it doesn't hinder the fact that The Shropshire Slasher does have to use his brains of sorts to hurt him. The only thing that does let this character is the fact that as was mentioned we don't get to find out why he's evil in the first place which is fair enough for this cartoon as this is meant to see him essentially giving up his evil ways it still would have been quite fun to see why he's meant to be this big bad villain in the first place and heck on could argue that seeing Daffy not only take him on but also win would make the cartoon alot more funnier as it would be something that we'd never expect to see and yet for one reason or another the makers of this cartoon don't do that and while it is understandable as they don't have that long to get across the plot of the cartoon and tell lots of jokes it still would have helped the cartoon out if they did take the time to tell us more about him as a character even if it's done through either Porky or Daffy as then when we do meet him we the audience would feel something as opposed to feeling nothing like we do in this cartoon.
Now then this cartoon has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly seven minuets ad seven seconds. Which to be fair to this cartoon is pretty much the bogstandard running time for these Looney Tunes cartoons but in saying that tho this cartoon really could have been about six minuets as this is a cartoon that doesn't require a long running time due to the fact that it's plot is so simple with even a small portion of the cartoon being pointless filler as we do get to see Daffy and Porky walking to the bar where they are to meet The Shropshire Slasher which isn't needed and neither is alot of the stuff at there house either as all that does is make those scenes feel like padding when this cartoon really didn't need padding out at all as the cartoon really does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this cartoon still doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as this cartoon really does take the time to fully develop it's plot which granted was something that was always going to be hard given it's short running time but if instead of having those pointless scenes both add and do nothing for the plot of the cartoon the makers of this cartoon very easily could have taken the time to add some small amount of plot development as that is something that would make those scenes feel more worthwhile but the makers of this cartoon do seem to more focused on giving us pointless filler scene then they are some actual plot development. The same thing is also true for the cartoons character develop as while cartoons from this era didn't typically give any of there characters character development it still would have been nice if the makers of this cartoon gave characters like for example Watkins or even Dorlock himself some form of character development even if it's done as a joke as that would then make there characters worth while but given the fact that these older cartoons don't typically give there characters character development it doesn't make sense for this cartoon to do it either with the cartoon being more focused on not giving us much of a Sherlock Holmes parody instead of giving us some actual character development but ai really will admit that this cartoon really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy thats actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon well then in all honesty i in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very cartoon was in all honesty really good. Much like this cartoons animation while the comedy is indeed good it's clearly not up to the high standards of comedy set not only by the Looney Tunes themselves but also by this cartoons director Chuck Jones as while there are some funny physical comedy in the cartoon there's nothing in this cartoon that is laugh out loud when all of the best Chuck Jones cartoon have at the very least one laugh out loud funny moment in them. With the best joke in the whole cartoon being when The Shropshire Slasher is beating up Daffy the cartoon cuts to Porky who give us this rather sarcastic type of smile which is something that is perfect for his character as with Watkins being the smarter f the two he would of course know full well that Holmes is doing something that's really dumb and stupid and to be fair to this cartoon its this joke that does prove that Porky can have more of a sarcastic side to him with it being something that does really well in this cartoon as its something that will always be funny no matter what with that one joke even proving that the makers of this cartoon still do know how to tell a good Looney Tunes cartoon and while it is a quick joke its one that does also work because of how quick that is as Chuck Jones himself once said that the difference between getting a laugh and not getting a laugh is single frame and this joke does last the right amount of time as it allows for us the audience to work out just what s going on and the react to it whereas if it was to fast we wouldn't have the time to work out what is going on and if it was to slow then it would just feel awkward with the cartoons jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this cartoon is clearly not the best Chuck Jones Looney Tunes cartoon out there as the cartoon does have alot of things wrong with to but at the same time tho you can still the love and effort that went into making this cartoon with the issues with the cartoon being things that could have been fixed if they had more time to fully work on it in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very cartoon in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very cartoon really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review will then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got al, of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , LooneyTunesWiki . Com , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very cartoon that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very cartoon with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition and there's really only one way to end this review T-T-T-T-THAT'S ALL FOLKS.
