CHRISTMAS CAROL COUNTDOWN: Bah, Humduck!
Time for yet another version of A Christmas Carol, this one from last year. In a direct-to-DVD video romp, the Looney Tunes gang put their own spin on Dickens with the movie, Bah, Humduck!
Bah, Humduck! (2006)
Cartoon versions of A Christmas Carol are pretty ubiquitous at this point. Fred Flintstone, Scrooge McDuck, Mr. Magoo -- they've all gotten the Three Spirits treatment, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before the Looney Tunes made their own attempt at the classic tale. The result is a version of the film that, while not terrible, isn't really among the best such tales, either for Dickens or the Looney Tunes themselves.
The "Scrooge" in this iteration of the story is Daffy Duck himself, who has somehow gotten successful enough to own a major department store, employing many of his fellow toons in various capacities. Porky Pig, Daffy's long-suffering sidekick, nominally fills the Bob Crachit role, but Elmer Fudd, Speedy Gonzales and even Marvin the Martian all suffer under Daffy's iron fist, including a plan to open the store on Christmas Day! As his greed begins to get the better of him, he's visited by the ghost of Sylvester with a dire warning -- change his ways before it's too late.
The story follows the basic Christmas Carol template, with Granny and Tweety Bird doing double-duty as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Yosemite Sam as Christmas Present and -- in the best performance of the film -- the Tazmanian Devil as Christmas future. Bugs Bunny is also in the film, although instead of really filling any of the traditional roles for the story, he acts as something of a Greek Chorus, popping up now and then to point out how foolish Daffy is behaving. As an adaptation of Dickens, it's a little too loose to be satisfying (unlike some of the better versions of the story, which I swear we'll cover before Christmas Day). But then again, most of the versions I've discussed this month play pretty fast and loose with Dickens, and that's okay. So the real question is, how does it hold up as a Looney Tunes movie?
The answer? Eh, it's so-so. In truth, it's not really zany enough. There are a few good bits -- as Daffy tries to flee from one of the Ghosts, Bugs puts him through the classic "hiding place" routine, and like I said, Taz is particularly good. ("Ghost of Christmas Present... HAPPY!" is gonna be my new catch-phrase.) I was even highly amused by Daffy's mangled attempt at wishing Speedy a Merry Christmas in his native language. (Speedy's language, not Daffy's.)
But overall, while it was mildly entertaining, it just wasn't that funny. The completist in me hopes I can find the DVD in a bargain bin next year so I can justify adding it to my collection (I saw it on the Cartoon Network), and even if you're not wild about the movie I've got to recommend the soundtrack album by Gordon Lightfoot's Big Phat Band. Lightfoot blends classic Looney Tunes-style scores with classic Christmas music and comes up with a really unique soundtrack that fits perfectly in rotation with your Christmas background music. As for the movie itself -- if you can catch it on TV, it's okay. Otherwise, even if you're a die-hard Looney Tunes fan like I am, don't get the DVD until the price comes down.