Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas | |
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![]() The Bah, Humduck! logo, as seen on the DVD cover. | |
Directed by | Charles Visser |
Produced by |
Frank Molieri Sander Schwartz |
Written by | Ray De Laurentis |
Based on |
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens |
Starring |
Joe Alaskey Bob Bergen Jim Cummings June Foray Maurice LaMarche Tara Strong Billy West |
Music by | Gordon Goodwin |
Edited by | Rob Desales |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Home Video |
Release dates |
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Running time | 45 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas is a 2006 animated direct-to-video comedy film starring the Looney Tunes and directed by Charles Visser and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The movie is a spoof of the popular Charles Dickens tale, A Christmas Carol.
Plot
As the movie's title implies, Daffy Duck stars in an Ebenezer Scrooge-like role in the Looney Tunes retelling of this classic tale.
In the beginning of the movie, Bugs Bunny (in a Fred-like role) pops up out of his hole to clear away the snow, and explains to the viewers he's all about winter holidays, despite the fact that rabbits are traditionally associated with Easter. He's then almost run over by Daffy Duck's gas guzzling Hummer.
Daffy's the Scrooge-like owner of the Lucky Duck Superstore (a Costco-esque megastore), and he treats his employees (played by other Looney Tunes) like they're garbage. Despite Bugs' scolding him for berating Playboy Penguin, Daffy still acts snobbish and tries to abscond with the money Priscilla Pig, Egghead Jr., Henery Hawk and Barnyard Dawg Jr. are collecting for charity. Daffy especially has trouble with his hover scooter, and gets beat up by his own employees (through no fault of their own) and the customers (since he insulted them). After Daffy states he hates the holidays, Bugs warns him about the Ghosts of Christmas, which Daffy simply scoffs at.
After working his employees to the bone on Christmas Eve, Daffy expects them all back at 5:00am on Christmas Day, so he can make more money off of last minute shoppers. Assistant Manager Porky Pig in a Bob Cratchit-like role pleads to let him go home for Christmas and spend time with his daughter, Priscilla, who's in a Tiny Tim-like role, but Daffy refuses and Bugs warns him that bad things happens to people like him (referring to A Christmas Carol) and tells him "Bah, Humduck!", (an adaption of Scrooge's "Bah, Humbug!") which Daffy then takes as his own.
Later that day, the spirit of his deceased business idol Sylvester the Investor (Sylvester the Cat in a Jacob Marley-like role), who's clad in chains as punishment for his greed after a disgruntled employee used a forklift on him. He warns Daffy that if he doesn't change his ways, he will be doomed to the same fate. He tells Daffy that he still has a chance of escaping his fate and foretells that three spirits will visit him but Daffy thinks that this is a trick by Bugs and does not believe him. After the visit, he turns down the requests of Elmer Fudd (who would like some vacation time), Marvin the Martian (who would like to go home to Mars), and Porky Pig.
At the end of the day, everyone goes home for the night. Later that night, Daffy ends up trapped in the store by a snowdrift with Bugs. He locks himself in his vault to be safe. But the ghosts are not that easily stopped.
The Ghost of Christmas Past who took on the form of two things an old lady and a bird (Granny and Tweety) took him back to his childhood, where they see that Daffy lived at the Lucky Duck Orphanage (with his design from Baby Looney Tunes reused), and every Christmas, he was ignored by potential parents, which explains his cold demeanor in the Present Day (and how his store got its name).
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Yosemite Sam) then appears, and shows him how sad his employees are and tells him if he doesn't change his ways, his future is very bleak. He shows him what Elmer Fudd, Marvin the Martian, and Porky Pig are doing at the time. By this time, Daffy is starting to feel tender emotion (though he doesn't attribute it as guilt), which earns him another one of the Ghosts' numerous beatings. By this time, he actually dreads the visit of the last ghost and begs Bugs to hide him from it. After a reenactment of Bugs and Daffy's hiding routine, he's left alone and the last ghost appears.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (the Tasmanian Devil) comes and shows him that because of his greed and selfishness, he's dead. Porky Pig tells Priscilla it happened because Daffy tried to name himself as his own heir, which, of course, is illegal. As a result, Lucky Duck Superstore was closed down leaving everyone out of a job, but allowing them to spend Christmas with their families just like they wanted. After Porky leaves the grave, Priscilla stays longer and reveals that she never hated Daffy--like him, Priscilla can understand what it's like not having family around at the holidays, and feeling that no one should be alone at this time of year, she promises to come visit his grave every year on Christmas. Priscilla leaves a plate of Christmas cookies on Daffy's grave before following her dad out of the cemetery. Because of Priscilla's kindness, Daffy's cold demeanor melts and his heart breaks. Realizing his greed and selfish nature was to cover up his real wish to be part of a family, Daffy vows to be a kinder and more generous person.
Returning to the present, he starts to make reparations by waking up a nearby Elmer where he enlists his help in exchange for accepting his request for vacation time. He makes Porky the store manager, gives Marvin a rocket to go home to Mars in, hires Playboy Penguin as one of his employees, gives all of his employees the gifts they desired along with a raise and a paid vacation. There's a brief moment when he slides back to his greedy self, contemplating just how he is going to recover all the costs. However, it immediately fades when Priscilla presents a plate of duck-shaped cookies and calls him "Uncle Daffy." Daffy thinks she's pushing it until she kisses him on the cheek and he lets her call him "Uncle Daffy" (implying that he finally got his wish to be part of a family). After Bugs munches on a candy cane, the camera pulls out of the mall to end the movie. Porky and Priscilla finish the movie by saying Porky's famous line: "T-T-T-That's all folks!"
Characters
- Daffy Duck - Owner of Lucky Duck Superstore, despises families and Christmas because he was continuously rejected by potential adopters, which basically explains his greed for money. He would stop despising families when he finally gets his wish to be a part of a family by allowing Priscilla to call him uncle. He is based on Ebeneezer Scrooge.
- Porky Pig - Assistant Manager of Lucky Duck Superstore and is based on Bob Cratchit.
- Egghead Jr., Henery Hawk, Barnyard Dawg Jr. - Carolers
- Bugs Bunny - Himself, Customer, serves as a Fred foil to Daffy.
- Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, The Three Bears, Sam Sheepdog, Claude Cat, Charlie Dog, Miss Prissy, Mac and Tosh, Hippety Hopper, Beaky Buzzard, Pete Puma, Hubie and Bertie - Lucky Duck Employees
- Pete Puma is seen as the janitor, reprising this occupation from Tiny Toon Adventures
- Gossamer - Lucky Duck Mall Security Guard
- Penelope Pussycat - Customer, Pepé Le Pew's girlfriend.
- Sylvester the Cat - "Sylvester the Investor's" Ghost. A Jacob Marley role whose fate was determined because of his own greed, while he was alive. Sylvester was Daffy's idol who warns the same fate would befall on him unless he changes his ways and sends three ghosts to make sure he does. the scene also reveals that his death was caused by being unintentionally run over by one of his employees driving a Forklift nine times unlike the novel in which Marley died of more natural causes (Such as old age).
- Granny and Tweety - Ghosts of Christmas Past, takes Daffy to his past to reveal how his greed for money surfaced.
- Yosemite Sam - Ghost of Christmas Present, beats up Daffy every time he gets insensitive for his co-workers misery.
- Tasmanian Devil - Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, is the only one who actually got through to Daffy when he shows him the consequences of his greed, his death.
- Priscilla Pig - Kind and caring daughter of Porky, serves as a Tiny Tim foil to Daffy
- Playboy Penguin - Beggar, later employee at Lucky Duck Superstore
Cast
- Joe Alaskey - Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Beaky Buzzard
- Bob Bergen - Porky Pig, Tweety/Ghost of Christmas Past, Speedy Gonzales
- Jim Cummings - Taz/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Gossamer
- June Foray - Granny/Ghost of Christmas Past
- Maurice LaMarche - Yosemite Sam/Ghost of Christmas Present
- Tara Strong - Priscilla Pig, House Wife
- Billy West - Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd
See also
- Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales
- Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, another animated Christmas film by Warner Bros. Animation featuring Tom and Jerry.
External links
- Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas at the Internet Movie Database
- Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas at AllMovie