The Spy Swatter (Short 1967)

The Spy Swatter: Directed by Rudy Larriva. With Mel Blanc. After a mouse scientist invents a cheese than can strengthen mice to defeat cats, Daffy Duck is ordered to stop Speedy Gonzales before he can deliver the formula.

“The Spy Swatter is not among the worst of their cartoons, it is much better than Speedy Ghost to Town, Rodent to Stardom, A-Haunting We Will Go, The Chocolate Chase and especially See Ya Later Gladiator. It does however join the large batch of Daffy/Speedy cartoons that Iu0026#39;m fairly indifferent to. It does have some good music(never have warmed to the out-of-tune-sounding theme song) with a good amount of character and a nice use of Forty-Second Street. Mel Blanc still does a very good job as Daffy and Speedy, itu0026#39;s not him at his best but he was the sort of voice actor who gave his all regardless of what was thrown at him. A couple of moments are funny, especially the glove-gun gag and the spy-parodying is pretty well done with the gadgets, gizmos and espionage stuff quite nifty. As much as this will sound like a broken record but The Spy Swatter does suffer from a lot of the problems that the Daffy/Speedy cartoons have. The animation is very limited, drawn in a very sparse and hastily-put-together way, Speedy is poorly drawn(Daffy is not bad though) and some of the colours look flat. Much of the dialogue is mediocre at best, Speedyu0026#39;s final line is an absolute groaner(not quite as bad as the one for The Chocolate Chase this said). The Spy Swatter also could have done a better job at fitting Daffy and Speedy into the story, which is silly(even for Looney Tunes/WB) and predictable, and the spy environment. Their chemistry still doesnu0026#39;t gel, and while Daffy is used quite well and at least holds your attention Speedy doesnu0026#39;t fit at all and feels unnecessary and only there to bring some conflict. The title sequence isnu0026#39;t much to write home about either, the whole concept of a cheese in a spyu0026#39;s outfit is far-fetched taken to a whole new level. Admittedly the best of the gags in The Spy Swatter are some of the better and funnier ones of any Daffy/Speedy cartoon, but itu0026#39;s just that they are nowhere near among the best or wittiest of Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies/WB in general. All in all, far from terrible but nothing special. 5/10 Bethany Cox”