The Essential Daffy Duck

This new two-disc set collects many of the best of the Daffy Duck classic cartoons, including his debut in “Porky's Duck Hunt,” featuring Porky Pig and directed by Tex Avery, as well as “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery,” with Daffy as Duck Twacy; “Deduce, You Say,” in which he's Dorlock Holmes and Porky is his Watkins; “Robin Daffy,” with Porky as Friar Tuck; “Ali Baba Bunny,” with Bugs Bunny joining the celebrated band of thieves; “Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ Century,” featuring our hero as space ace; and “Duck Amuck,” one of the most ingenious animated shorts of all time, in which an unseen artist teases Daffy. The last of the great pieces compiled here are directed by Chuck Jones, who helped the character evolve from a “woo-hoo!” madman bouncing around the screen to a splenetic con man driven by greed, jealousy, and ego. Not surprisingly, the newer (post-1985) entries included—such as “The Duxorcist” and “The Night of the Living Duck”—don't hold a candle to the older stuff in this 20-plus ‘toon set. DVD extras include a new “career profile” titled “Daffy Duck: Ridicule Is the Burden of Genius,” and Easter and Thanksgiving TV specials. Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Axmaker)