This was made during the final days of Warner Bros. animated shorts, when DePatie-Freleng was the producing entity. Most of the shorts during this time were formulaic stories featuring Daffy Duck fighting Speedy Gonzalez in some way.
Despite having a limited budget and a strict formula, one might think that the injection of a character not typically seen into the mix, such as Witch Hazel, might liven things up a bit. But one would be wrong.
Much of the cartoon is literally re-traced or re-used animation cells from 1956's "Broom-Stick Bunny." Daffy's nephew is in the exact same outfit, and doing the exact same movements as Bugs, from that cartoon. Much of the witch's frantic running around is from that cartoon. When she sits at the table with Daffy, she says the exact same things that she does when Bugs was sitting there.
As if all that weren't bad enough, the filmmakers also copy exactly a crazy Daffy Duck design from 1953's "Duck Amuck." The design was hilarious and brilliant in the first cartoon. It falls completely flat here.
There's very little plot here; the whole thing just meanders. Daffy's nephew runs through some of the same shtick that Sylvester the Cat's son would go through. (Other than Sylvester, why is it that every other male cartoon character of the period had some nephew that looked and sounded exactly like him?)
Since Witch Hazel didn't appear in that many cartoons to begin with, this cartoon is an interesting footnote in animation history, but not much more.
Despite having a limited budget and a strict formula, one might think that the injection of a character not typically seen into the mix, such as Witch Hazel, might liven things up a bit. But one would be wrong.
Much of the cartoon is literally re-traced or re-used animation cells from 1956's "Broom-Stick Bunny." Daffy's nephew is in the exact same outfit, and doing the exact same movements as Bugs, from that cartoon. Much of the witch's frantic running around is from that cartoon. When she sits at the table with Daffy, she says the exact same things that she does when Bugs was sitting there.
As if all that weren't bad enough, the filmmakers also copy exactly a crazy Daffy Duck design from 1953's "Duck Amuck." The design was hilarious and brilliant in the first cartoon. It falls completely flat here.
There's very little plot here; the whole thing just meanders. Daffy's nephew runs through some of the same shtick that Sylvester the Cat's son would go through. (Other than Sylvester, why is it that every other male cartoon character of the period had some nephew that looked and sounded exactly like him?)
Since Witch Hazel didn't appear in that many cartoons to begin with, this cartoon is an interesting footnote in animation history, but not much more.