A Taste of Catnip (1966) User Reviews

Very strange and very average

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 14 June 2014]

There are definitely far worse in the Daffy/Speedy series but there's better too. A Taste of Catnip is a strange entry in the series and probably the one that is the most difficult to rate, often ranging between average and lacklustre. There are some good things, Walter Greene's music is characterful, beautifully orchestrated and compliments the action very well. Mel Blanc as ever does a great job with the voices and Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez makes the most of his psychiatrist character. We do feel sorry for Daffy here, something that we rarely do in his outings with Speedy and the psychiatrist is good value too though not as interesting. Liked it also that A Taste of Catnip made an effort to do something different, at least here Daffy knows that his pursuit of Speedy is not logical and that his disturbing thoughts he has of him in this cartoon actually disturbs him, which was a refreshing change. Much of A Taste of Catnip is not too great though, the premise is interesting to begin with but the later into the cartoon we get the more tired and more ridiculous it gets, and the pacing is rather plodding here. None of it is funny either, the dialogue is reasonably well-written for a Daffy/Speedy cartoon but it is too talky and too exposition-heavy that we lose any wit and such. The gags are over too quickly, there are too few of them and none of them really are funny, they can't be seen as gags strictly speaking. The main gag is Daffy wanting to eat and be rid of Speedy but that gets tired. The funniest A Taste of Catnip gets is the psychiatrist's final line, which was admittedly amusing. Sylvester is wasted in his cameo and Speedy is little more than a plot device with little to do, the only really relatable or interesting character here is Daffy. Regarding the animation, the Daffy/Speedy have been known for limited animated with flat colours and sparse backgrounds and the animation in A Taste of Catnip honestly is little improvement. To conclude, a very strange and average cartoon, not terrible but not one that I'd see again. 4.5/10 Bethany Cox

Actually a pretty clever short

[KalloFox34 · 7/10 · 13 December 2022]

The Daffy/Speedy cartoons usually run the gamut from mediocre to abysmal, but this one is an outlier. It's not a great cartoon or anything, but it's good.

This short thoroughly deconstructs and mocks the idea of the two being paired together by presenting it as a psychological disorder caused by the ingestion of catnip. Unlike other shorts, Daffy going after Speedy is treated as abnormal. In addition, Daffy is also quite sympathetic (in stark contrast to shorts like "Assault and Peppered," where he's a malicious sociopath).

The cartoon does have its share of weaknesses that keep it from being particularly memorable. The animation is just as bad as the other DePatie-Freleng Looney Tunes. It's also rather light on the slapstick, with only a few instances.

The only real laugh-out-loud gag in this cartoon was the scene where a bulldog sees Daffy acting like a cat, then assumes that he'd been drinking too much and throws a liquor bottle away.