Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (G, 1988)

The movie is a compilation of old cartoons, and finds Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, and, of course, Daffy, facing such playfully ominous villains as The Abominable Snowman, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and even an unexpectedly tiny elephant. In one short, an aging, sick millionaire offers a big reward to anyone who can make him laugh before he dies. Daffy Duck thinks he's just the funny guy who can do it, and he does. When the old guy's will is read, Daffy inherits everything, but it's conditional. He has to be an honorable businessman (or "business-duck") and he must treat his employees well, otherwise the money will begin to disappear. And in the spirit of Ghostbusters, which was released just before this movie appeared in 1988, "Quackbusters" finds Daffy trying to rid the world of a grand array of ghosts, vampires, zombies, mummies, and other assorted monsters.

All of the early Warner Bros. cartoons, originally six minutes in length, and directed and written by some of the great animators of the last century such as Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng, were meant to be enjoyed on a number of levels. For the very young, there were chases, explosions, clever ruses, and lots of slapstick danger. For a more sophisticated audience, the cartoons were inventive parodies with ingenious cultural references and double entendres. This compilation is no exception. Mel Torme croons in a monster bar; the Abominable Snowman is designed as an homage to Lenny in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.  And for the kids, there are the requisite number of one-upsmanship moments when little birds outwit big kitty cats and monsters.

The film with Daffy's inheritance and business venture, which was created in 1988, is supposed to complement the various old cartoons, and it's moderately successful. The older short films with Mel Blanc's brilliant vocal characterizations , however, are really the best part: charming, clever, and often very funny.