Buddy the Detective Review

Buddy the Detective is a 1934 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. It is one of the best Buddy entries so far.

This is not only one of his best, but also one of the finest Looney Tunes overall up to this point. The magician kidnaps Cookie as he wants her to play the piano for him and it is up to Buddy to save her. I love these old-fashioned castle and magician stories and naturally I loved this one as well. The animation is excellent and the entire castle is so well depicted plus the atmosphere is palpable.

He is a great character and I liked his powers. It was a good use of Buddy and Bozo as well as the dog is quite helpful here. Cookie is blonde here and I liked how she did not fall prey to his magic immediately. In terms of storytelling, score and animation, the short is great. But in terms of the pacing, not so much as it is weirdly paced and certainly rushed as the story had potential for at least two more minutes. And that final fight between the magician and Buddy was not the best.

Buddy the Detective isn’t well paced, but it’s one of the best Looney Tunes so far owing to a fun plot, a great magician character and excellent atmosphere.