Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century (1980)

Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century Review

Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century is a 1980 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series.

Duck Dodgers finds Marvin Martian’s hideout in this sequel to the seminal 1953 cartoon that is a classic in the series. This one fared much worse for a couple of reasons. One is the lack of variety in its humor that felt very repetitious and one-note. The other issue stems from the film’s lack of chaos, energy and more memorable plot points, which were all needed for this type of story.

The animation, on the other hand, is quite strong. The character design is terrific and the palette is very colorful. Daffy was very so here in his usual nervous breakdowns and lisp. A couple of times he made me laugh out loud. But given that he was Dodgers here, he should have been even more memorable. Gossamer is solidly used and Marvin the Martian got to have a couple of good lines with the final one that capped the cartoon being the highlight.

Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century lacked variety and energy, but the characterization and animation were terrific.

My Rating – 3.7