See Ya Later Gladiator (1968)

See Ya Later Gladiator Review

See Ya Later Gladiator is a 1968 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. This was a mediocre send-off for these characters.

A time machine sends Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales back to Rome in 65 A.D., where they are captured for lion fodder as entertainment for Emperor Nero. You’d think that a time travel cartoon would be more entertaining and inventive than this mediocre effort, but you’d be hardly mistaken as this era was after all a very problematic one for Warner Bros. cartoons.

The ending is fine, the animation is better than in most shorts during this period and Daffy has a couple of solid moments for himself, but Nero is forgettable and Speedy is quite sidelined in this movie. The premise is actually pretty good, but the execution is mostly pedestrian and not as exciting as I’d hoped it would be.

See Ya Later Gladiator was the last cartoon starring Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales and it was not a proper goodbye for these classic characters. It was also the last cartoon starring any classic Looney Tunes characters as the remaining movies would star newly created characters during this era.

My Rating – 3.2