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6.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Duck Hunt remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have seven minutes to spare today and want to see Mickey Mouse get absolutely humiliated by a bunch of smug birds, then yes, The Duck Hunt is definately worth your time. Kids and vintage animation nerds will love it, but anyone expecting a real plot will probably get bored fast.
It is basically just a series of silly physical gags strung together with very little logic. 🦆
The whole thing kicks off with Mickey and Pluto marching into the marsh looking for trouble.
The best part of the early scenes is easily Pluto's fleas. They march behind him in a perfect little military line, which is just incredibly charming to watch.
It reminded me a bit of the random, loose structure you see in early sound era stuff like Hello, Baby where the plot is just an excuse for silly bits. Or even the stage-show vibe of The Darktown Revue.
Anyway, Mickey is kind of a dummy here. He straps a fake wooden duck to Pluto's head to trick the real ducks, which seems like a terrible plan from the start.
The ducks do not buy it for a second. 🐶
My favorite animation detail is when Mickey's shotgun literally disintegrates after he accidentally shoots a hole in his own boat. The physics make absolutely no sense, but that is the point.
Then the ducks get their revenge. They recruit a whole army of friends and literally carry Mickey and Pluto into the sky by their underwear.
It ends so abruptly with them landing on a clothesline.
The fleas even have tiny little parachutes to save themselves! It is the tiny details like that that make these old black-and-white cartoons so great.
It is not a masterpiece, but it made me laugh out loud twice.