While I've seen worse, I kept thinking that this cartoon would have no reason to exist save for the fact that Warner Brothers had a contractual obligation to supply a certain number of shorts to movie theaters, so they fiddled around with film stock, yawned and sent this one out on an unsuspecting and somewhat indifferent world. While my view of the later Warner output is more charitable than others feel is warranted, a few miss the mark for me. This is one. Worth watching once. Recommended for completists.
5 Reviews
Speedy gets a new adversary: Daffy Duck
Tweekums4 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Speedy appears to have left his native Mexico because he is now in Granny's house where he has driven her cat Sylvester to have a nervous breakdown. Granny calls in a professional pest control to get rid of Speedy once and for all. The pest controller turns out to be none other than Daffy Ducky! You won't be surprised to know that Daffy has just as much success in tackling Speedy that Sylvester had.
Having enjoyed the older Speedy Gonzales shorts I'm finding the ones made after the closure of the Warner Bros. Cartoon Studios to be noticeable weaker. He is famed as the 'fastest mouse in all of Mexico' but there is nothing Mexican about this story apart from Speedy; no sign of Slowpoke, Manuel, José and the other mice that need his help; he is just tormenting Sylvester and Daffy for the sadistic pleasure of it. Some of the gags are amusing; I liked what happened when Daffy vacuumed up all the water in the pool but none have the wit of the earlier Speedy shorts. While it is nothing to write home about it is worth seeing if you are interested in watching the first Speedy and Daffy cartoon.
Having enjoyed the older Speedy Gonzales shorts I'm finding the ones made after the closure of the Warner Bros. Cartoon Studios to be noticeable weaker. He is famed as the 'fastest mouse in all of Mexico' but there is nothing Mexican about this story apart from Speedy; no sign of Slowpoke, Manuel, José and the other mice that need his help; he is just tormenting Sylvester and Daffy for the sadistic pleasure of it. Some of the gags are amusing; I liked what happened when Daffy vacuumed up all the water in the pool but none have the wit of the earlier Speedy shorts. While it is nothing to write home about it is worth seeing if you are interested in watching the first Speedy and Daffy cartoon.
Underwhelming but not Speedy's worst, really only notable for being Speedy and Daffy's first pairing up together
TheLittleSongbird24 October 2012
I love Looney Tunes, always have as a child and still do as a 20-year old adult. It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House though is one of the few that underwhelmed me. Let's start off by saying that I don't hate Speedy Gonzales, and not all his cartoons are bad, though none are classics in my eyes. It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House is not a bad one, and it is much better than other Speedy entries like Speedy Ghost to Town and especially See Ya Later Gladiator. But it does leave much to be desired.
Starting with the good things, the music by Bill Lava- I do consider Carl Stalling and Milt Franklin better composers for Looney Tunes though- does have some nice moments and character and is one of his better scores for the Speedy cartoons. The consequences of Daffy vacuuming up the water in the pool are very funny to watch, and it is by far the most inspired gag. Of the four characters featured, the best character is Sylvester, sly and amusing as ever, even if he has been much better written before. Mel Blanc's voice work is superb, and while not as good as June Foray GeeGee Pearson does do a worthy job as Granny, who is nice to see but she doesn't have all that much to write home about. As noted before in the review title and in the previous review, It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House is most notable for being Speedy and Daffy's first pairing up together, other than that there is not that much beyond.
Regrettably, in It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House, the animation quality is lacking. By all means, it is not the worst looking Speedy cartoon as the character designs are pretty decent, but the backgrounds look very sparse and bland and some of the colours are flat looking. Humour-wise, the cartoon is unremarkable. There is one inspired gag, but the rest, and that is including the dialogue, lacks the freshness and sharp wit that made many Looney Tunes cartoons classics. I'll forgive the predictability of the story, but I can't say the same for the lack of energy and spark in it. Speedy has always been a divisive-in opinions that is-character, but coming from someone who doesn't mind him I don't find him at all funny here. This was an atypical entry for him as the only thing that resembles Mexico is him and his accent, and the atypicality really shows in how out of depth he is. Even more disappointing is Daffy. I just love Daffy, he is one of my favourite characters of all time in animation, but I often find him too mean-spirited in his outings with Speedy and I'm afraid that this is no exception, and his material is not funny or good enough.
All in all, underwhelming but actually Speedy has done much worse. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Starting with the good things, the music by Bill Lava- I do consider Carl Stalling and Milt Franklin better composers for Looney Tunes though- does have some nice moments and character and is one of his better scores for the Speedy cartoons. The consequences of Daffy vacuuming up the water in the pool are very funny to watch, and it is by far the most inspired gag. Of the four characters featured, the best character is Sylvester, sly and amusing as ever, even if he has been much better written before. Mel Blanc's voice work is superb, and while not as good as June Foray GeeGee Pearson does do a worthy job as Granny, who is nice to see but she doesn't have all that much to write home about. As noted before in the review title and in the previous review, It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House is most notable for being Speedy and Daffy's first pairing up together, other than that there is not that much beyond.
Regrettably, in It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House, the animation quality is lacking. By all means, it is not the worst looking Speedy cartoon as the character designs are pretty decent, but the backgrounds look very sparse and bland and some of the colours are flat looking. Humour-wise, the cartoon is unremarkable. There is one inspired gag, but the rest, and that is including the dialogue, lacks the freshness and sharp wit that made many Looney Tunes cartoons classics. I'll forgive the predictability of the story, but I can't say the same for the lack of energy and spark in it. Speedy has always been a divisive-in opinions that is-character, but coming from someone who doesn't mind him I don't find him at all funny here. This was an atypical entry for him as the only thing that resembles Mexico is him and his accent, and the atypicality really shows in how out of depth he is. Even more disappointing is Daffy. I just love Daffy, he is one of my favourite characters of all time in animation, but I often find him too mean-spirited in his outings with Speedy and I'm afraid that this is no exception, and his material is not funny or good enough.
All in all, underwhelming but actually Speedy has done much worse. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Warner Bros. tries to make the plight . . .
oscaralbert24 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
. . . of what Red Staters today label as "the scourge of illegal aliens" more sympathetic by boiling down all migrants to one mouse, and titling the resulting seven-minute animated short as IT'S NICE TO HAVE A MOUSE AROUND THE HOUSE. Since a vacuum cleaner gets so much screen time here, it's clear that Warner is warning Americans that they'll probably run across migrant leavings (or "scat") long before they spot such peripatetic creatures in the flesh. When Sylvester Cat is privileged to encounter the alien mouse, he's almost instantly driven stark-raving mad by Cultural Clash, represented here by the latter's high-pitched Jibber-Jabbering. It's been well-documented that many American's First Contact with these globe trotters results in their death, or permanent damage (as is the case here with Sylvester). Just as bed bugs, cock roaches, and head lice can prove tenacious pests, Warner brings Daffy Duck into this picture as a Pest Control Expert, to prove that once a roaming rodent gets inside the Borders of your Home (or Homeland), there's no practical way to say, "Scram!" All the high tech gadgetry in the world proves no match for the Speedy Mini-Rat here (or the 12 million visitors currently enjoying America's Real Life Open House).
there was a reason why the series ended not long after this
lee_eisenberg18 April 2017
Warner Bros closed its animation department in 1963, so Friz Freleng launched his own production company with David DePatie, and they licensed their new series to Warner Bros. This new series featured most of the same characters but was no match for the cartoons released between 1935 (Porky's debut) and 1963 (the closure). The final cartoon got released in 1969.
Anyway, "It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House" was the first of several Daffy Duck-Speedy Gonzales pairings. In this case, the energetic rodent is raising cain in Granny's house, and Sylvester can't catch him, so Granny hires the lisping mallard to deal with him. Sure enough, Speedy always gets the better of Daffy.
As to the issue of whether or not these cartoons were racist, that depends on how we're using the word. They stereotyped Mexico, but large numbers of Latinos liked that they depicted Mexicans positively (a sharp contrast to the John Wayne movies).
Basically, Speedy's cartoons in the late '50s were his best ones. I particularly liked "Here Today, Gone Tamale".
Anyway, "It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House" was the first of several Daffy Duck-Speedy Gonzales pairings. In this case, the energetic rodent is raising cain in Granny's house, and Sylvester can't catch him, so Granny hires the lisping mallard to deal with him. Sure enough, Speedy always gets the better of Daffy.
As to the issue of whether or not these cartoons were racist, that depends on how we're using the word. They stereotyped Mexico, but large numbers of Latinos liked that they depicted Mexicans positively (a sharp contrast to the John Wayne movies).
Basically, Speedy's cartoons in the late '50s were his best ones. I particularly liked "Here Today, Gone Tamale".
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