Generally am not a fan of the character of Baby Huey, a rather one-joke character and especially in his later Famous Studios cartoons annoying. When it comes to Famous Studios' cartoons, there is a general preference for the Popeye, Casper and even Herman and Katnip cartoons (although they all had not so great cartoons in their later years).
'Quack a Doodle Do' for a Baby Huey cartoon is pretty decent however. It is far from great this said, when it comes to the story it is as predictable as you can get especially in the first half detailing Baby Huey's birth and being outcast. The first half is also on the slow side, with not much that can be seen as mildly amusing, let alone funny.
Every cartoon character has to start somewhere, and for a debut cartoon Baby Huey's character is fairly well-established. Thankfully, while still a bit annoying to begin with and incredibly stupid (can definitely relate to the other characters' frustrations with him), he is not as much as in his later cartoons and is the overgrown dimwit sort of character with a big heart and good intentions, which is obvious in the second half of 'Quack a Doodle Do'.
The cartoon picks up quite a bit once the fox appears. It's still predictable at this point, with an ending that is pretty obvious from the get go, but the timing is sharper and the material funnier. The entertaining chemistry between Baby Huey and the fox helps. Another thing that drives 'Quack a Doodle Do' is the loving chemistry between Baby Huey and his mother where it is easy to identify with their situation.
Voice acting is good, Sid Raymond, Mae Questel and Jack Mercer excel in the types of roles they play here (the dimwit, the sweet woman figure and the villain) and are instantly recognisable, suiting their characters perfectly. The animation is mostly rich and colourful, with very meticulous and beautifully drawn backgrounds, even if some the drawing lacks finesse in parts.
Winston Sharples provides yet another outstanding music score, even in mediocre or worse cartoons Sharples' music was never among the flaws (if anything always one of the strengths or the best asset). Also love the lusciousness of the orchestration here and how characterful, haunting and whimsical the music was without going overboard in either, even better was how well it fitted in the cartoon and how it merged with the action.
All in all, a decent debut cartoon for Baby Huey, even though it and the character himself have never been favourites of mine. 6/10 Bethany Cox