Will we ever see an end to remakes and reworkings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? Not likely – at least not during my lifetime. For yet another take on the holiday classic, we find 2006’s straight-to-video cartoon Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.

Daffy Duck (voiced by Joe Alaskey) owns the Lucky Duck Superstore and abuses his beleaguered assistant manager Porky Pig (Bob Bergen) and his other overworked employees. Bugs Bunny (Billy West) warns Daffy that his lack of Christmas spirit will cause him problems, but the Duck fails to change his tune.

Things get weird when now-deceased greedy cat Sylvester (Alaskey) tells Daffy he needs to mend his ways and will be visited by three ghosts to give him the works. He continues to pooh-pooh these claims until the spirits finally arrive. The rest of the show follows Daffy’s experiences.

Humduck deserves some credit for its attempts to update A Christmas Carol. Most reworkings simply take their characters and plop them back into 19th century England. Humduck creates a very different modern template for things and doesn’t act as a slavish recreation of the original work.

Unfortunately, this choice often means that Humduck negates the strengths of the source material. Instead, it prefers to ladle out the jokes and go for cheap laughs. This is likely the most slapstick-heavy version of Carol ever made, as it concentrates heavy of sight gags. We see lots of abuse suffered by Daffy along with other bits that dominate the show.

Much of the time the film’s producers seem more worried about squeezing in Looney Tunes characters and less concerned with making a coherent story. Indeed, the Ghost of Christmas Past doesn’t appear until we’ve past the flick’s midpoint. The first half just tosses out barely related jokes and doesn’t bother with much character development.

All of these factors render Bah, Humduck as an ineffective version of A Christmas Carol. I don’t mind the fact it alters the original story, but I don’t think its choices work. The movie embraces predictable slapstick but doesn’t bother to develop its characters or plot.

Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this single-sided, single-layered DVD; due to those dimensions, the image has not been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. This was a consistently positive presentation.

Sharpness appeared precise and crisp. Only a smidgen of softness affected wider shots. Otherwise, the movie looked distinct and detailed. I didn’t find any edge enhancement, but some light jagged edges and shimmering cropped up along the way. Print flaws were non-existent; I saw no examples of speckles, grit, grain or other concerns.

Colors offered a highlight, as the movie’s nicely varied palette came through well. Hues always looked bold and bright, and they were a treat to watch. Black levels were equally deep and rich, and shadow detail looked concise and easily visible. Though not flawless, the movie looked very good.

Also satisfying was the soundtrack of Humduck. Although the soundfield demonstrated a forward emphasis, it still provided a decent experience. The audio spread cleanly across the front speakers, as music displayed good stereo separation, and effects seemed to be accurately localized. Those elements blended together well as they created a neatly realized environment. The surrounds mainly offered reinforcement of the music as well as general ambience, though a few sequences brought out a little material from the back.

Audio quality appeared to be very good. Speech was natural and warm, and I heard no signs of edginess or problems related to intelligibility. Music showed robust and accurate tones, as the score and songs sounded bright and vivid, and they also betrayed solid depth. Effects were accurate and distinct, and they displayed good bass response as well; the low-end aspects of the movie seemed to be rich. Ultimately, this soundtrack lacked breadth but worked fine for the movie.

A smattering of extras fill out the set. We start with a challenge called Bah, Humduck! The Luck Duck Dilemma. This provides a few simple tasks that don’t offer much entertainment value.

Eight Deleted Scenes fill a total of four minutes, 38 seconds. The most substantial shows Daffy as he tries to put a star on top of a Christmas tree. The rest tend to be minor additions. All are ineffective.

A jazz take on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band comes next. A cheap form of music video, this plays original music from the flick over various scenes. We also get a few shots from the recording session. It’s not very interesting.

Finally, we get a few trailers. This area includes ads for Happy Feet, Hot Wheels Acceleracers: The Ultimate Race, Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, What’s New Scooby Doo! Volume 10, Molly: An American Girl On the Home Front, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, Toot and Puddle, Animaniacs Volume 2, Pinky and the Brain Volume 2, and Kids Holiday 2006 titles.

For the umpteenth rendition of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Bah, Humduck! brings us a Looney Tunes twist. Unfortunately, it doesn’t prove satisfying, as it prefers to focus on sight gags without enough emphasis on story. The DVD presents very good picture, satisfying sound, and a few minor extras. There are too many good versions of Carol to waste your time with this one.