As a huge fan of Looney Tunes and of Bugs and Daffy (also someone who gets great enjoyment out of Elmer and Yosemite Sam), This is a Life? in no way disappointed. It was a personal favourite of a kid, and it holds up now as one of the better mid-50s Looney Tunes cartoons.
This is a Life? contains beautiful animation, both in the footage and in the This is Your Life parody story that frames the cartoon. The backgrounds are bright and lush in colour and meticulous and smooth in detail, all the characters are very well drawn in distinctive Fritz Freleng style. Milt Franklyn's music score is a perfect fit, as always with Franklyn the orchestration is luscious in sound and very clever in how it's used, the rhythms have so much energy and character and, like with Carl Stalling's music, it not just matches all the gestures, expressions and actions of the characters seamlessly but it helps make the action and material even funnier and even more memorable than they already are.
At first, there was the worry that the use of footage/flashbacks of previous cartoons (A Hare Grows in Manhattan, Bucaneer Bunny, Hare Do) would cheapen the cartoon and make it little more than a clip show that was more an excuse to string along pre-existing material which would have most likely made it pointless. But that wasn't the case at all with This is a Life?, considering the story of the cartoon the footage of the previous cartoons served a point, and in a way that was fun and affectionately nostalgic. The writing is razor-sharp and hilarious, with the best lines coming from Daffy, and the gags throughout are every bit as funny with a priceless bomb-wrapped-as-a-gift gag. The story is paced swiftly and never stopped being fun, also because of the premise, the flashbacks and the characters it was very affectionate as well.
Bugs is as smart, witty and endearing as he always is with a touch of arrogance, Elmer is a sweet and suitably befuddled host and foil, Yosemite Sam is hilariously hot-headed and Granny is funnier than in most of the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons she featured in. Hysterically manic and crafty Daffy however steals the show, his jealousy pitched perfectly and never feeling too mean-spirited. The voice acting is great, not just from a peerlessly spot-on Mel Blanc (particularly good as Daffy), but also from Arthur Q. Bryan and June Foray.
Overall, a hilarious and affectionate tribute classic. 10/10 Bethany Cox
