Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. Generally like the Droopy cartoons and the character himself a lot, his best cartoons are classics and among Avery's best. 'Droopy's Double Trouble' is another Droopy/Spike pairing, not one of their best but among their funniest. It introduces Droopy's identical twin brother Drippy, a more anarchic and violent version of Droopy (and as can be expected he epitomises trouble) and a wildly entertaining one, his treatment of Spike here is brutal.
Droopy, as usual, is so well established in personality and is high on the humour and charisma scale, though deliberately milder to usual, and Drippy adds to the conflict effortlessly. Spike is even funnier and more interesting, if not given as much of a chance to show off his scheming and tricks, and one actually feels sorry for him with his brutal but admittedly hilarious treatment by Drippy.
Typically, Avery does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and characteristic and incredibly distinctive wacky humour style all over it as can be expected.
Once again there is nothing sadistic or repetitious about 'Droopy's Double Trouble'. It's hilarious, imaginative content, mainly centring around the treatment of Spike, that has enough variety to stop it from being too predictable in the humour, even if the premise is even easier to foresee than most Droopy and Spike pairings. Story-wise it is very obvious, pretty much the only thing not quite so good here.
It is no surprise either that the animation is superb. The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.
Can never fault the voice acting in the Droopy cartoons, Bill Thompson (who gets the lion's share of the material) and Daws Butler were always independently excellent voice actors.
All in all, great if not quite one of my favourites. 9/10 Bethany Cox