My Bunny Lies Over the Sea (1948)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris
Music by Carl W. Stalling
The only thing more annoying than recycling the same gags is essentially recycling the same old villains. That is especially when they were so good in the previous shorts. And I don’t mean just featuring dogs over and over, as they’re a common predator, so it makes considerable sense. But more in the unnecessary recycling of one of Bugs’ banner villains is what kind of grinds my gears. “My Bunny Lies Over the Sea” is a pretty good Bugs Bunny short, and one that has a good time lampooning the Scottish culture. But once we meet his nemesis, it becomes apparent that the writers are basically just giving it the bare minimum.
So, Bugs meets a red haired, short, angry man with a hot temper, a funny accent, and who is prone to lashing out at Bugs quite often. You might think I’m discussing Yosemite Sam, but no. I’m talking about Angus MacRory.
Angus MacRory is only a Scottish version of Yosemite Sam and one that I don’t know what they intended to do with, if anything. Did they think we wouldn’t notice? Were they trying to have various region Yosemite Sams? Was this their attempt to appeal to the Scottish culture less by appropriating it and just having a new character turn up? Were we going to get a middle Eastern and or Asian variation of Yosemite Sam, too? Angus MacRory is a very funny villain at the end of the day, but only really because he reminds me so much of Yosemite Sam.
He’s hot tempered and loud, and violent, and he’s also prone to getting tricked by Bugs so easily. This is blatantly a remake of “Herr Meets Hare” sans all of the Nazi and Hitler symbolism, with even the mention of one of Bugs’s signature opening lines about meaning to go to Albuquerque. The aforementioned short included the signature catchphrase for the first time, while this is the second time and used with much better reasoning, all things considered. Jones and the animators opt more for broader less offensive goofs on the Scottish this time, and the whole premise works a lot better here than it did in the previous short.
That’s mainly because the writers have to actually make up gags this time, rather than just feed us sloppy propaganda. The set up involves Bugs tunnelling through the ground and ending up in the middle of Scotland. He meant to take a left turn at Albuquerque all to get to the La Brea Tar pits. While there he comes across MacRory playing his bad pipes and mistaking the scene for a woman being attacked by a monster proceeds to destroy the bag pipes. This sets off McRory who challenges Bugs to a game of golf, because—again–this short dives head first in to the Scottish stereotypes. Thankfully the result is a pretty funny and raucous short, even if McRory isn’t the most entertaining or creative villain. He just feels so painfully derivative and doesn’t have a lot of motivation beyond Bugs stomping on his bag pipes.
And that’s not a euphemism. Hiyo!
Yosemite Sam is just so much more well developed, especially considering he’d been in almost ten shorts with Bugs by the time “My Bunny Lies Over Sea” premiered in theaters. Chuck Jones’ signature humor is here, though, and the animation is top notch. Along with the hilarity of Bugs confusing MacRory for a woman, the golf match is funny, and I like the clever ending with Bugs challenging MacRory to a bag pipes contest, only to appear with a huge bang strapped to his body and ears. They should have just cut the middle man and featured Sam as a Scottish man, rather than inventing a clumsy facsimile. MacRory is not a one and done villain I want more of, that’s for sure.
All things said, “My Bunny Lies Over the Sea” suffers from huge flaws, but it is a perfectly fine entry.
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