Now, Hare This (1958)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Tom Ray, George Grandpre, Ted Bonnicksen, and Warren Batchelder
Music by Milt Franklyn
B.B. Wolf wants to have a rabbit for dinner but lacks the brains and skills to catch Bugs Bunny through traditional means. He conspires with his giggly little nephew to outsmart the rabbit through fairy tale scenarios. The wolves first try to trick Bugs into participating in the Little Red Riding Hood story, and when that fails they seek to use the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story to trap him. Of course, Bugs is too smart to be fooled and B.B. gets battered as his plans go badly awry. In the end, B.B. manages to have a rabbit for dinner – with Bugs sharing a meal at the dining room table with a disgruntled B.B. and his giddy nephew.
“Now, Hare This” is a stale cartoon that rehashes situations that were originated with greater skill and energy in the 1944 shorts “Little Red Riding Rabbit” and “Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears.” While it was not unusual to recycle gags and plots in the Warner Bros. cartoons, the quality gap between a classic original and a crummy retread was never so vast as with this misfire.
Robert McKimson’s direction and Tedd Pierce’s story are slovenly, while the B.B. Wolf character had nothing to offer except a comically gruff Noo Yawk accent and a derby that was too tight for his head. The annoying little nephew, who refers to the older wolf as “Uncle Big Bad,” is truly irritating. While the wolves should have been one-shot characters, McKimson brought the back 1964 for “False Hare,” the last of the Golden Age Bugs Bunny cartoons.