Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Easter Yeggs (1947)

Easter Yeggs (1947)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Written by Warren Foster
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Charles McKimson

The 500th animated short released from Warner Bros., “Easter Yeggs” is so much funnier than I remember it being, as I always typically found it kind of obnoxious in the past. Recently it’s earned a place in the tops list mainly for the fact that it’s so chaotic, and delights in delivering so many funny gags. To make things more interesting, “Easter Yeggs” has three villains, all of whom are scheming to make Bugs’ life difficult, and it amounts to a hilarious challenge for the character. One of the earliest holiday themed shorts from Bugs, it’s only a drop in the bucket of a long line of Warner animated shorts that took myths, legends, and fairytales and distorted them for the sake of comedy and or chaos.

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Soul (2020)

In Limited Re-Release on January 12th, preceded by the Sparkshort “Burrow.” Check Local Listings.

Also Streaming on Disney Plus, and Available in Stores.

While watching “Soul,” two things came to mind. It’s amazing how much the movie reminded me of Chuck Jones’ “The High Note,” and Norton Juster’s “The Dot and the Line.” Both films perfectly articulate the power of music, and sound and the joy and pain that can come with it. Down to its basest, “Soul” is very much a movie about the power of music and the passion that can arise from it that transcends life and death. It’s probably one of the most unusual animated films from “Soul” in that animation style is so different from anything we’ve seen before or will see after.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: A Hare Grows in Manhattan (1947)

A Hare Grows in Manhattan (1947)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Written by Michael Maltese
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Virgil Ross

Happy New Year!

For this installment, we’re looking at “A Hare Grows in Manhattan” one of the more underrated Bugs Bunny shorts ever produced. It’s hysterical, it’s quotable, and it features another one and done villain but one of his most common foes: The dog. The dog has always been a very multi faceted villain for the Warner universe, as the dog is always the predator for traditionally prey like rabbits, ducks, and chickens. By now Bugs has come face to face with at least a dozen dog foes, all of whom we were either working with Elmer Fudd, or working on their own.

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Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

After the okay “Wreck it Ralph,” the follow up to the highly promoted video game version of “Toy Story” delivers a follow up that is—just as fine, I guess. “Wreck it Ralph” still hasn’t quite built up an interesting universe or interesting protagonists, even if they manage a better job satirizing video game icons. Truth be told I’d rather have a spin off movie about the video game verse and how it operates. Instead we’re given Vanellope von Schweetz and Wreck-It Ralph in a pair of awkward central plots that drive a movie that’s running on fumes from the starting gate.

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Lightyear (2022)

Even though we were under the impression that Andy loved Buzz Lightyear because he was this new special toy, we’re told in 1999’s “Toy Story 2” that he was actually a part of a TV series, which was further canonized in the 2000 animated show “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.” Now we’re told that in 1995 Andy actually loved Buzz Lightyear because he originally came from a hit movie within the “Toy Story” universe. And this is that movie. That we’re watching—uh, somehow. Despite the absolutely elaborate concept behind it, “Lightyear” is a meta-movie that features pre-toy Buzz as an adventurous space ranger and bonafide hero. All the while there are some fun allusions to “Top Gun,” “Flash Gordon,” and “Aliens” to be explored here.

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Toy Story 4 (2019)

After the perfect ending that was “Toy Story 3,” Disney and Pixar decide to keep the story going because well—merch. Merchandise. Money. Moolah. There’s really no other reason beyond why such a perfect three chapter tale like “Toy Story” would drag on. And I say that since Josh Cooley’s “Toy Story 4” is sadly about as lackluster a sequel as you can get. For a series do centered on awe, wonder, and love, the movie is shockingly dark and bereft of so much of what made the first three movies so special.

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