Tag Archives: Bugs Bunny

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Falling Hare (1943)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

Falling Hare (1943)
Directed by Bob Clampett
Written by Warren Foster
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Rob Scribner

I do not like “Falling Hare.” I never have. Even as a kid I only really watched it as a means to stave off boredom. It’s loud. It’s obnoxious. And I could never quite get behind the Gremlin being one of Bugs’ nemeses. “Falling Hare” is one of the selections of public domain Bugs Bunny shorts put out there on VHS compilations throughout the years. It’s one of the many included on various cartoon cassette tapes and I spent a lot of my time re-watching this short for my Bugs Bunny fix, and pretty much as a last resort.

Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: A Corny Concerto (1943)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

A Corny Concerto (1943)
Directed by Bob Clampett
Written by Frank Tashlin
Music by Various
Animation by Bob McKimson

Warner has never been subtle about their discontent for Disney Studios. In fact, they made it their quest for a long time to mock and poke fun at a lot of what Disney did with their films, including their handling of music and fairy tales. “A Corny Concerto” isn’t just a spoof of their masterpiece “Fantasia,” but it’s an outright ribbing of their considerably high brow animated melding of classical music and the animation medium. I for one love “Fantasia,” but I don’t think Disney is ever above being poked at for the purposes of comedy. Every studio tends to do it at one point in time, but Warner has always done it the best. And dare I say that the Looney Tunes has always implemented classical music better than Disney ever has or ever will.

Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wackiki Wabbit (1943)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

Wackiki Wabbit (1943)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Ted Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris

When push comes to shove, I always think of “Wackiki Wabbit” as my favorite Bugs Bunny short ever made. There are a lot of competitors that just barely edge out this one, but Chuck Jones’ more self contained adventure with Bugs is easily my favorite. It’s one I always really go back to and re-visit and never stop laughing through. Bugs is just at the top of his game, and the villains of the piece are a mix of pathetic and devious. Yeah, they’re trying to survive, but so is Bugs. I always wonder why they didn’t just ask Bugs how he survived for so long on the island. You know what?

I’m over thinking the short. That’s not a caveat of the whole shebang, it’s just something that pops up if you pick apart the whole situation.

Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk (1943)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk (1943)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Written by Michael Maltese
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Jack Bradbury (etc…)

The whole “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale has been fodder for some of the best and worst movies ever made. It has always translated well especially in the comedy realm with Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes spoofing the story twice. “Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk” should not be confused with “Beanstalk Bunny” from1955, yet another parody of this story starring Bugs Bunny, except this time featuring Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd pulling up the rear. That one is very good and very funny (we’ll get to that one), but “Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk” has its merits just the same.

Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Super-Rabbit (1943)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

Super-Rabbit (1943)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris

“Look up there in the sky! It’s a boid…!”
“Naw, it ain’t no boid, it’s a dive bommah!”
“No… it’s Super Rabbit!”

This is my wheelhouse, baby. This is my niche. This is my milieu. This is my territory. They took Bugs Bunny, my favorite cartoon character of all time. They took Superman: My favorite fictional character and superhero of all time. Then they mixed them together to form this wonderful amalgam, satire, and homage that I loved as a kid and adore even more now. As a Superman fanatic going in to his forties, “Super-Rabbit” makes me happy. It makes me smile. And it’s also very funny, which is a plus. Superman was once upon a time the most popular character in America. He was a huge star of the radio, a big star on TV, and one of the highest selling comic book characters ever. Superman was a superstar of the early 1900’s, and continued to be, well in to the 1950’s.

So it only made sense for Merrie Melodies to not only satirize Superman, but satirize Superman by using one of the most popular cartoon characters of the time, Mr. Bugs Bunny.

Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Tortoise Wins By a Hare (1943)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

Tortoise Wins By a Hare (1943)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris

I don’t know entirely what the animators and writers had intended for Cecil the Turtle, when all is said and done. If he was intended as a villain, then they didn’t do a very good job, as with the sequel to “Tortoise Beats Hare,” he still comes off like a reluctant hero. If he’s intended as the hero, then there’s not a ton of logic behind making Bugs Bunny the villain. I get that they wanted to jump on the Tortoise and the Hare fable, but these pair of shorts where Cecil and Bugs race never works out in Bugs’ favor. Once again Bugs comes off petty, conniving, and kind of dumb. They’re traits that you figure the writers would have left way behind back in “Elmer’s Candid Camera,” but they insist on giving us a follow up to “Tortoise Beats Hare.”

Continue reading →

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Case of the Missing Hare (1942)

Posted on by

2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.

Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.

Case of the Missing Hare (1942)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Ted Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris

“Case of the Missing Hare” is one of the many Bugs Bunny shorts that I have sentimental value attached to. Once again, it’s in the public domain (one of the many from United Artists), so it was a part of the many VHS cartoon compilations that my siblings and I owned as kids (we must have owned at least ten of them). “Case of the Missing Hare” was one of my absolute favorites. While it definitely wasn’t one of Bugs’ best, it’s definitely one of my most watched. It also features yet another pretty much one and done villain for Bugs Bunny, which is a shame, because The Great Ala Bahma (also voiced by Blanc) is a pretty fun villain.

Continue reading →