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Rabbit's Feat (1960)
A unique Chuck Jones cartoon
'Rabbit's Feat' is a very odd cartoon for Chuck Jones, especially for the time (1960). It's nothing like any of his other Bugs Bunny toons and is an intentional throwback to the Tex Avery/Bob Clampett Bugs shorts from the early 40s.
The first big tip-off that this will not be a typical Jones- Bugs cartoon is when Wile E. sticks his head down into Bugs' rabbit hole and, unlike the four poster bed that Bugs usually sleeps in, Bugs is in a baby crib curled up in the fetal position, sucking his thumb.
Unlike the straight man or urbane smart-aleck that Jones usually preferred, this Bugs is outright wacky: suspending himself in mid-air before using his ears to corkscrew himself into his rabbit hole, planting huge smooches on Wile E. Coyote like he did in the older Elmer Fudd matchups, making surreal statements ("Daddy you're back from Peru!") and periodically screaming at the top of his lungs causing Wile E. to shoot up into the air.
He even uses a trademark Clampett-Bugs line "Agony! Aaa-go-neee!".
All-in-all a great cartoon and a real change of pace for Chuck Jones.
Muscle Tussle (1953)
Pretty funny
Robert McKimson's Daffy never completely conformed to the 1950s, Chuck Jones-led transformation into a greedy, cowardly, egomaniac. McKimson continued to feature him as both a tormentor/prankster for Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd and as a protagonist in his solo cartoons.
Here Daffy is still full of spark and, while he is the victim for most of the cartoon, he triumphs in the end. There are plenty of good sight gags and the end gag, contrary to other opinions, is funny and does make sense (in a cartoon universe way). The muscle-bound duck is so powerful that when he exerts all his strength against the fake barbells he is shot high into the air and when the balloons disguised as weights pop, the force of the impact compacts him (a la Wile E. Coyote).
This cartoon is fairly unique in that all of the characters are ducks, with no appearances by humans or any other talking animals.
The voice of his girlfriend is also hilarious. Sort of an even higher-pitched version of Judy Holliday's voice in 'Born Yesterday'.
The Unruly Hare (1945)
Tashlin's Bugs
This is one of only two Bugs Bunny cartoons directed by Frank Tashlin who went on to be a very successful live-action director in the 50s (The Girl Can't Help It, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and several early Jerry Lewis movies).
His Bugs in this cartoon owes a lot to the Bob Clampett version. He's wacky, some of the humor is a little racy (he distracts Elmer by showing him pictures of pin-up girls), he's very aggressive and often displays lots of teeth when he talks. This is one of the few Bugs cartoons where he's actually the one who provokes the conflict. Elmer is a surveyor for the railroad who is just going about his job and Bugs antagonizes him for no particular reason which drives Elmer into a murderous rage.
This cartoon also boasts what is probably the longest dynamite gag in Looney Tunes history. Bugs and Elmer bat around a stick of dynamite for over 40 seconds after it's lit until it explodes. Being from 1945 it also has some WWII-era references and parodies of celebrities of the time. All-in-all a fun cartoon and one that let's us see a Bugs who loves mayhem for the sake of mayhem.
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare (1950)
The last 'angry Bugs' McKimson cartoon
The beauty of the WB animation dept. in the 40s and early 50s was that every director had great latitude in their handling of the Looney Tunes characters, both in their actual visual designs and in their personalities.
'Hurdy Gurdy Hare' is the last of director Robert McKimson's 'angry Bugs' cartoons. In his first 9 Bugs Bunny shorts McKimson, along with writer Warren Foster, often portrayed Bugs as feisty and somewhat short-tempered. He might start a cartoon with the typical Bugs sunny disposition but that would quickly turn to a scowl if someone annoyed him even slightly. In 'Rebel Rabbit' he even goes so far as to declare war on the U.S. government and sabotage major landmarks before being captured and jailed by the Army. You can see this same tendency in 'Hurdy Gurdy Hare' when he aims an angry kick at the departing backside of the little monkey who has been cheating him out of his profits. His wisecracks are also a little more barbed than in some of the other WB directors' Bugs entries.
'Hurdy Gurdy Hare', like all other McKimson toons of the late 40s, also boasts some of the greatest and most expressive animation in the history of Looney Tunes. Bugs' design is noticeably different from the other directors', with a wider mouth, longer teeth and shorter legs. Bugs, like early Foghorn Leghorn and McKimson's early version of Sylvester, gestures broadly and opens his mouth wide when he speaks. The level of articulation and detail in the animation is also far beyond that of Jones and Freleng at the time.
After 'Hurdy Gurdy Hare' McKimson revised Bugs' look to bring it more in line with the other directors and he also toned down his personality to make him more like the cool, mostly unflappable, character who was being featured in Jones' and Freling's Bugs Bunny cartoons.
McKimson's golden age didn't last too long but when he was on top of his game, as in 'Hurdy Gurdy Hare', his cartoons ranked with the best.
Some people may find the super-feisty Bugs a little unsettling but it's a refreshing contrast to the slightly bland image that is considered standard for Bugs these days.
Cats A-Weigh! (1953)
The last great one!
'Cats A-Weigh' is the third Sylvester/Sylvester Jr. cartoon and the last truly good one.
Starting with 'Pop 'Im Pop' in 1950 and continuing with 'Who's Kitten Who' in 1952, each of these 3 cartoons managed to find a funny angle on the baby kangaroo-mistaken-for-a- mouse plot. There had also been 3 Sylvester solo cartoons with the baby kangaroo (Hippety Hopper) starting in 1948 which were equally funny ('Hop, Look and Listen', 'Hippety Hopper' and 'Hoppy Go Lucky')
'Cat's A-Weigh', like these other 5 cartoons, still displays director Robert McKimson's early energy and wit. The dialogue is funny and the animation still uses McKimson's detailed late 40s/ early 50s style --- lots of movement, big gestures and wide-open mouths when talking (you also see this in his early Foghorn Leghorn shorts). His more appealing earlier character designs for Sylvester/Sylvester Jr. are also on display here ---- bigger heads and noses and more exaggerated side-tufts of facial fur. This cartoon still feels fresh.
Unfortunately the next Sylvester/Hippety Hopper cartoon 'Bell Hoppy' in 1954 showed the concept abruptly running out of gas and laughs. There were 6 more Sylvester/Sylvester Jr. shorts stretching to 1964 but they were all limp, tired retreads that never regained the energy of 'Cats A-Weigh' and its predecessors.
Pop 'im Pop! (1950)
The earlier the better
This is the first Sylvester/Sylvester Jr. cartoon and it stands on its own merits despite a number of mediocre, repetitious followups. It still feels fresh if you can clear your mind of the later, lesser variations on the same theme.
The first 3 Sylvester Jr. cartoons are all very good and display the excellent loose and active animation of early Robert McKimson shorts and genuinely funny setups. The first six Sylvester/Hippety Hopper cartoons were all funny (3 with Sylvester Jr. and 3 solo) and managed to find fresh angles on the routine.
There was a definite cutoff point for the good ones. The last truly funny one was 'Cats A-Weigh' in 1953 then, just like that, from 1954 onward, they became predictably unfunny.
'Pop 'Im Pop' is a great example of Looney Tunes in their late-40s, early-50s prime when McKimson was still putting out brilliant cartoons before his rapid decline in the mid-50s.
My Favorite Duck (1942)
An overlooked progressive gem!
Visually this is much more like a cartoon from the late 40s rather than 1942. It shows the way for the future, refined Chuck Jones style. The long perspective shots and the stylized backgrounds are rare for that time and the timing and nature of the dialog is unmistakably Chuck Jones (his first cartoon with writer Michael Maltese). If it wasn't for the early loony trickster characterization of Daffy this could easily be mistaken for a release from '49 or '50. Daffy also tries to exploit "duck season" as he would ten years later with Bugs in the "Duck Season/Rabbit Season" toons. Don't miss this one! It's on volume 6 of the Golden Collection and, for the first time in many years, you can really enjoy the full impact of the color scheme.