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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $14.98
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 80 min
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Three bonus cartoons
The Pitch
Talking rabbit and duck share adventures.
The Humans
Mel Blanc, Stan Freberg, Frank Gorshin, Greg Burson and June Foray
The Nutshell
Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes animation stable is one of the best things to come out of American cinema. Well, when they were part of the cinematic landscape and not the fodder of cable television. The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie is a 1981 effort to use the vast Warner Brothers’ reach to bring the characters to the attention of a new generation. The WB caught me with the later cinematic offering that was Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters. That effort is coming to DVD for the first time in August. For now, we have the second Looney Tunes theatrical compilation film.
This means more to me than mom, baseball or apple pie.
The Lowdown
Bugs Bunny is the star of this picture and Friz Freleng doesn’t let you forget it. We get some new material drawn by what would eventually become Marvel Productions. You know those cats. They eventually did G.I. Joe and all of the other hastily drawn 80s crap that makes you nostalgic for the time you shat your pants. For those of you that actively remember seeing this film, it hasn’t aged too poorly.
The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie doesn’t bring a ton of new material to DVD. Hell, it brings the same shit that was dated in 1981 back to be a fun relic in 2009. You get roughly 12-15 animated shorts hung together by quickly drawn animation segments that divide the film into three segments. Yosemite Sam cuts a deal with Satan to steal Granny’s money in the first act. This leads to older clips. Bugs Bunny gets captured by the mob. This leads to older clips. Bugs Bunny hosts the Oswald Awards. The nominees all preface previous animated shorts. Are you starting to see a pattern?
The film works as an introductory piece to the world of Bugs and Daffy. The following Warner Brothers shorts are used as filler material for the film. The list below contains several episodes that would later become material for frequent airings on ABC and Nickelodeon. That was before the Turner Entertainment push to keep all WB material on Cartoon Network and its affiliates. I feel that the shorts work better on their own, but I’m an animation snob. Any introduction to the material is welcomed.
- Hare Trimmed
- Devil’s Feud Cake
- Roman-Legion Hare
- Sahara Hare
- Wild and Wooly Hare
- The Unmentionables
- Golden Yeggs
- Catty Cornered
- Three Little Bops
- Birds Anonymous
- High Diving Hare
- Show Biz Bugs
The film works for being a collection of the best Freleng, DePattie and Jones offerings from the Warner Brothers archives. But, this is the kind of film that could only exist in the days before widespread home entertainment. How would a studio even be able to sell a film that’s eighty percent recycled material? Sure, Freleng/DePattie productions produced endcap animation that served to break up the previous footage into a three act structure. But, they’re over-glorified episode bumpers.
The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie comes to DVD with a rather standard offering. You get admirable A/V Quality that maintains the 1.37:1 aspect ratio of the original theatrical showing. What kills me is that this must’ve been a bitch to show on theater screens in 1981. The only possible solution I have to reference is how Eyes Wide Shut was shown in 1999. But, that’s a question of open matte live-action vs. the rather tricky animation shown here. Does that mean a 1.66:1 format exists? I guess that’s a question for Warner Brothers.
Dumbledore dies. Darth Vader is Luke’s dad. Professor X is in Wolverine. Bruce Willis was dead the entire time. The Village is really inside of a Pennsylvania state park. Eat a dick and good night.
The Package
Bonus cartoons –
There are three bonus cartoons on the disc. All of them are presented in their original aspect ratio and contain admirable A/V Quality. You get to see Box Office Bunny, From Hare to Eternity and Pullet Surprise. All three are shorts from the 1990s that mark a rather sad end to an era. Box Office Bunny was the first short done after the death of Mel Blanc. From Hare to Eternity was Chuck Jones’ last directorial effort. Pullet Surprise was just a piece of shit. So, there you have it.
Somehow…I find this racist.
7.9 out of 10