Der hurtige Hase

Relaxing in a spa reading Aesop's fables, Bugs is shocked to read of a tortoise beating a hare in a race. To prove his point he takes a challenge from a tortoise to have a race, however when the race starts it is evident that Bugs will need to use guile to win as the tortoise has a motor inside his shell!

This cartoon has all the markings of a good cartoon - good story, good characters and plenty of opportunity for imaginative humour. For the most part it works very well and is pretty funny. The plot allows for some good gags, although a little too much mileage (!) is wrung out of the motorised shell idea. The short even has a good ending which nicely twists one of Bugs' own catch phrases on himself!

The one weakness it did have was in it's lead character - which was a surprising thing to me. I love Bugs and enjoy seeing him twist things on those who would get him! I like to se the many ways he gets the upper hand. However here he was very much the lesser character in terms of scoring points. He is shown to be easily tricked and fooled and, at times, out of his depth. This didn't ruin the cartoon for me as it was still funny, but this was not the usual character I expect to see when I watch Bugs Bunny.

Despite this, I enjoyed the film as it was funny with good sight gags covering the `topical' references that went over my head. The only thing to remember is that this is not Bugs Bunny in his normal, wise cracking confident self.

I thoroughly enjoyed Rabbit Transit, I felt it was a lot of fun. The only real quibble I have is that although Bugs himself is great, he is not as confident as he usually is and he is shown to be easily tricked here. This wasn't distracting as such, it's just that I love Bugs and his persona and this wasn't quite the Bugs I fell in love with. That said, the story is wonderful, a very fun twist on The Tortoise and the Hare or so it seemed, the animation is colourful and lively, the music is rousing and there are enough witty dialogue and sharp sight gags to amuse even the fussiest Looney Tunes fan. And I loved Cecil, he is a turtle, but he is an endearing and funny one. Plus Mel Blanc's vocals are superb. Overall, a wonderful Looney Tunes cartoon, very funny. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Rabbit Transit (1947)

*** (out of 4)

Third and final meeting between Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle has them racing cross country and both promising not to cheat, although that rule gets thrown out early on. This short isn't nearly as good as the previous two but there's still enough charm here to make it worth watching. What really brings this short down is the fact that there aren't enough laughs to keep it going. I wouldn't say we've seen this stuff too many times before but there's certain freshness missing from the story, characters and even some of the gags like the power jet turtle shell.

The third and finale race between Bugs and Cecil turtle is the least hilarious of the three, but it's still pretty funny at times. This time has Bugs reading Aesop's fables while relaxing. when he gets to the end of the story he's flabbergasted that the fairy tale had the Hare losing the race. So he challenges Cecil (whom he doesn't seem to remember from the other two times) to a race. As I said before the other two cartoons are funnier and more well paced than this one. The gag of the enhanced rocket shell also seems to be a tad long in the tooth, but I still had fun with the short. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

My Grade: B+

The is the last of the three Bugs Bunny versus Cecil The Turtle road races, a takeoff on the famous fable of the Tortoise and The Hare.

The writers go on the assumption apparently that few people are familiar with the first two of these Bugs Bunny-Cecil races because they begin the story with Bugs shocked by reading the famous Aesop Fable story about the tortoise beating the hare (even though he had done this twice before!)

At the sauna bath, where the two are lounging, Bugs makes the bet again, this time telling Cecil, "Listen, snail, I'll give you the post position and spot you 100 yards and I'll run backwards with my hands tied behind my back." He exaggerates but Cecil takes the bet, because he has secret advantage.

There are some very funny remarks, sight-gag jokes and asides-to-the-audience at the beginning of this race, which is to Grant's Tomb. The race itself is very strange, is all I can say. How these guys were in New York one minute, Chicago the next and Miami Beach is all quite a mystery. Only in the cartoons, I suppose.

The "jet age" angle was entertaining, but the ending was a bit lame.