Möhren, Monster, Mutationen

Growing up a fan of the classic horror movie monsters, I always enjoyed seeing the Looney Tunes shorts with a horror theme. Whether it was Frankenstein or Dracula or a witch or whatever, it was something I got a kick out of (and still do, really). Here we have a kindly old doctor bringing Bugs home to be his new pet, an arrangement Bugs is surprisingly happy with. The doctor turns out to be Dr. Jekyll, who drinks a potion and turns into the horrible Mr. Hyde. What follows is Bugs trying to escape the monstrous Hyde, while also protecting Jekyll because he doesn't realize they are one and the same. The animation is beautiful. Love the colors and the backgrounds are very nice. Excellent voice work from Mel Blanc. Carl Stalling's music is energetic and fun. It's a funny cartoon with a cool ending and one of my favorite bits of random business in any Bugs short: Bugs doing a bizarre Liberace impression ("I wish my brother George was here.").

Hyde and Hare (1955)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Being a major fan of horror movies as well as Bugs, you'd think I'd love this short but in fact I find it to be rather tame. The kind Dr. Jekyll comes to the park everyday to feed Bugs some carrots and one day decides to take him home as a pet. At the house the doctor drinks his potion, which turns him into the monstrous, green skinned Mr. Hyde. This film really doesn't contain too many laughs until the end when Bugs turns into the monster but sadly they don't spend anytime with this joke. Everything before that is decent but nothing really jumps off the screen. I enjoyed the calmness of Dr. Jekyll and I thought the transformation scenes were good but there still weren't enough laughs.

On this day of Halloween, I thought I'd watch this Bugs Bunny cartoon in which he encounters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll is the timid man who often feeds Bugs carrots when he attends the local park. The bunny stops doing his cute routine to propose he take him as a pet, which Jekyll obliges. At his residence, he reluctantly takes a potion and...well, you can guess from there if you're familiar with the story. Pretty amusing with the ending quite the topper though perhaps not as hilarious as one hopes it would be. It's still entertaining enough and the transformation designs are fascinating to watch. Happy Halloween, everybody!

"It's shameful; but it's a living," shrugs Bugs before he goes into his "timid little rabbit routine" so he can get his daily carrot from his "benefactor" at the park. Bugs plays it to the hilt, jumping into the man's arms and suggesting he adopt him as his pet and could feed him in bed every time. The quiet, unassuming little man is thrilled and carries Bugs to his home. The shock is that the man is "Dr. Jekyll!" It turns out both Bugs and "the doc" are not what they seem! This, then, was a two-joke cartoon the first part on the nice old man, the second on Bugs.

I enjoyed the funny bits with Bugs imitating Liberace and then Dr. Jekyll's quick transformations back and forth to Mr. Hyde. That was not overdone, only went for a couple of minutes and was entertaining.

The ending was the only weak part, too predictable and not funny. I still liked this cartoon, which was included in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 DVD.

Bugs Bunny loves his daily feeding of carrots by Dr. Jekyll so much that he wants to live with him. The good Doctor is happy to oblige. But little to Bugs knowledge Jekyll has a small addiction of drinking a potion to change into the homicidal Mr. Hyde who wants to kill the rabbit. This cartoon is alright but really is a one joke premise that wears thin before long (Jekyll turns into Hyde, scares Bugs who runs away, Hyde changes back into Jekyll, bugs is happy to see him, he changes again, Bugs runs away...etcetera over and over again). This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional music only track.

My Grade: B-