Rabbit Hood

Bugs Bunny is caught stealing carrots from the King's carrot patch by the Sheriff of Nottingham. Classic short directed by Chuck Jones with a story by Michael Maltese. This one's lots of fun. Beautifully animated with well-drawn character and backgrounds. The lovely Technicolor is always a plus. Great voice work the incomparable Mel Blanc as Bugs, the Sheriff, and the dimwitted Little John who has a funny recurring bit. Rousing score from Carl W. Stalling. Lots of great gags and lines. Two of my favorites are the real estate scam and the classic knighting gag. The Errol Flynn cameo at the end (via footage from a certain movie that should be too obvious for me to bother naming) always brings a smile to my face.

This cartoon is a classic, just great fun from start to finish, with a perfect mix of slapstick and humorous wit, particularly when Bugs tricks the Sheriff into thinking he is the King. The animation is lovely and colourful, and the music is rousing like the sort of thing you would hear in a swashbuckler. The dialogue is truly funny, definitely some of the best dialogue in any Looney Tunes cartoon, and there are a great many like the Hunting Trilogy with terrific dialogue. The Sheriff is a great supporting character, and Bugs is still his rascally self with a touch of arrogance here too. Additionally adding to the enjoyment is the ending, the snippet from the 1938 classic The Adventures of Robin Hood was an inspired touch, while Mel Blanc as always is superb. All in all, I love this, for how clever and witty it is. 10/10 Bethany Cox

You know, the world of movies was different before the late fifties. Once you released a film, it had a run, hopefully a long one. Then it was gone, as if it never existed. Then we had TeeVee that started to show just-out-of-release movies, then Ted Turner showing old movies from collections he purchased, and then tapes and DVDs. Now movies can be seen by anyone at any time.

But not then, and if it was big, the studios could rerelease it, and get a second round of return. Such was the case with "Robin Hood." And to increase the buzz, they commissioned this, essentially an ad and featuring a publicity still of Errol Flynn.

There's something a bit wonderful about how Bugs grew up as a character, and its pretty sophisticated what happens here. Bugs is treated as if he were an actor hired to play a part, a Robin Hood part. Its highly introspective humor this. No joke is funny, but the very idea is miraculous.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I very much enjoyed this Bugs Bunny cartoon for the following reasons: 1. The way they played on the Robin Hood + Little John + Sheriff of Nottingham stories. 2. Bugs Bunny's character and how he reacts to the cartoon's situations, here he is a very intelligent bunny. 3. The humour, it is often very witty and quite unexpected. When it is slapsticky and predictable, though, it is still pretty well pulled off. 4. The background animation, very lovely colours and animation style. 5. The cameo appearance of a famous actor at the end, obviously taken from a film.

If there was anything that I felt was imperfect about the cartoon, it was the fact that it was slightly slapsticky at points (there is one dragged out slapstick bit near the end which the makers could have cut a little).

In this cartoon, Bugs Bunny has unknowingly arrived at the castle grounds of the King in Robin Hood's time and has picked a carrot from the King's Carrot Patch. Unfortunately, the King has a strict policy for whoever steals his carrots and it seems to be the rack for Bugs Bunny if he does not manage to escape...

I recommend this cartoon to anyone who likes Bugs Bunny and to anyone who likes a good enough mixture of slapstick and witty humour in a Looney Tunes cartoon. Enjoy, "Rabbit Hood"! :-) 8 and a half out of ten.

P.S Did anyone else notice that the tune for the opening credits was the same one they used for "Duck Amuck" in about 4 years time?

This clever cartoon has Bugs Bunny playing both Robin Hood and the king, as he plots to steal the carrots from the Royal garden. A one-joke film, perhaps, but it does have as its crowning glory a snippet from the 1938 'Adventures of Robin Hood'.

Is it any good? Most of the early Bugs Bunny films (of which this is one) were sharp - relying on the genius of Mel Blanc and Chuck Jones to deliver the laughs and the situations their audience were looking for. 'Rabbit Hood' is no exception. Bugs is at his usual foolish and arrogant best, with his spluttering catchphrases and his withering looks at the hapless people he cons (the Sheriff of Nottingham, of course, here).