Operation: Rabbit

An over-confident Wile E. Coyote is sure of getting Bugs Bunny. First, he tries to cook Bugs right in his hole. There is a canon. He uses an explosive decoy, a flying saucer, and exploding carrots. He gets run over by a train and finally admits defeat.

This is a very early Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Bugs is his natural nemesis although Road Runner is still his best target. I love trying to cook Bugs right in his home. I do wonder if we should be inside with Bugs as he eats his carrots and relaxes like in a sauna. I think that was a missed opportunity for some good gags. Still, this is a great Wile against Bugs.

After his failure to catch the Roadrunner in 1949's Fast And Furry-ous, Wile E. Coyote instead targets a new prey: Bugs Bunny. Unfortunately, his luck with catching Bugs isn't much better than it was with the Roadrunner three years earlier.

Although it's a little odd that Wile E. Coyote's sophomore cartoon was actually the first of five that paired him with Bugs Bunny (suggesting that Chuck Jones knew he had a popular character with Wile E. but wasn't quite sure of what to do with him after F&F), Bugs proves to be just as funny a foil for Wile E. as the Roadrunner was. In addition to discovering his name, we also discover Wile E.'s over-inflated ego. This, of course, is what ultimately does him in. The whole use of "modern science" to capture Bugs was a first at the time and a welcome departure from the usual "man with gun out to get Bugs" routine. Of course, the cartoon's novel presentation is put to good use with some very funny gags (my favorite being the mechanical bunny). Plus, at the end of the cartoon, we hear one of Bugs's most oft-quoted lines (which is already cited elsewhere on IMDb).

Overall, this is one of the funniest and most creative Bugs Bunny shorts ever released. It's a shame the remaining four cartoons couldn't quite live up to this one because, considering the potential the cartoon's formula had, Wile E. and Bugs could've easily become just as popular a pairing as Wile E. and the Roadrunner.

In a slight break from protocol, Chuck Jones, Michael Maltese, and Mel Blanc pit Wile E. Coyote - aka Supergenius - against Bugs Bunny. But, sure enough, Bugs has ways of avoiding capture...most of which involve Wile E. getting maimed somehow.

The point is that no matter how hard he tries, Wile E. has no success in any field, whether going after the Road Runner or Bugs Bunny. And they play it to great effect. "Operation: Rabbit" is a classic just like the rest of the Looney Tunes cartoons from that era. Having Wile E. talk doesn't diminish the quality at all.

Mud spelled backwards is dum. Exactly!

Wile E. has more personality here. He is ore than the emaciated walking roadkill that he portrays in the Roadrunner episodes. He actually introduces himself to Bugs and tells him that he will be his supper. Unfortunately, Bugs is the irrepressible, ultimate optimist and as enterprising as any cartoon character. So you can guess there are hard time ahead for our friend.

I love the Bugs vs Wile E. Coyote cartoons, better than just the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons, and I the Chuck Jones/Phil Monroe collaboration in it as well. I also love the "OH NO!" take Bugs does after Wile tells him "I am going to eat you." And the ending where Bugs gives the "moral" of the story: "M. U. D. Spell backwards is D. U. M."

Being an interest in folklore and after hearing from the commentary for this cartoon (in one of my Looney Tunes DVD box sets), there are some parallels of South-Western Indian folktales of Coyote, the trickster and a very proud and smug character. And also parallels from the African-American folktales of Br'er Rabbit & Br'er Fox; post-modern take. Only instead of using snare traps and tar dummies, Wile E. Uses high explosives and other contraptions.

So overall, I really love this cartoon and it's one of my favorite Bugs Bunny/Wile E. Coyote cartoons.