Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production

I've always been a huge Looney Tunes fan. I love his humor, his slapstick, and his memorable characters. I was always a fan of classic shorts that always made me laugh at the looney tunes jokes. I was excited to see that they would do The Looney Tunes Show which in my opinion was pretty decent. I wish the series had continued with more seasons. This is how in 2015 I realized that they would premiere a new series based on The Looney Tunes called Wabbit. I didn't know what to think, if it was going to be good or was it just going to be average or mediocre. Admittedly, the series has that classic looney tunes feel to it and the characters are still personable as ever. Regarding the animation, I don't think it's as bad as many say, in my point of view the animation is quite good even though it is not so flashy. I really liked the first episodes of the first season by bringing back Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, The Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Strangely I only have one problem and that is that despite everything, the art style and the character designs do not fit in the series. At least I think the series improved a bit in season two by bringing most of the classic Warner Bros. Characters into the series.

So it really gives that classic feel to the show, even though I wasn't really comfortable with some things yet. I could still say that the series is meh. It is not exactly bad and of course it may not look like the classic looney tunes because you can feel uncomfortable from time to time with the character designs, but it can still be decently fun.

Harkens back to the more initial rough and zany episodes from MANY decades past.

This is not what what your average Looney Tunes viewer would except.

Voices are fine and similar to the prior Looney Tunes show was a few years past. Without checking I would suspect many are the same voice actors.

Animation is fine but kind of rough and unpolished. Character designs are reimagined. Bugs looks off from any version we've ever seen. Porky is NOTHING like we've seen before and looks horrible. Daffy looks okay I guess.

The stories are more like quick simple scripts. Not much effort was put into them. Ones of things about Looney Tunes typically is that it appeals to children as well as adults. There is NOTHING here that appeals to adults.

This latest Looney Tunes just feels like something someone threw together quickly and cheaply. They also seen to know nothing about classic or even recent Looney Tunes, or have no respect for it and just wanted to do something whatever they wanted.

There are a lot of new, never seen before characters that have no real place here. Their visual design and character background are uninspired and just poor quality.

Even the intro to the show is just play unenjoyable.

Attempt at cash grab ?

Stay away.

After the really innovative and very funny The Looney Tunes Show, the Wabbit feels, in both art and writing, like a step back to the nostalgic old Looney Tunes shorts. The show has short, 11-minute long episodes, composed of two 5 minute-long shorts. Bugs is back to living in a rabbit hole, often sharing his home with his friend, the oddly not-speaking Squeaks the Squirrel. In appearance, most of the characters got redesigned - frankly, not for the better. They try to harken back to the old Chuck Jones era, but in effect, look more like the 1990's Chuck Jones era of Tom and Jerry, not as Looney Tunes. Plot-wise, pretty much all the shorts have the same setup - random antagonists is being an annoyance to Bugs, usually without a rhyme or reason, and generally being a major troll. Bugs suffers a bit, then he retaliates using his patented tools like disguises, dynamite, and generally fooling his usually not terribly bright opponents to do harm to themselves - The End.

Therein lies the problem - this is the plot of pretty much 90% of the episodes (save for a few special ones like where Bugs has to share his home with an oddly childish-Gossamer-like Bigfoot). Rinse and repeat, and it gets very, very old after the third episode already. Another problem is the nature of the antagonists. While Yosemite Sam (who oddly gained weight) and Wile E. Coyote (now Bugs' snotty know-it-all neighbour) are recurring foes, most of the time the enemies are one-shot and not really interesting characters with very little character development. Often, they feel rather out of place too from the show which is set in the modern world, like oddly cylinder-shaped tiny ninjas, a fox version of Marvel's Black Widow, a polar bear-riding barbarian, or even the Death of Rabbits himself, who has fallen a long way from his truly terrifying appearance in Watership Down. It is odd because even after 13 episodes, there is not sign of other famous Looney Tunes characters - Elmer Fudd, Marvin the Martian, and especially Daffy Duck or Porky Pig. Perhaps they are getting their own shows, but I find that unlikely.

Maybe it's just me, but in this day and age... I find the slapstick is no longer enough to entertain. The Wabbit does not fall into trap of Tom and Jerry, where you eventually start to sympathize with poor Tom when Jerry torments him without provocation, Itchy and Scrathy style - here the villains all get what's coming to them - but that doesn't make the experience feel less empty. I am not saying every funny cartoon needs to be Monty Python levels cerebral, but after a truly unique show like the Looney Tunes Show, I cannot say I find this sort of humour a step back, and at best, just average.

Utter garbage. They just need to give up making these horrible cartoons calling themselves Wabbit or the New Looney Tunes. Mel Blanc and Chuck Jones must be rolling in their graves

As a huge Looney Tunes fan, and as somebody who doesn't care very much for The Looney Tunes Show, there was some initial scepticism. But anything deserves to be judged on its own merits and Wabbit's not an exception.

The good news is that it is a marginal improvement on The Looney Tunes Show, but only just. The not so good news is that in this viewer's book Wabbit has a long way to go before it can be considered a good show, it is early days and could get better but presently it's just not taking off. Rather than living up to any potential it has it wastes it even as a standalone, and anybody who grew up with the classic cartoons are likely to find themselves disappointed.

Starting with Wabbit's good points, the animation is generally improved over that for The Looney Tunes Show, with the exception of some weird and at times grotesque character designs, Yosemite Sam being the worst. The drawing is smoother, the backgrounds more detailed and with a Chuck Jones feel and the colours more vibrant. Apart from, as mentioned, some of the character designs not looking appealing, some like for Bugs adhere closer than The Looney Tunes Show to the classic Looney Tunes Show and also mid-late-career Chuck Jones. The setting doesn't jar anywhere near as much as feared.

Wabbit fares better in its music too. It's not as dynamic, characterful or action-enhancing as the music of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons (which nearly always was one of the best things about Looney Tunes in its prime, apart from in the late 60s where everything pretty much took a nosedive in quality), but it's nonetheless beautifully orchestrated, fun to listen to and lively. The theme tune is also memorable. Oh, and there are no misplaced or cringe-worthy songs here, still trying to erase Elmer's one about grilled cheese sandwiches without much luck.

The voice cast is a talented one, consisting of voice actors who have played the characters for some years and have a lot of experience in voice work (i.e. Maurice LaMarche), and they all do solidly dependable jobs, some in multiple roles. There are a few chuckle worthy moments here, something that I rarely if at all got from The Looney Tunes Show, if never hilarious. It's just that one wishes that this happened on a more consistent level.

Unfortunately, Wabbit's writing needs a lot of work even if the situation comedy like format of The Looney Tunes Show is thankfully gone. The humour is not witty or sharp enough, some amusing moments here and there but also too many stale gags, predictable and at times visually hackneyed slapstick, limp timing and dialogue that is more tired and awkward than witty. On the most part, one does miss the manic physical comedy and big expressions, while there is the trademark wacky energy evident it comes in spades rather than as a whole. Any attempts at depth seem forced and half baked, also often done in a seen-it-all-before way, and any darker parts and the writing for the enemies feel random in placement, jarringly out of place and underdeveloped. It has been said that Wabbit was trying to be more faithful to the original cartoons, but so far this viewer has personally not seen enough of it coming through.

Wabbit is in desperate need of more variety, with presently the stories feeling too repetitive and one-note (on top of being too short in length and erratically paced, more on the limp and padded side), and it really does need more of the Looney Tunes characters (bringing back Daffy and Elmer as foils or friends for Bugs would already make things better) to give the show more of a Looney Tunes feel, at the moment there is just not enough of the ingredients that make the classic cartoons so great. Character writing and development is also a problem, the Looney Tunes characters that have appeared so far may be there but do lack personality and are stripped of what made them so lovable in the first place. One of few exceptions is Wile, who does amuse and is one of the few rootable characters even when more snobbish than usual, but at the same time he is underutilised.

Bugs is too much of a straight man and is too gullible, considering that before he was the one tricking and fooling the other characters. Credit is due giving him a vulnerable and human side, which is appreciated, but it has gone to the extent that Bugs feels out of character. Yosemite Sam on top of being grotesquely animated is completely lacking in fire and humour, and is somewhat too underplayed. What will already make things better are things such as more of Wile, and bringing back other interesting and relatable characters such as Sylvester, Elmer whose chemistry with Bugs would bring some lovely variety and nostalgia and Daffy (one of Looney Tunes' best and funniest characters, as long as he isn't the moronic, insufferable jerk that he was in The Looney Tunes Show, but Wabbit presently is sorely lacking a strong character like him). Additional characters are just as bland, with Squeaks in particular being more irritating, one of those characters you seriously to shout shut up to, than endearing or funny. The bigfoot also is stupid and oafish but with little of the cuteness and the humour isn't strong enough to make him funny, instead he is another character who grates. As the situations are too familiar, the chemistry between the characters doesn't sparkle anywhere near enough and there are too few characters to root for Wabbit feels largely empty too.

Overall, not an awful show but a waste of potential. It has its moments, but needs more variety, more humour, more characters, more of the Looney Tunes energy and spirit and more...well...spark. Subjectively, it is just not clicking with me, sorry. 5/10 Bethany Cox