Hold the Lion, Please

This is a really funny early Bugs cartoon. He's in the jungle now, which is a fresh (and funny) change. The lion is not quite the perfect foil for Bugs, and the beginning is slow. However, the jokes are great. I've never seen a lion hunt like that! The old door sequence is back, or it may be its debut. The beginning is weird, but the hippo (voiced by Tex Avery! Surprise!) is funny. I think the start is too stretched-out. The ending is kind of a let-down. A good cartoon, good to see in print.

Mocked by the other animals for being too timid to be the real King of the Jungle, the lion sets out to hunt and kill a rabbit as part of proving himself. However when he picks bugs Bunny as his prey of choice, he isn't prepared for what a tricky wabbit Bugs can be.

Despite the fact that the cartoon takes too long to introduce bugs into the film, this is actually an enjoyable run of Bugs Bunny doing his usual tricky stuff. The range of jokes is as normal and altered to the situation and characters. Mostly it is pretty funny throughout, although the ending is a bit of a letdown as an poorly drawn (in both sense) character is introduced as the punchline.

Bugs is always good value for money and, although he does the same stuff every time, he is almost always funny. What he does need though, is a good foil to bounce off of. Here the lion doesn't quite fit the bill and is too weak and wishy-washy a character to suffice. His side of the film is a little weaker as a result although Bugs does cover well for it.

Overall this is a good cartoon that basically does what Bugs does all the time – be tricky and slippery. If you find that as funny as I do then you'll enjoy this film even if the lion will make you find of Elmer Fudd with a wistful look in your eye.

When a lion has to prove himself by hunting down a small, defenseless animal, don't you think he could have picked a better target than Bugs Bunny?

In "Hold the Lion, Please", the Lion of the title must lure Bugs out of hiding by bribing him ("Carrots are good for rabbits"), faking him out of position by dirt-swimming (spitting all over himself - hilarious!) and doing that old stand-by: standing on either side of a propped-up outside door each thinking they're safe from the other (Bugs even taunts the lion with the key!).

Then, the lion finally corners him, and.... But no, that would spoil the surprise.

Chuck again runs amuck and creates funny visual time and again, and there's even a surprise voice-over by fellow animation giant Tex Avery as a condescending hippo. Perfect compliment to Mel Blanc's voicework, including that of our man Bugs!

Ten stars for this "Lion". Hilarity from the animal kingdom!

Under Chuck Jones's directing and supervision, Bugs Bunny is tagged after a lion following the same theme as the earlier Elmer Fudd episodes. We're first introduced with a lion and his friends in the jungle featuring a monkey, a giraffe and a hippopotamus. What's attention grabbing is that each animal has a line, thus the voice acting is very substantial through Tex Avery and Tedd Pierce's teamwork with Mel Blanc.

The earlier model layouts for Bugs Bunny was unformed. Not just that, also the character layouts for the animals are 1930s' Disney level. The lion has a jaw like an ape. Some of its movements are taken from Goofy. Above all, even though Bugs Bunny is smaller than its actual size, the lion looks the same size as him. That size issue really distracts attention while he is attacking at Bugs, as we know that the lion is trying to prove he's not washed up from being the king of the jungle. It should have been drawn up at least a little brutal. Yet, what Chuck Jones offers is just Elmer Fudd in lion appearance.

Put the layouts aside, the story is so-so. It doesn't have any unique development and jokes at all. Storytelling sometimes gets very weak that more than a couple times, Bugs uses signboards. Something very unique but silly: Bugs Bunny's mum appears at end, "Mrs.Bugs Bunny". It all relies on Woody Woodpecker-type fast motion tricks. After all, a Bugs Bunny episode, only good for infants and children at age 6.

Chuck Jones directed this excellent cartoon in 1942, when he was still heavily influenced by both Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and it shows. It has some extremely good "gags" and dialog and has a wildness to it that Mr Jones would (sadly) avoid in his later cartoons. Because of this influence this cartoon remains one of Jones' cleverest and most inventive.

Jones' humor would become drier and more satirical in his 1950s cartoons and, of course, they are wonderful. But when he was under the Avery/Clampett influence some of those 1940s efforts were great, like this one.

Bugs Bunny had not quite yet reached his perfect design (which would occur the following year) but that is no detriment here simply because the action, words and story are strong. I was particularly pleased with the overall color scheme, which has a very pleasing pastel-like quality (especially if you see a good film print of it).

The dumb lion character is delightful and beautifully animated. I am at a loss to explain why others who have commented didn't care for this character. The humor conveyed by the character is quite sophisticated.

As others have mentioned Tex Avery provided one of the voices, that of the hippo, and he is terrific. Very, very amusing.

I cannot recommend this cartoon highly enough.