Hare Ribbin'

Some kind of dog: a combination French Poodle and Russian Hound, is out looking for a rabbit. Immediately, we see he is another dumb foil for Bugs Bunny. It seems Bugs always comes across the dumbest characters, which is a shame because few animated animals ever match wits with the clever BB. This dog is really stupid. After sniffing Bugs up and down his body, the only thing he knows is that Bugs has "B.O!" Thanks, we needed to know that!

After two minutes the chase scene begins as the dumb pooch finally reaches that IS a rabbit. In one of the more bizarre sequences I've seen in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bugs dives underwater, hops away (on the sand at the bottom of the lake) and then is seen sitting there with a blonde wig, a mermaid's tale and playing a harp and singing. He's in drag, with lipstick, long lashes and the whole bit. Of course, the stupid dog thinks the "woman" is super hot.

Bugs continues to do what he does best - tease this stupid idiot. All of it, including Bugs pretending to be a French waiter, is done underwater. How are these two animals breathing? I guess the writers didn't bother with that detail. They didn't bother with a lot of humor, either, or it's just too sappy for today's crowd. I love Bugs Bunny but you can't win them all. This was not one of his best.

So the dog was supposed to have a Russian accent?! I never realized that; I had always thought that he sounded kind of effeminate - maybe he's supposed to be a Russian woman. But the Soviet Union was our ally during WWII, so I can't really tell what it's supposed to mean that he sounds Russki. As for the aspect that they can breathe underwater...well, this is a cartoon, so nothing has to make sense. The point is for Bugs Bunny to be irreverent, even dressing up as a woman (interesting that they were able to get that into a cartoon back then). It's pretty funny, but still sort of brain-twisting.

Yeah, maybe that shouldn't have happened to a dog.

Bugs Bunny has always been one of animation's best, funniest, most interesting and most iconic characters. Bob Clampett is perhaps not as famous as the likes of Chuck Jones, Fritz Freleng or Tex Avery, but he was a very interesting and very good animation director in his own right with a quite unique visual style.

'Hare Ribbin', to be honest, is not one of the best from either. It's interesting, it's amusing and it's very well made, but in the case of both Bugs and Clampett 'Hare Ribbin' is a contender for their strangest, and the weirdness did get in the way at times.

There is definitely plenty to like. Clampett's visual style is immediately distinctive and is not just beautifully rendered but the imagination and wonderful exaggeration put into it makes it eye-popping. The colours are vibrant, the backgrounds very meticulous in detail and the drawing fluid and very smooth.

Carl Stalling never disappoints and one of my favourite composers in cartoon history, 'Hare Ribbin' does nothing to change that perception. Anybody expecting luscious orchestration, characterful rhythms, clever use of instrumentation and sounds and the ability to elevate gags to a greater level rather than just adding to it will find all of those aplenty.

Regarding the writing, it does have freshness and wit, more so from Bugs than with the Russian dog. Just don't look for logic and sense, they're cast to the wind here, not that you should expect that in cartoons but they are replaced by a bizarre weirdness that doesn't always feel right. Bugs' mermaid and French waiter disguises are especially a lot of fun though.

As for the darker and more violent ending for a Looney Tunes cartoon, it is definitely not a bad thing to take risks (personally applaud risk-taking when done right, and tend to appreciate the effort if it doesn't quite come off, much less so if it badly fails at it), but the ending does feel like a cop out and is at odds with the rest of the cartoon.

No complaints can be made with Bugs, he's still as funny and smartly likable as ever. Was less keen on the Russian dog, who is not one of our favourite rabbit's best foils, a bit dull and more dumb than funny. Mel Blanc does characteristically wonderfully as Bugs, Sam Wolfe however didn't do much for me due to an inconsistent accent that never seemed sure what it was meant to be.

Overall, well-made and amusing but has a strangeness that doesn't quite work. 7/10 Bethany Cox

It's pretty typical cartoon mayhem, but a couple of scenes toward the end push the limits a bit, and had to be re-shot for theatrical release. The original director's cut showed Bugs Bunny in the middle of a big sandwich and the dog bites into it, looking like the rabbit was bitten in half. In the final cut, a brief scene was added showing Bugs Bunny pushing his legs up in the sandwich so that when the dog bites into the bread, we know the rabbit wasn't injured.

The most violent moment is when the dog wishes he was dead and the dog dies from being shot. The original director's cut showed Bugs Bunny shooting him right in the mouth. The final cut had the rabbit give the gun to the dog and shoot himself in the head. Both scenes would be too violent for children, and the gun scene is often removed completely when shown on TV.

In addition, Bugs Bunny appears as a rather provocative mermaid, and even uses his inflatable floating device as breasts, although nothing too explicit or sexual is seen. Probably the most suggestive part is when the dog races toward the mermaid as a very phallic-looking torpedo.

Most of this makes no sense, but since it's an animated cartoon with talking rabbits and dogs, who cares. Bugs, in his usual commanding way, sets up an attack on a very stupid dog. It's the usual pratfalls and careless actions. Some of this was done earlier in another film featuring the same two characters. The underwater scenes defy physics. For instance, how can the dog drool when he is under water. See it. It's pretty interesting.