French Rarebit

Bugs, hiding inside a crate of carrots, winds up on the streets of Paris when the crate falls off the truck. He then meanders down the street and is spotted by competing chefs. They both think the rabbit is what they need to complete their menus. The colors in here are magnificent as they make Paris look really colorful.

Our bunny hero, as he usually does, makes fools of his opponents in a variety of ways that makes them look really stupid. In this case, one of the chefs is a little too stupid for humor. Although there were a handful of funny lines at the expense of the French stereotypes at the time, this really wasn't one of the better Bugs Bunny efforts.

French Rarebit (1951)

** (out of 4)

Bugs Bunny finds himself in Paris, walking down a street when rival chefs start fighting over which one will have Bugs on their menu that night. Soon Bugs joins the fighting in order to make both of them look like fools. This was never one of my favorite Bugs shorts and I'd probably say this is one of the least entertaining over all. There's some nice imagination and good animation but outside of that this thing is pretty lifeless. You expect a lot more in terms of laughs but there's not a single one here, which is rather shocking. Another problem are the two chefs and how bland and boring they are. Not once did they make me laugh and they even manage to bring Bugs down to their unfunny level.

I do agree that this is not one of Bug's better efforts, but it is an amusing little cartoon. What doesn't make it as good is that the first two minutes or so is a tad slow and unfunny, but once the action moves to the kitchen it is then when it gets quite amusing. There are a number of good things, particularly the art work, as the Parisian backgrounds are beautiful to look at. The music is great, and the sight gags in the latter half range from pretty good to very good indeed. Bugs himself is great, and the two chefs are not too bad either, personally it would have been better with just one chef but oh well. Finally, Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations are stellar as always. Overall, slow to start with, but it is really quite amusing once it kicks off. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Bugs arrives in Paris via a delivery truck carrying carrots from the US. As he's walking down the street, he catches the attention of not one but two French chefs who want to cook him for dinner. The rest of the cartoon has the two rival chefs trying to see who gets Bugs, all the while Bugs is easily outsmarting them both. It's a perfectly enjoyable cartoon but, as others have said, not one of Bugs' best. The gags are amusing but nothing really hilarious. The voice work from Mel Blanc and Tedd Pierce (who also wrote the story) is great. The music is energetic and fun. I love the animation in this one. The colors are lush and bright. The characters are well-drawn and the backgrounds are quite detailed, which wasn't always the case for a Looney Tunes short.

For whatever reason, (probably that I saw this cartoon 6 billion times on TV when I was a kid) this one has always stuck with me. The music stand out for me too.

When Bugs is 'kneading" the two Chefs—that "urmf! oof! arf!" sound Bugs makes has cracked me up for almost fifty years!

I also love the characterizations of the two chefs: their outrageous, over-the-top accents of the Chefs and just their whole look—particularly with rabbit teeth.

I admit, there's not much to the script. Perhaps it stands out for the never-before-seen characters...