Les 1001 Contes de Bugs Bunny

Another one of the quick-fix movies by the Warner Bros. studio to make some fast money off the famed Looney Tunes characters. Old cartoons starring most all the major characters are held together by an unfunny new cartoon that has book salesman Bugs Bunny telling stories to Yosemite Sam's young brat of a son in a palace in the middle of the desert. Naturally there is also Daffy Duck trying to survive the harsh desert environment. It is tough to survive this harsh cut-and-paste mess. Watch the Cartoon Network instead. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I've been watching Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies bunch for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the 60's before so many of the cartoons were gutted due to concerns about violence, and before they were edited for time.

This vid, and the others in the series, makes use of all the old cartoons and splices them together in an effort to create some kind of common time line, and I supposed if you hadn't seen the originals it would be pretty slick, but for me it doesn't work very well. Hiccupy, if that's even remotely a word, is how I would describe it. Little modifications, some substantial cuts, and the overlying *effort* needed to fall into the new storyline takes away a lot of the magic for me.

But the cartoons are good, solid classics. Watch it for those.

While I do agree with the fact that this is not the best way to see these wonderful cartoons, there's no denying that for some this is the only way. Regular TV programming has fazed out Bugs Bunny cartoons. Great video compliations are out-of-print. And if you don't have cable TV, you're screwed.

It edits the original shorts with new linking material, which is not a new practice. Robert Youngson made a career out of this genre; his titles include "4 Clowns" and "Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20s". Also, the MGM That's Entertainment! series, which is up to three. Most critics tend to praise those titles, but condemn the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes films.

That is not fair. "1001 Rabbit Tales" is a very good movie on its' own terms. Supervised by the late, great Friz Freleng, the linking material is the best so far in this series. The "plot" involves Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as salesmen for Rambling House Publishing (a great in-joke that's just one of many). They go their separate ways and Bugs ends up being a storyteller for Yosemite Sam's son (this is where the old cartoons enter in)

Freleng selects some of the very best Looney Tunes shorts for this film. His selections include "One Froggy Evening", one of the greatest of all time and "Goldilocks and the Three Cats" (featuring Sylvester Jr.) and his editing is seamless this time round, unlike previous entries where it looked more obvious.

Those critics who feel obliged to hate a film like this can go back on the horse they rode in on. Even Maltin thought it was decent at 2 1/2 stars. This is wonderful entertainment and considering today's entertainment, timeless.

**** out of 4 stars

Although the idea of making films with Looney Tunes short films has already been used, this film is not behind the others, I think it's better, it has a great set of intelligent jokes, fun stories, interesting characters, among many other points positive experiences that will entertain children and adults. Highly recommend.

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are book salesmen.They go different ways to sell books and a lot of fun stuff happens to them.Bugs ends up in Sultan Yosemite Sam's palace, where he is forced to tell tales to Prince Abadaba.Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982) is directed by Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones and Robert McKimson.It has a compilation of classic Warner Bros. shorts.As voice artists you can hear Mel Blanc, who does the voice of Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig and so on.Arthur Q. Bryan is Elmer Fudd.June Foray (who is 94 years old today!) is Granny and some others.Shepard Menken is Old Storyteller.Lennie Weinrib is Abadaba.Bill Roberts is Michigan J. Frog.I had most fun watching this.As did my 7-year old cousins.It's hilarious when Daffy pretends to be the stuffed duck.Or Sylvester trying to catch the gigantic Tweety in the beanstalk tale.Not to forget Sylvester as the Pied Piper and Speedy Gonzales doing his thing.These Looney Tunes tales are great fun- for both kids and adults.