Rabbit Hood

Bugs Bunny is in the King's Carrot Patch. He tries to steal a carrot which sets off an alarm. He is arrested by the Sheriff of Nottingham. He is saved by Little John, but Robin Hood fails to materialize. It is time and time again as the Sheriff gets tricked. Little John introduces Robin Hood for the last time, but Bugs has had enough. He starts berating Little John until Errol Flynn shows up playing Robin Hood.

This is a terrific Bugs Bunny cartoon. I like everything about Little John. The little difference is the last bit with Errol Flynn. It may be a problem for modern audiences who have never seen the man. Otherwise, this is a supreme Bugs cartoon.

This clever cartoon has Bugs Bunny playing both Robin Hood and the king, as he plots to steal the carrots from the Royal garden. A one-joke film, perhaps, but it does have as its crowning glory a snippet from the 1938 'Adventures of Robin Hood'.

Is it any good? Most of the early Bugs Bunny films (of which this is one) were sharp - relying on the genius of Mel Blanc and Chuck Jones to deliver the laughs and the situations their audience were looking for. 'Rabbit Hood' is no exception. Bugs is at his usual foolish and arrogant best, with his spluttering catchphrases and his withering looks at the hapless people he cons (the Sheriff of Nottingham, of course, here).

Bugs Bunny is caught stealing carrots from the King's carrot patch by the Sheriff of Nottingham. Classic short directed by Chuck Jones with a story by Michael Maltese. This one's lots of fun. Beautifully animated with well-drawn character and backgrounds. The lovely Technicolor is always a plus. Great voice work the incomparable Mel Blanc as Bugs, the Sheriff, and the dimwitted Little John who has a funny recurring bit. Rousing score from Carl W. Stalling. Lots of great gags and lines. Two of my favorites are the real estate scam and the classic knighting gag. The Errol Flynn cameo at the end (via footage from a certain movie that should be too obvious for me to bother naming) always brings a smile to my face.

I very much enjoyed this Bugs Bunny cartoon for the following reasons: 1. The way they played on the Robin Hood + Little John + Sheriff of Nottingham stories. 2. Bugs Bunny's character and how he reacts to the cartoon's situations, here he is a very intelligent bunny. 3. The humour, it is often very witty and quite unexpected. When it is slapsticky and predictable, though, it is still pretty well pulled off. 4. The background animation, very lovely colours and animation style. 5. The cameo appearance of a famous actor at the end, obviously taken from a film.

If there was anything that I felt was imperfect about the cartoon, it was the fact that it was slightly slapsticky at points (there is one dragged out slapstick bit near the end which the makers could have cut a little).

In this cartoon, Bugs Bunny has unknowingly arrived at the castle grounds of the King in Robin Hood's time and has picked a carrot from the King's Carrot Patch. Unfortunately, the King has a strict policy for whoever steals his carrots and it seems to be the rack for Bugs Bunny if he does not manage to escape...

I recommend this cartoon to anyone who likes Bugs Bunny and to anyone who likes a good enough mixture of slapstick and witty humour in a Looney Tunes cartoon. Enjoy, "Rabbit Hood"! :-) 8 and a half out of ten.

P.S Did anyone else notice that the tune for the opening credits was the same one they used for "Duck Amuck" in about 4 years time?

In "Rabbit Hood", Bugs Bunny makes mincemeat of a guard after trying to steal some of Prince John's royal carrots while Little John idiotically claims that Robin Hood is coming. Knowing that this is Bugs Bunny, you can probably guess what sorts of tricks he has up his sleeve (or wherever he keeps them).

Cartoons like this just go to show that the creators really reached their apex in the late '40s and early '50s. I learned from "Bugs Bunny Superstar" that Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, and that whole crowd liked to act out their cartoons during lunch breaks. I can imagine how much fun they must have had acting this one out! All in all, a great cartoon. It shows that entertainment just needs to be clever.