Acrobatty Bunny

In this Looney Tunes cartoon, Bugs wakes up in his hole and finds the circus has been built over it. And that a lion's cage is the one that's directly above him so he has to deal with that cage's inhabitant. Plenty of gags concerning how one gets out or in the cage, a cannonball, a trapeze swing, a scene from Pinocchio, an elephant and how one gets rid of one, a toy rodent, a hula dance, etc. Robert McKimson keeps things pretty funny throughout. Of course, Mel Blanc is quite the charmer as that wascally wabbit. I watched this short on the A Night in Casablanca DVD. Okay, I'm running out of things to say but since this is supposed to be ten lines for this to be submitted, I'll just now say that Acrobatty Bunny is worth a look.

Once again, Bugs Bunny sacred home is violated by careless people. This time the traveling circus put a lion's cage right over the rabbit's hole. So Bug's has to come out of the hole and face Nero (that's the name of the lion), which he does in his usual hilarious style. After a slow and rocky beginning to the cart, it keeps getting better and better and winds up being quite hilarious. Nero the lion turns out to be a pretty good foil for Bugs and that turns this short into a highly memorable one, if still shorn of a classic. This animated short can be found on Disk 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3.

My Grade: A-

Robert McKimson's 'Acrobatty Bunny' is one of the director's finest shorts. Although the circus-based setting may evoke hideous memories of McKimson's dreadful 'Big Top Bunny', 'Acrobatty Bunny' is in fact nowhere near as dull as that travesty. Pitting Bugs Bunny against a ferocious lion, 'Acrobatty Bunny' is fresh and funny from the outset, not to mention extremely attractive to look at. There's a classic scene in which Bugs takes a strangled elevator ride out of his hole only to emerge directly into the jaws of the lion. In a brilliant Disney parody, he hollers "Pinocchio" down the lion's throat! This brilliant opening is a sign of things to come. There are some expertly choreographed antics in and around the lion's cage to begin with, followed by a hilariously grotesque and irritating rendition of 'Laugh Clown Laugh' which, as a child, I used to impersonate regularly! All this culminates in a short acrobatic sequence which gives the cartoon its name. I've never been fond of the circus as a setting for cartoons and find it usually makes for a dull and predictable set of gags but 'Acrobatty Bunny' breaks from the mould and the result is an exhilaratingly funny short which stands amongst McKimson's best.

When the circus moves in to the area, all the banging above ground wakes Bugs up. However, when he comes up to the surface to complain he finds that a lion cage has been placed right on top of his burrow hole, complete with one hungry lion.

This short starts really badly and it put me on guard for some time in regards the quality of the overall product. The problem is the low grade animation; the people in the circus look blocky and Bugs himself is not drawn with as much care as he has been at times – here he looks very simplistic and lacking quality.

The comedy however works well despite the shaky start. Bugs does his usual stuff and the lion is capable for quite a few good laughs – better than I expected actually! The film raises a few laughs and I was glad that this film managed to have had more effort put into it's material than it had into it's animation.

Overall this cartoon is not classic Bugs but it is still funny enough to be worth watching despite the animation lacking the care and attention that it should have.

If you love Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes then you will love Acrobatty Bunny. While it starts off a little rocky, with some disappointingly blocky animation, the cartoon gets better and better, and the animation does as well so by halfway through it is much more colourful and solid. The music throughout is absolutely great, I loved the dialogue and the sight gags were both hilarious and awe-inspiring. What I also loved about Acrobatty Bunny was how quickly it went, it didn't feel rushed, but it skipped along with consummate ease. As for Bugs I had no problem with his performance whatsoever, he's still the funny, arrogant and charming rabbit I fell in love with when I was six years old. Mel Blanc does a stellar job with the vocals, so overall I don't think other than the rocky start that you will be disappointed. 9/10 Bethany Cox