Tartaruga Vence o Coelho

Although several Warner Brothers directors had a significant hand in the development of Bugs, the one most responsible for setting his personality as the rabbit we know and love (excepting maybe Daffy, Elmer and Yosemite Sam-they don't seem to care for Bugs much) was Tex Avery. This short was an early glimpse of the wascally wabbit as we know him today. Interestingly enough, Avery was responsible for creating Daffy and also the character who evolved into Elmer Fudd (Egghead), so Avery is very much a critical figure for two of the major studios as far as short animation goes. That's why I consider Tex Avery to be the best director of animated shorts and as seminal in their develoment as Walt Disney was to the animated feature film. Well worth seeing. Most recommended.

After Bugs' disastrous second outing, "Elmer's Pet Rabbit," to a point it's nice to see him back with his creative father Tex Avery. However, Tex seems to have forgotten what he did in his first Bugs cartoon to make him successful.

In this cartoon, which (and hopefully this isn't spoiling the should-be-obvious plot to anyone) concerns Bugs racing against the slow yet shifty Cecil Turtle, Bugs has changed roles. He is no longer the heckler but the heckled, constantly being outwitted by Cecil at every turn.

Perhaps Avery likes the idea of the littler, thought-to-be weaker guy being the wiseacre, regardless of the situation. Sadly, it just doesn't work here as far as sheer character. Of course the gags are hilarious, but Cecil is definitely and knowingly rotten. He makes asides to the camera affirming his cockiness, something Bugs didn't do in "A Wild Hare." In that film, the prey was heckling the hunter for private humiliation, whereas in this one the "prey" is confiding in the audience that he's humiliating his opponent for their benefit. It comes off as a little seedy, so one starts to even root for Bugs to win (even though his arrogance caused the situation in the first place).

But at this point Avery, like Chuck Jones before him, is still getting to know his new character and is still figuring out that the jokes work best when Bugs is pulling them on others. Both Tex and Bugs fortunately succeed soon in the future.

Bugs Bunny is incensed after seeing the name of the cartoon. There's no was a small slow turtle can beat his wiry fast rabbit legs and he aims to prove it. Enter Cecil Turtle, in the first of three races he'd have with Bugs. The short is funny and it's nice seeing Bugs being the fall guy once in a while. I found it very humorous, yet I still maintain that "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" has the edge over this cartoon, as slight as that edge may be. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Chuck Jones via old interviews. If that's not enough it also features a SECOND commentary by Micheal Barrier.

My Grade: A

Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Bugs challenges Cecil Turtle to a race and you just know who is going to win. This classic film from Tex Avery contains plenty of nice action and some great jokes, although in a way I find it rather hard to cheer for anyone from either side since both are cheating throughout the film. Perhaps that's just my brain over thinking things but this is still a very entertaining and very funny film. There are many great gags but the best are Bugs when he starts to go mad wondering how Cecil keeps passing him up. The final gag is also a winner. As good as this short is I think its sequel TORTOISE WINS BY A HARE is even better.

Aesop's fable gets brought to life in the first pairing of Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle. I guess that you could say that Bugs Bunny has a tendency to let his ego get in the way of everything, especially since Cecil has friends in high - and low - places. A previous reviewer said that Tex Avery helped bring Bugs to his fullest potential here. I don't know whether I fully agree with that, but there's no doubt that Avery (or, as Bugs pronounces it: a-vary) had some neat ideas.

Anyway, the title explains how it ends. Some scenes in "Tortoise Beats Hare" were shown in the sequel "Tortoise Wins by a Hare". I suppose that no matter what happens, that'll never be all, folks. At least not for the Looney Tunes.