Rabbit's Kin

Bugs Bunny rescues an adorable little rabbit named Shorty from the clutches of Pete Puma. Bugs shows Shorty how to deal with the dimwitted feline. The bad: Shorty's super speed chipmunk voice is very annoying and he seems to have no purpose other than looking cute. The story is also pretty thin and relies heavily on a repeated joke (but a funny one). The good: Pete Puma is comedy gold. Stan Freberg provides the voice and does a great job. I was in stitches every time Pete opened his mouth. The gags are pretty funny, too, with Bugs putting the poor puma through the wringer so bad you actually start to root for him to win in the end. The recurring gag of "how many lumps do you want" never got old to me but others may disagree. Not one of the best Bugs shorts but a fun one.

Shorty drops into Bugs Bunny's hole. She is hysterical and describes a monster chasing her. Bugs immediately realizes that it is Pete Puma and takes matters into his hands.

Shorty sounds like one of the chipmunks although I can actually understand the cartoon Chipmunks. It is a weakness in the character rather than a strength. As for Pete Puma, he looks more like a young male lion. It is the mouth. The design should look more catlike. This is Bugs and he is having fun playing tricks on his opponent. The lumps gag is the best and it has a great callback. Despite my issues with the creature designs, this is solid work from Bugs.

. . . on the Images from the 1900's Channel which features a young boy called "Lumpy." RABBIT'S KIN immediately put me in mind of this individual. The would-be large cat hunter in the spotlight here certainly deserves that sort of sobriquet. "Concussed," "Bumpy" and "Numb-Skulled" are other possible aliases for this totally inept feline. In the wild, members of the cat family seldom are confounded for very long by avians or rodents. Cats generally are so sure of themselves that they like to waste time "playing" with their food, whether it's a baby bird or new-born rabbit. As one species of fliers after another succumbs toward world-wide extinction due to the predations of the soft-pawed set, many viewers will be thrilled to see the stomping shoe on the other foot during RABBIT'S KIN.

Rabbit's Kin is an amusing if unexceptional Bugs Bunny cartoon. The storyline is mediocre mostly, Shorty is cute but he does have an irritating voice as well and the pacing was a little too quick. That said, it is amusing, with some amusing sight gags like Pete Pumas's semi-dance and some razor sharp dialogue. The animation is vibrant and colourful, and the character designs are excellent, and the music is lovely to the ears. Shorty aside, the characters are fine. Bugs is great here, a little underplayed compared to other times I have seen him, but Mel Blanc voices him marvellously. My favourite character though was Pete, he was absolutely hilarious and quite likable, with a scream/howl that you just love to imitate with a brilliant vocal performance from Stan Freberg. Overall, not absolutely superb, but definitely worth the watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Rabbit's Kin (1952)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

The dimwitted Pete Puma (a lion) chases a baby rabbit into a hole not knowing that Bugs Bunny lives there. Of course Bugs has a few tricks up his sleeve to teach the dumb lion. This is yet another classic entry in the series that manages to be very funny even though I can't stand one of the characters. The film's biggest weakness to me is the young rabbit who I just find too annoying to really be entertained by him. Outside of that this short offers up many laughs and a lot of the credit has to go to the Puma character. The dumbness of this character is top notch and the running joke involving lumps are priceless. The ending with Puma giving himself lumps is hysterical as are many of the teaching methods of Bugs.