Hyde and Hare

With a likable animation style that happens to crop up in a few good Looney Tunes cartoons, Hyde and Hare is, for myself, one of the better episodes. What I like about the cartoon is that it combines the traditional wild, slapstick WB themes and the rarer Disney-type themes that can run in Looney Tunes.

Based on Jekyll and Hyde, Bugs Bunny lives contentedly in a park, every day looking forward to meet the man who feeds him. One day, when Bugs goes up to retrieve a carrot from the man, he decides that he would like to just live with him and be done with it. The man seems to be very gentle, kind and quite delicate and takes to the (talking) rabbit, bringing him to his house. We later find out that the man is a doctor and has an evil potion that can temperamentally turn him into a monster. Cartoon confusions commence...

Expect a traditional Looney Tunes ending, as the first half is the Disney-type stuff. It is not all sweet and fluffy, but it is no big issue.

I recommend this episode to people who like "turning worms" Looney Tunes episodes, to people who like Bugs Bunny (he is very good in this episode) and to people who have a vague idea (or a big idea!) of the Jekyll and Hyde story. Enjoy "Hyde and Hare"! :-)

Growing up a fan of the classic horror movie monsters, I always enjoyed seeing the Looney Tunes shorts with a horror theme. Whether it was Frankenstein or Dracula or a witch or whatever, it was something I got a kick out of (and still do, really). Here we have a kindly old doctor bringing Bugs home to be his new pet, an arrangement Bugs is surprisingly happy with. The doctor turns out to be Dr. Jekyll, who drinks a potion and turns into the horrible Mr. Hyde. What follows is Bugs trying to escape the monstrous Hyde, while also protecting Jekyll because he doesn't realize they are one and the same. The animation is beautiful. Love the colors and the backgrounds are very nice. Excellent voice work from Mel Blanc. Carl Stalling's music is energetic and fun. It's a funny cartoon with a cool ending and one of my favorite bits of random business in any Bugs short: Bugs doing a bizarre Liberace impression ("I wish my brother George was here.").

"It's shameful; but it's a living," shrugs Bugs before he goes into his "timid little rabbit routine" so he can get his daily carrot from his "benefactor" at the park. Bugs plays it to the hilt, jumping into the man's arms and suggesting he adopt him as his pet and could feed him in bed every time. The quiet, unassuming little man is thrilled and carries Bugs to his home. The shock is that the man is "Dr. Jekyll!" It turns out both Bugs and "the doc" are not what they seem! This, then, was a two-joke cartoon the first part on the nice old man, the second on Bugs.

I enjoyed the funny bits with Bugs imitating Liberace and then Dr. Jekyll's quick transformations back and forth to Mr. Hyde. That was not overdone, only went for a couple of minutes and was entertaining.

The ending was the only weak part, too predictable and not funny. I still liked this cartoon, which was included in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 DVD.

On this day of Halloween, I thought I'd watch this Bugs Bunny cartoon in which he encounters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll is the timid man who often feeds Bugs carrots when he attends the local park. The bunny stops doing his cute routine to propose he take him as a pet, which Jekyll obliges. At his residence, he reluctantly takes a potion and...well, you can guess from there if you're familiar with the story. Pretty amusing with the ending quite the topper though perhaps not as hilarious as one hopes it would be. It's still entertaining enough and the transformation designs are fascinating to watch. Happy Halloween, everybody!

Everyday, Bugs Bunny does the timid little rabbit routine to get a carrot from the kindly Dr. Jekyll. He jumps into the doctor's arms and gets himself adopted. In the doctor's laboratory, he drinks his formula and turns into the violent Mr. Hyde. Bugs is confused with the ever-changing personality.

This is Bugs Bunny paired with the classic literary character. I guess that there was no copyright issue back in the day. I do wonder if Bugs should catch on sooner. I do like that we do not see him drinking the formula since that leads to a fun reveal at the end. This is a great Bugs Bunny cartoon.