To Hare Is Human

Sort of a sequel to "Operation: Rabbit", Chuck Jones's "To Hare Is Human" once again has an eloquent Wile E. Coyote trying to trap Bugs Bunny. Needless to say, Bugs always avoids harm, and WEC gets harmed in the process. But even more than that is how this cartoon represents what the baby boom generation grew up with. Bugs vacuums his rabbit hole with his ears tied up like a 1950s housewife, and he even owns a womb chair! Imagine that: Bugs Bunny as Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore's character on "The Dick Van Dyke Show")! Not to mention that the Univac sounds like a 1950s product, and looks like an early computer.

But maybe I'm reading too far into the cartoon. It was probably intended as pure entertainment, and it entertains. Worth seeing.

This is one of the three (I think) cartoons in which our buddy, Wile E. Coyote, goes after Bugs Bunny instead of the Road Runner. Either way, you know it's going to be fun to watch. Audio-wise, however, I can never put this proper-Old English Gentleman voice and dialog together with Wile. It just doesn't match.

As in one of the other ones I watched, Wile hands Bugs his card. This one is a little fancier and reads, "Wile E. Coyote - Genius; Have Brain, Will Travel. (For those too young, a popular western TV show at the time was called "Have Gun, Will Travel.")

Another sign of the cartoon date is the "Univac" in Wile's cave. That big machine is actually a computer and they were giant things that only rich corporations could afford. The days of personal computers were still a few decades away.

I enjoyed Bugs' lair in this cartoon, and is remedies for getting rid of the coyote, he can he showed up, which he did several times, of course. Wile might have had all the latest technology but we know which of the two characters had the real brains.

This is one of the shorts pitting Wile E. Coyote (Super Genius) against Bugs. In these, the old fellow talks, whereas, with the Road Runner, he's silent. Bugs is quite manic here. Not as off the wall as in Rabbit's Feat, but close. Best bits are Bugs bopping to "Sweet Georgia Brown" and the computer gags at the end. Well worth watching. Most recommended.

Chuck Jones's 'To Hare is Human' is an expansion on 'Operation: Rabbit', a cartoon that pitted Bugs Bunny against a vocal version of Wile E. Coyote. I was never fond of 'Operation: Rabbit', partly because I wasn't keen on a talking version of the Coyote, but since this version of the character already existed, there was no harm in making a sequel. As it transpire, 'To Hare is Human' is actually a very funny short. By this point, the Road Runner series was well established and Jones had more to lose by pushing forward with this alternative version of the Coyote but, happily, it pays off this time round. Michael Maltese's script is a great improvement on 'Operation: Rabbit', beginning with a very clever sequence in which the Coyote deconstructs what we expect of Bugs's usual adversaries. This witty sequence segues into a series of often hilarious, brilliantly executed gags, all of which are tied together by scenes in which the Coyote consults a huge machine as to how he should approach catching Bugs. The ending is a predictable variation on the climax to several Road Runner cartoons but this disappointing finale is not enough to diminish the quality of the rest of the film. While there will always be a part of me that wishes Jones had never given the Coyote a voice, 'To Hare is Human' is the best argument against this viewpoint.

As another reviewer mentioned, "To Hare is Human" is a curious title. We have two characters, and neither of them is human. I must have seen Operation Rabbit at least a hundred times, over the years. I don't remember ever seeing To Hare is Human, or even being aware that was more than one cartoon with Bugs Bunny and the Coyote together. That's not hard to understand. The latter cartoon is part of a Bugs Bunny compilation DVD. It's definitely a curio, but not nearly on par with Operation Rabbit. Very routine hijinks, ultimately underwhelming. The beginning of the cartoon features what might have been some kind of goof. The Coyote introduces himself to Bugs Bunny, almost identically to the scene in Operation Rabbit. The first cartoon came four years earlier, but these two characters had already met. Overall, a mediocre cartoon. Nothing happens that you're likely to remember for longer than a minute.