What's Up Doc?

For my money, the penultimate of Bugs Bunny's career.

Bugs tells his life story over the phone to the Disassociated Press (a clue for what we're in for.) We follow the trace of his career from dancing school, vaudeville, unemployment, a break from "big vaudeville star" Elmer Fudd (!), a twist in the act that's a hit with the audience and puts them in the big time.

And finally, Hollywood. The bit where they sing the title song does it for me. But even then, they still have a joke on him at the end. See it yourself.

Before Hollywood biographies centered on drug abuse and such things, "What's Up Doc?" portrayed Bugs Bunny telling his life story from childhood - "I knew I was different, and then it hit me: I was a rabbit in a human world." - up to his career in entertainment. However, it seems like there's a little less in this cartoon than the Looney Tunes cartoons usually showed. But I'd say that it's strength lies in its portrayal of the lack of employment in Hollywood (which I've heard is actually around 95%), and how it forces individuals into self-degrading work. I always get the feeling that whenever the Termite Terrace crowd made cartoons spoofing Tinseltown, they were probably basing the cartoons on their personal experiences. Maybe I can't prove that, but I just get that feeling.

So, it's not the greatest cartoon, but worth seeing. I don't know whether or not you're rooting for me, so now I have to go.

In this short, Bugs tells the story of his life from the day he was born right up until his discovery in Hollywood and subsequent stardom. It isn't really funny as Bugs doesn't have anyone to work with for most of the cartoon. There are a couple of scenes with Elmer Fudd but he doesn't do or say much. And the running joke with the chorus dancers in the tuxedos wasn't all that amusing. I was also a bit annoyed at the end because not only is it not funny but it isn't true.

I've seen better Bugs cartoons than this. Though I must say the title song is very cool (used in many of 'Rabbit/Duck season' cartoons with Bugs, Daffy and Elmer). It just seems weird using it without having Daffy anywhere in sight.

Robert McKimson is one of the "other" Warner Brothers directors, after the Big Four-Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng and Bob Clampett. While nowhere near as innovative, with work that varied sometimes wildly in quality, he was probably the most solid of the other directors and this was one of his best efforts and an excellent addition to the Bugs Bunny efforts. The scene in the park is marvelously done! Wonderful short that deserves to be seen. Most highly recommended.

While the cartoon feels rather short and the story on the standard side, it is a interesting, memorable and handsomely mounted Bugs Bunny cartoon. Nothing here is remarkably funny, but there are some effective scenes like the scene in the park and the repeat of "What's Up Doc?" The cartoon also begins and ends in a very cute fashion, and throughout there is handsome animation, lovely vaudeville-like music and excellent voices from Mel Blanc and Arthur Q.Bryan as Bugs and Elmer who make a great double act if I must say so. Bugs is great here, he's been better, but I like his somewhat subdued side here, and Elmer is fine.

Overall, memorable and interesting, not the best but a cartoon worth watching. 8/10 Bethany Cox