Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers

This was a hilarious and excellent parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This cartoon used classic routines from old Bugs Bunny cartoons, Elmer Fudd positioned outside the rabbit hole, Yosemite Sam stepping over the line and the cliff, and of course the old classic 'Rabbit season, Duck season' routine with Daffy Duck. It was genius to make the pod versions badly drawn on purpose. You got to love it.

I saw this cartoon on Nickelodeon back in 1996 and for many years thought I'd dreamed it up...before rediscovering it on the Boomerang channel last year. At least now I have it archived on good old VHS tape so I can prove its existence. Not only does this cartoon poke fun at the limited animation popular at the time, but it also pokes fun at *itself* and its Warner Bros predecessors. The fact that the folks at the studio didn't take their formula for success so seriously that they thought it was above parody (ha! Like anything is "above parody"!) is a wonderful breath of fresh air.

"Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers" is a funny parody of "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers." I've only seen the classic 1956 version of the latter, but that didn't keep me from enjoying this Looney mini-movie.

Like the film it parodies, "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers" is about a guy against alien copycats. In both films, the main character (in this case, Bugs Bunny) knows that his life is relatively routine (outsmart Elmer Fudd, cross Yosemite Sam, etc.) But one day, strange pods pop up out of nowhere, and the next day the same people have different attitudes; paler, but friendlier (and in this case, animated differently.) In a thrilling and slightly creepy climax, Bugs has to fight off his copy and bring back his original friends.

Bugs has his great one-liners, ("There's one for Ripley's...") but my favorite part is how extravagantly animated the Daffy replacement is. At one point, he's as jerky as Rocky and Bullwinkle, and the next minute his mouth is moving too smoothly for comfort.

Hey "oscaralbert --any words you don't understand are probably Yiddish! Which "nudnik" definitely is! It means an annoying person, someone who persistently bothers you, with questions and such. So the cartoon appears to be a swipe at someone or something they found annoying.

Weak parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Call me a stick in the mud but the newer Looney Tunes cartoons stink to high heaven. By "newer," I of course mean those made decades after the originals without the creative genius and talent of the people involved in making those classics. I have yet to see one of these cartoons that made me laugh or feel anything other than a longing for the older shorts. This is made worse here by the regurgitation of gags from the old cartoons. The characters (Bugs, Elmer, Daffy, Yosemite Sam) all feel like impersonations of their former selves. The animation is unimpressive and generic. The voicework from Jeff Bergman is passable but, again, feels like impersonations rather than the real thing. The new music is dreadful.

This is a tired, forgettable short. It lacks the humor, intelligence, and charm of the classic Looney Tunes. I do believe the people who made this were fans of the originals. I want to be positive because of that but I can't. Before you accuse me of not giving any new stuff a chance, let me point out something. At the same time this waste was being produced, Tiny Toon Adventures was on TV. That series was funny and had more in common with what made the classic cartoons work than this lame imitation. This is a boring, lifeless cartoon that spends so much effort on imitation that it misses the point of Looney Tunes entirely.