American Rabbit

Robert "Rob" Rabbit (Barry Gordon) is born in a small town and grows up showing an aptitude for sports and piano. When Rob miraculously saves his parents from a falling bolder by transforming into a star-spangled superhero, a wise mentor (Hal Smith) appears to tell him he is inheritor of the legacy of the American Rabbit and is destined to become a great hero. Now in possession of this great power Rob sets off into the world and heads to San Francisco where he finds a job as a piano player for the rock and roll club the Panda-Monium owned by Teddy Panda (Bob Arbogast). However a gang of Jackal bikers demanding protection money trash the club after teddy's refusal to pay. With no way to rebuild the Panda-Monium, Teddy, Rob, and the rest of the Panda-Monium staff decide to take the house band The White Brothers on tour of the United States to raise funds to rebuild while the Jackals' crime boss Vultor (Ken Mars) plots against them.

American Rabbit is based upon illustrations by Stewart Moskowitz that became popular throughout the 70s and 80s on posters and greeting cards. Moskowitz' illustrations were particularly popular in Japan which inspired Japanese investors to finance a co-production between Toei Animation and Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Films. There was no story behind any of Moskowtz' illustrations, so writer Norman Lenzer was tasked with building a story around Moskowitz' characters and building a narrative incorporating them. The movie was distributed by the short-lived Clubhouse Pictures label of Atlantic Records' also short-lived theatrical venture Atlantic Releasing where it opened far outside the top 10 in February of 1986 alongside other Clubhouse releases like Adventures of Mark Twain and a re-issue of Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! Which had almost twice the gross of American Rabbit. The film has mostly fallen into obscurity these days with the only major point of public interest being in its relation to a certain internet celebrity whom I'll not name. The movie isn't terribly made, but it also doesn't feel like a movie.

American Rabbit makes it pretty obvious from the beginning it takes great inspiration from Superman. With Rob Rabbit's alliterative name, Rob wearing glasses while American Rabbit doesn't, it's pretty much Superman in all but costume and species (and position I guess since he's a piano player and not a reporter). As far as a setup for children's entertainment it's fine, but everything from the villains to the very episodic structure of the movie feels like you're binging a TV show rather than a film. The overall structure of the movie goes like this: Rob Rabbit and the Panda-Monium staff go somewhere, stumble into a trap by Vultor and the Jackals, Rob does his Clark Kent style disappearing act to become American Rabbit to save the day, Vultor curses American Rabbit, repeat. That structure works fine for a 22 minute cartoon on Saturday Morning TV, but when you're watching a movie that goes through that structure about 3 times it feels inescapable to compare this to a children's cartoon on TV (Save for the animation which is a bit more fluid and polished but not theatrical). For a movie based on greeting cards with no real backstory it's better than something like the DiC season of Care Bears, The Get Along Gang, or Shirt Tales which were also based on greeting card characters, but if compared to The Care Bears Movie, despite its questionable internal logic, had a more cinematic structure (relatively speaking) and more atmosphere. There are the odd moments of brazen ridiculousness that lend themselves to laughter like the third encounter where Vultor concocts an evil plan involving chocolate (don't ask, it won't make sense) and we get some lines like "The road to power is paved with chocolate" or "First chocolate and then...THE WORLD!" that lend themselves to unintended hilarity, but for the most part the movie feels like one of those cartoons that would take up space between viewings of Thundercats and He-Man.

The Adventures of the American Rabbit isn't awful or poorly made, but there's nothing about it that feels like it belongs on a cinema screen. It's not ironic enough to be taken as parody and it's not smart enough to be taken in earnest. It's just a very middle of the road product. It isn't boring and there are moments that are kind of amusing like Lorenzo Music's supporting presence as Ping Pong the gorilla or Vultor's over the top declarations of villainy they're just moments. It's better than some greeting card adaptations, but that's really all you can give it.

I remember seeing this as a kid in 1986 (at that time I didn't know what the cold war was.) But I liked it. what I remember most was the music, (especially when Rob the Bunny would transform into a bunny with roller skates and look like the American flag.) regardless of the message, it was a cute movie 3 stars

Have you ever seen a movie that played out like a game of mad libs with its basic concept? That is exactly what The Adventures of the American Rabbit feels like. Based on the poster art character of the same name by Stewart Moskowitz, this 1986 kids flick about a rabbit with Americanized superpowers plays out about as well as a story with no sense of direction. What sounds like a fun story of Rob the rabbit being informed of his incredible abilities and using it against forces of evil is just not engaging in the slightest.

In his own review for the Los Angeles Times, animation historian Charles Solomon said, "Both the writing and the animation in The Adventures of the American Rabbit are so inept that the viewer expects the governor to interrupt the film and declare the theater a disaster area!" While I wouldn't go that far, there is so little to gain from this feature due to how all over the place it is. One minute, Rob will be needing a job as a pianist, then he and other animals will be making a peace rally against a motorcyclist gang of jackals, then Rob and the music group he's with will be on the road searching for the right gig, then the villain will come in and threaten destruction against New York City, blah blah blah. Nothing in this film makes a lick of sense and the film hardly gives us a reason to care for the characters. It's sad when the best character in the movie is a gorilla named Ping Pong due to being the most consistent in his good moral values and the fact that he is voiced by Lorenzo Music. Most of the voice acting is fine for what it is, but the voice of the villain is so generic it's not even funny.

I guess if there's anything to take away from this film, at least the soundtrack is kinda catchy. The occasional rock music courtesy of Mark Colman and Howard Kaplan of Leech and Eddie fame is lively enough to bob your head up and down to, and the occasional flashy animated effects are cool to watch. Even beyond that, the animation direction is too stale and stilted to engage much momentum in. The character designs are cute enough on their own and do showcase a lot of variety in Moskowitz's style. Perhaps something more stylized would have helped, but the actual art direction feels too stale and safe to get much interest out of. It's interesting that Toei Animation was behind this film given the character's then huge popularity in Japan, because their finest work will not be found here at all. That said, I do think it's cool that they simultaneously produced English and Japanese dubs for the film at the time of its production, hence the immense collaboration between two different countries.

So unless you're a little kid or a fan of Moksowitz's work, American Rabbit isn't really worth recommending. It's harmless as far as family adventure films go, but there's not much momentum to gain from it in the long run. I actually thought I was going to be in for a hilarious 4th of July treat, but then again this film originally released in February, so I was surely mistaken. Oh well, at least we now know what inspired Chris Chan before Sonic came around (no, I'm not making that up).

Crude, uninspired cartoon involving a superhero rabbit's adventures (named, appropriately enough, the American Rabbit) who is forced to confront a villainous jackal's framework. The American Rabbit's Adventures are strictly for the children, although it seems entirely possible that even here they will find little to embrace. The animation style is certainly subpar, which by contrast makes even the fastest straight-to-video release of Disney look amazing. The voice work is passable, but the dialog is atrocious; the action seems to pause every 15 minutes like clockwork, or so as an important message is doled out (i.e. winning is not all). And let's not even get into the parody of the outfit of the American Rabbit, which is basically an American flag sponsored by roller skates (maybe the getup be more than ' 80s?)

I've seen Bobsheaux (a reviewer on YouTube) do a riffing video and it was really funny.The Adventures of American Rabbit is kind of like a "so bad that it's good" movie. What I mean is that you should get all your friends, family, and their friends, sit down with some snacks, and just riff the heck out of it. But on a serious note, this movie is ripping off Superman's theme, Captain America's design (only a little), and even the Star Wars theme and I'm surprised that no one who watched it even noticed. It also doesn't help that this movie has basically every superhero's problem when they first get their powers. The villain threatens the lives of their friends/family and innocents alike if the hero doesn't do what the villain wants and needs a pep-talk to get back in the game. But other than the many jokes you can make out of this film, I recommend it because it has Peter Vankman's (Ghostbusters cartoon) and Garfield's 80's voice actor in it. And that's really it. The other problems are: the hero is lame, the villain is even lamer, the old rabbit in it just comes off as creepy like Herbert from Family Guy, the hero's friends are completely useless to the plot, and speaking of which, the plot twist, involving the villain, close to the end is just....dumb. But if there's three nice things that I have to say about the movie it's this: the jokes you'll make, some kids might like it, and...well, let's just say that all the jokes I made were because it took place in San Francisco. Hint Hint.