Bugs Bunny Superstar Reviews

The popular Warner Brothers cartoon rabbit gets a feature-length tribute that's higher on enthusiasm than technical polish. Using as a point of departure the 1944 cartoon "What's Cookin', Doc?" (in which Bugs pleads for Oscar recognition), this feature compilation chronicles the career of that wascally wabbit with some dozen Bugs vehicles interlaced with reminisences by artists from the famed "Termite Terrace" studio, which included animation legends like Bob Clampett, Tex Avery and Fritz Freleng. Among the revelations: the fast-talking Bugs (who "officially" made his debut in "Porky's Hare Hunt" in 1938) was modelled after Clark Gable's character in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT; and vocalist Mel Blanc couldn't stand to eat carrots. The program concludes, fittingly, with an excerpt from "The Old Grey Hare" (also from 1944), finding an elderly Bugs in 2000 A.D. The vintage animation shines, especially compared to the cheapo assembly-line TV cartoons that put Bugs out to pasture until his revival in the 1990 Warner Brothers short "Box Office Bunny." But interview footage with Freleng, Avery and Clampett (the latter munching a carrot clearly held together with adhesive tape) is too often ugly and amateurish. A collection of doodles and rough sketches by the Termite Terrace team go completely to waste in a crude musical montage, along with priceless home movies of the Warner Brothers animators in their prime, goofing around. On the other hand, there's the wonderful sight of Tex Avery acting out one of his own characters, shown with his animated alter-ego. Orson Welles narrates in mock-serious tones--not his finest hour. Nor should this be Bugs, but for serious animation aficionados and Looney Tunes buffs, it'll do, Doc.