From Hare to Eternity (1997)

Wonderful character development!

Purely Joyful Movie!

I wanted to but couldn't!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is quite a poignant cartoon in two ways: First, it was a nice tribute to the late Friz Freleng as it featured his creation of Yosemite Sam and featured musical segments which Freleng was always good at not to mention Chuck Jones' dedication to him at the end. Second, this turned out to be Jones' last work on the Warner Bros. cartoon shorts as director culminating in almost 60 years' worth of great work he helmed at his home studio starting with The Night Watchman-give or take a few periods off on his own or at M-G-M. Sam is a pirate on the S.S. Friz Freleng looking for Captain Kidd's treasure. Bugs Bunny is attached to it when he finds it. I'll stop there and just say how funny most of the thing was especially when Bugs manages to successfully flirt with Sam once more with another of his female disguises which has the latter reacting the same way Elmer Fudd did to him in What's Opera, Doc? Another in-joke to one of Chuck's cartoons was the hilarious sound of Michigan J. Frog singing "Hello, My Baby" when Sam was digging his treasure and saying something along the lines of "Not with me, you don't!" when killing him! And what about when he said, "Never take a rabbit's advice" when nearly falling to his death toward a shark after being tricked to fall on a plank? Okay, don't want to say anymore so on that note, From Hare to Eternity comes highly recommended. P.S. Greg Burson sounds fine as Bugs while Frank Gorshin fails to sound exactly like Mel Blanc's Sam but otherwise is okay as well.

Given that Warner Brothers shorts emphasized music, Friz Freleng was one of the best at the framing of a cartoon around music and this is a tribute to him, it's quite appropriate that Bugs and Yosemite Sam (supposedly, Freleng and his temper inspired the creation of Sam) sing light operetta, selections from Gilbert and Sullivan. Brilliantly done, it does justice to both G & S and Looney Tunes. Good to see it available. Well worth watching. Most recommended.

The first time I saw this was on last year's Cartoon Network special, "June Bugs" (the three-day marathon featuring every Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made, except for 12 cartoons that were considered racially offensive by today's standards), and I've got this to say: Chuck Jones still has that twisted, fractured humor that only his cartoons during the Golden Age of Looney Tunes (1939-1964) could provide. Sure, Bugs in women's clothing is something you'd find during the Golden Age, but the way Jones delivered it sends shockwaves and a reborn sense of what comedy is/was/should be/has always been through me. The one thing I still can't believe is that he outlived Friz Freleng by seven years (Jones was born in 1912; Freleng was born in 1905) and such comic genius from this incredible man could be transferred to other shows that aren't afraid to be politically incorrect, totally bizarre, and funny at the same time ("The Simpsons", "The Critic", the late, great, "Get A Life", etc).

Any cartoon dedicated to the memory of the late great Friz --as this is--would have to contain two things: music, and Yosemite Sam. So it's no surprise that this one is a classic seagoing squabble between Sam and Bugs (it's even set on board the good ship "H.M.S. Friz Freleng") with Gilbert & Sullivan parodies galore. Cross my heart, you haven't lived till you've seen Bugs sing "Sweet Little Buttercup" in sexy mermaid drag while flirting outrageously with the smitten Sam. More focused and funny than a lot of Jones' later work, and just plain sweet, besides.