Rabbit's Feat (1960)

the audience applauded

Best movie of this year hands down!

best movie i've ever seen.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is a funny short, part of the Wile E. Coyote vs Bugs Bunny series, directed by the great Chuck Jones. Here we have a talking Wile E. Coyote (or "Coyotay," as he pronounces it) trying to catch and eat Bugs. Unlike his attempts at catching the Road Runner involving elaborate traps and devices, here Wile E. employs very simple methods that seem more like something Elmer Fudd would come up with, not a self-described super genius. It's a fun cartoon with colorful animation and some clever gags and verbal humor. Excellent voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc. Wile E. Coyote is a fun adversary for Bugs in the few shorts they did together. This isn't the best in the series but it's breezy entertainment that should please most fans.

'Rabbit's Feat' is a very odd cartoon for Chuck Jones, especially for the time (1960). It's nothing like any of his other Bugs Bunny toons and is an intentional throwback to the Tex Avery/Bob Clampett Bugs shorts from the early 40s. The first big tip-off that this will not be a typical Jones- Bugs cartoon is when Wile E. sticks his head down into Bugs' rabbit hole and, unlike the four poster bed that Bugs usually sleeps in, Bugs is in a baby crib curled up in the fetal position, sucking his thumb.Unlike the straight man or urbane smart-aleck that Jones usually preferred, this Bugs is outright wacky: suspending himself in mid-air before using his ears to corkscrew himself into his rabbit hole, planting huge smooches on Wile E. Coyote like he did in the older Elmer Fudd matchups, making surreal statements ("Daddy you're back from Peru!") and periodically screaming at the top of his lungs causing Wile E. to shoot up into the air. He even uses a trademark Clampett-Bugs line "Agony! Aaa-go-neee!".All-in-all a great cartoon and a real change of pace for Chuck Jones.

Once again, Wile E. Coyote takes a break from chasing Road Runner to go after Bugs Bunny, with no more success. In fact, Bugs occasionally tricks WEC into acting against his own interests, as he often does to other characters.By the time that "Rabbit's Feat" came out, the Warner Bros. animation department had passed its heyday. Over the next few years, the directors retired most of the characters. But in my opinion, as long as the cartoons make you laugh, they're still really good. I certainly laughed at the action in this one. Chuck Jones had definitely not lost his touch. Worth seeing.That'll never be all, folks.

In an all too rare pairing (I think there were three), Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote square off, to Wile E.'s inevitable, ultimate sorrow. Pay close attention to 1)the dialogue 2) Bugs' ears and 3) sight gags in general. Bugs is much more, well,--Forgive me-Looney. It's just an insane frolic. How the Academy overlooked this is beyond this admittedly biased viewer. Simply a joy to watch.