Gorilla My Dreams

Bugs Bunny is adrift at sea in a barrel. He lands on the island of Bingzi-Bangzi. A sign reads Land of the Ferocious Apes. They are more well-read than most apes. A wife ape is distressed with the stork not visiting her. She finds Bugs in a barrel and assumes that he's her new baby. At first, he objects, but she starts crying. He relents and plays the part to appease her. The husband ape is not so taken.

I don't really like Bugs tricking the female ape. I understand it, but he does need a better escape plan. I don't think he has an escape plan. I like my Bugs trickery to be against more deserving opponents.

A female gorilla is depressed that she and her husband, Gruesome, haven't had a child. When Gruesome growls at her, she runs away crying and...you guessed it! She finds Bugs Bunny. When she takes him home, Gruesome decides to take Bugs for a walk, but then it turns out that the big guy wants to torment him. Naturally, Bugs has his own plans.

I think that my favorite scene was when Bugs shakes a coconut out of a tree, and it falls on Gruesome like a football helmet. No matter what, you can always count on that "scwewy wabbit" to do something great. Maybe it was Mel Blanc's voices or maybe it was something else (I would assume that it was the former), but those old Looney Tunes cartoons were always the best.

Bugs Bunny is adrift in a barrel, content to be sailing and reading until being rescued. He drifts onto an island where a childless gorilla with a time bomb of a biological clock finds him and takes him in as her child. Bugs plays along to placate her but finds that her husband is less keen on this new arrival.

The short here opens well with some nice wit, Bugs reading and relaxing in his barrel, the apes reading such classics as `apes of wrath' however the actual plot is a little off and sees Bugs just aping it up with his mother. After this we have a chase between \the father and Bugs which, while amusing, isn't the funniest thing you'll see.

Bugs is as good as he always is and he holds the short up well. The mother ape isn't great and the father is just too gruff and ignorant to be a good foil for Bugs – he reminded me of Taz and we all know how poor the Bugs/Taz cartoons were at times.

Overall, not a great short but has enough going for it to be worth watching.

Gorilla My Dreams (1948)

*** (out of 4)

A mama gorilla is ashamed of being the only one not to have a baby but when a shipwrecked Bugs Bunny shows up she decides to take him as her own. This doesn't sit too well with her cranky husband who wants to get rid of Bugs. This is a good entry in the series, although it's certainly not one of the best. The biggest problem I had with the movie is that it ends rather abruptly and the ending, while trying to be clever, doesn't really pull off the punch it was going for. There are still some nice moments between the mama and Bugs and the action between Bugs and the dad is fast and violent.

Bugs Bunny has found home with his parents both being gorillas. Crazy, isn't it? Despite being crazy, this is a classic short. Once again, Bugs has to face a villain, the Gorilla Gruesome who would rather not have Bugs around and decided to 'play' rough. What are the odds he is going to regret it in the end? Very good.