Bunny Hugged

It is the world heavyweight wrestling championship. The Crusher is the defending champion. Ronald the Nature Boy is the challenger and Bugs Bunny is his mascot. Ronald is overwhelmed and needs help. Bugs enters the ring as Ronald's substitution, The Masked Terror.

This is one of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon. When I think of a classic Bugs Bunny fighting cartoon, this has many of the most memorable scenes. It is top notch from start to finish. Bugs trying to wrestle Crusher's head is perfection and it all flows after that. It is one great gag after another. I like this even more than Rabbit Punch (1948).

It is a wrestling championships and it is the fearsome, muscle packed Crusher versus the dainty, light and silly Ravishing Ronald. An assemble of people come to announce the arrival of Ravishing Ronald, including Bugs Bunny, who, not that surprisingly, is scoffing carrots in a large carrot dish. Ravishing Ronald is having a huge amount of trouble a minute later in the contest and Bugs Bunny decides to take his place, having quite a lot of heart. Madcap intelligence and slapstick follow...

I like this episode because, it has good animation of the audience and the slapstick, the episode has a clever plot outline, there are clever twists of the plot, the slapstick is good (animation- wise of course - and entertainment wise) and the "Masked Terror" is a good character and believable.

I recommend this episode to people who like slapsticky Bugs Bunny episodes + wrestling. Enjoy "Bunny Hugged"! :-)

Chuck Jones's 'Bunny Hugged' is a moderately amusing sequel to the superior 'Rabbit Punch'. In that cartoon Bugs Bunny had found himself in the boxing ring, in this one it's the wrestling ring. Pitted once again against The Crusher (hey, in cartoon land a rabbit and a hare are the same thing so it follows logically that so are a boxer and a wrestler!), Bugs spends the whole first half of the cartoon getting viciously pummeled. When he finally breaks out the heckling as his means of beating the physically undefeatable Crusher, 'Bunny Hugged' picks up a little. The jokes are fairly standard and too much faith is placed in The Crusher's dopey reactions to being clobbered but overall its adequately entertaining if largely uninspired stuff. The climactic gag, however, is one of the worst and least funny closing images of any Warner cartoon I can think of. I'm not a huge fan of 'Bunny Hugged', then, but it's an decent time passer and never sinks to the levels of tedium of, say, 'Big Top Bunny'.

Bugs Bunny has been enjoying a cushy job as the mascot for flamboyant wrestler Ravishing Ronald. But when Ronald is demolished by bald brawler The Crusher, Bugs realizes his meal ticket is in trouble. So he slaps on a mask and enters the ring to challenge Crusher as the Masked Terror. Hilarious Chuck Jones short that pokes fun at pro wrestling. Wonderful animation, lively music, and terrific voicework. One of the things I like most about it is that Bugs doesn't have the upper hand the whole time. Very funny stuff with some great gags and lines ("It's about time for me to employ a little stragedy"). The character of Crusher is a hoot. Love that ending.

Bugs Bunny has to go Mano-a-rabbito as "the Masked Terror" for a wrestling bout with the Crusher after he easily pummels his former opponent and Bug's source of income, Ravashing Ronald. The rascally rabbit is also outmatched physically, so he has to pull some cunninggly clever yet somewhat devious tricks from his sleeves. I liked this cartoon a lot and it makes me chuckle every single time I see it. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional music and effects only track.

My Grade: A