Lumber Jack-Rabbit

Just watched this Bugs Bunny cartoon on YouTube. This is the one Warner Bros. made in 3-D as evidenced by the beginning which has the familiar WB shield going further in front when it moves forward. I hope to one day see it in the format it was meant to be seen originally but I enjoyed it just the same. I mean, look at the many gags that emphasized the small size of Bugs and the big size of the giant dog Smidgen who happens to be Paul Bunyan's pet here. Oh, and he also looks like Porky Pig's usual dog Charlie. Since this animated short is helmed by Charlie's creator Chuck Jones, that seems to be more than a coincidence. Anyway, this was a very funny short though I didn't get the ending. Still, Lumber Jack-Rabbit comes highly recommended. P.S. It's always nice whenever Mel Blanc sings something in character like here with "Blue Tail Fly".

So I understand that "Lumber Jack-Rabbit" was the only Looney Tunes cartoon filmed in 3-D. Why didn't they film "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century" like that? But no matter what got filmed like that, the format unfortunately doesn't show up on TV. I guess that you just can't try to transpose anything from one format to another! No matter, I still thought that this was a funny cartoon, as Bugs Bunny stumbles onto Paul Bunyan's farm and has to contend with Bunyan's over-sized dog Smidgen. As always, despite being a tiny fraction of the size, Bugs somehow always has the upper hand.

So, this is far from the best cartoon that they ever produced. After "Duck Amuck" and "What's Opera, Doc?", I really expect a lot from Chuck Jones. But this one's OK in a pinch.

"Lumber Jack Rabbit" is the only Warner Brothers cartoon filmed in 3-D. It's also further proof that Chuck Jones is the most overrated figure in the history of animation. Jones utterly fails to take advantage of the possibilities of 3-D, and this movie falls flat in every sense.

"Lumber Jack Rabbit" begins promisingly. In the opening credits (which are now cut out when this cartoon is shown on television), we see the familiar Warner Brothers logo surging towards the camera, as in so many Looney Toons. But this time, the logo passes its usual stopping-place and it keeps on coming, until it's nearly in our laps.

Viewed in the 3-D process, this is unexpected and truly impressive. It's also the LAST time this cartoon will impress us.

A dull narrator briefly recaps the legend of Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack. (By the way, there are no authentic folktales about Paul Bunyan: he was actually created in the 20th century as part of an advertising campaign for a timber company.) We see gigantic Bunyan (from the chest downwards) striding across his land, on which everything is many times normal size ... including Bunyan's giant dog Smidgen. (Is this name meant to be funny?) Chuck Jones brings nothing new to Smidgen; except for his gigantic size, Smidgen is drawn and animated to look exactly like every Chuck Jones dog in every Chuck Jones cartoon, including Jones's boring canine character Charlie Dog.

Into this valley of the giants comes a normal-sized Bugs Bunny, who must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. From Bugs's perspective, Paul Bunyan's giant carrots look like redwood trees. Bugs immediately starts harvesting the giant carrots, only to run afoul of Smidgen the giant dog. Nothing funny happens. More critically, NOTHING happens to take advantage of the 3-D aspects of this cartoon.

Carl Stalling does his usual excellent work with the musical soundtrack. Throughout this cartoon, Bugs Bunny sings "Blue Tail Fly", a folksong made popular by Burl Ives. Most people don't realise that "Blue Tail Fly" is actually a song about a black slave who murders his master and then fools the coroner's jury into returning a verdict of accidental death. I can't help wondering if Jones (or scriptwriter Michael Maltese) knew how truly subversive this song is. Stalling provides a jazzy syncopated flute line in counterpoint to Bugs's vocals. Very nice!

"Lumber Jack Rabbit" was originally shown in cinemas in 3-D format, with parallel filmstrips and those goofy cardboard glasses. It's now shown on TV in conventional "flat" format, which is no loss as the 3-D effects are negligible. By 1954, when this cartoon was made, all of Warners' best animators (Avery, Clampett, Tashlin) had already gone elsewhere, so this prestige project went to Chuck Jones by default. I wish that the opportunity to make a Bugs Bunny cartoon in 3-D had been given to Friz Freleng or Robert McKimson instead. McKimson's contributions to animation have been sorely underestimated, just as Chuck Jones's have been severely overestimated. Robert McKimson's cartoons were always funny and pleasing to the eye, and he could have done much better work with "Lumber Jack Rabbit" than Chuck Jones has done here.

As an avid fan of Looney Tunes, I looked forward to seeing Lumber Jack-Rabbit. It was nice and entertaining, but some aspects disappointed too. So what disappointed? Well the pacing isn't as secure as it normally is, while the cartoon is I feel too short at 6 minutes. But the let down were some of the 3d effects. Some of them work nicely such as the dog and the horizon but others are distracting and as a consequence fall flat.

However, the animation itself, the characters and backgrounds are crisp, colourful and lively, and the music is energetic and fun. There is also the typical Looney Tunes wit and irreverence that make these cartoons so enjoyable, evident in the witty dialogue and smart sight gags. Bugs has been better but he is good, while the dog Smidgen is a good foil. And as always Mel Blanc is stellar with the vocals. Overall, not the best of the lot by a mile, but definitely worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Chuck Jones truly put the characters into the shape and form they are today... I will say that it was a group effort with the animators at WB but the things he did and the characterisation he gave was flawless.

If only there was another Chuck Jones in todays animation studios, to revitalise the wb characters past the shells we see today.