Hyde and Hare

Hyde and Hare (1955)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Being a major fan of horror movies as well as Bugs, you'd think I'd love this short but in fact I find it to be rather tame. The kind Dr. Jekyll comes to the park everyday to feed Bugs some carrots and one day decides to take him home as a pet. At the house the doctor drinks his potion, which turns him into the monstrous, green skinned Mr. Hyde. This film really doesn't contain too many laughs until the end when Bugs turns into the monster but sadly they don't spend anytime with this joke. Everything before that is decent but nothing really jumps off the screen. I enjoyed the calmness of Dr. Jekyll and I thought the transformation scenes were good but there still weren't enough laughs.

With a likable animation style that happens to crop up in a few good Looney Tunes cartoons, Hyde and Hare is, for myself, one of the better episodes. What I like about the cartoon is that it combines the traditional wild, slapstick WB themes and the rarer Disney-type themes that can run in Looney Tunes.

Based on Jekyll and Hyde, Bugs Bunny lives contentedly in a park, every day looking forward to meet the man who feeds him. One day, when Bugs goes up to retrieve a carrot from the man, he decides that he would like to just live with him and be done with it. The man seems to be very gentle, kind and quite delicate and takes to the (talking) rabbit, bringing him to his house. We later find out that the man is a doctor and has an evil potion that can temperamentally turn him into a monster. Cartoon confusions commence...

Expect a traditional Looney Tunes ending, as the first half is the Disney-type stuff. It is not all sweet and fluffy, but it is no big issue.

I recommend this episode to people who like "turning worms" Looney Tunes episodes, to people who like Bugs Bunny (he is very good in this episode) and to people who have a vague idea (or a big idea!) of the Jekyll and Hyde story. Enjoy "Hyde and Hare"! :-)

Everyday, Bugs Bunny does the timid little rabbit routine to get a carrot from the kindly Dr. Jekyll. He jumps into the doctor's arms and gets himself adopted. In the doctor's laboratory, he drinks his formula and turns into the violent Mr. Hyde. Bugs is confused with the ever-changing personality.

This is Bugs Bunny paired with the classic literary character. I guess that there was no copyright issue back in the day. I do wonder if Bugs should catch on sooner. I do like that we do not see him drinking the formula since that leads to a fun reveal at the end. This is a great Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Growing up a fan of the classic horror movie monsters, I always enjoyed seeing the Looney Tunes shorts with a horror theme. Whether it was Frankenstein or Dracula or a witch or whatever, it was something I got a kick out of (and still do, really). Here we have a kindly old doctor bringing Bugs home to be his new pet, an arrangement Bugs is surprisingly happy with. The doctor turns out to be Dr. Jekyll, who drinks a potion and turns into the horrible Mr. Hyde. What follows is Bugs trying to escape the monstrous Hyde, while also protecting Jekyll because he doesn't realize they are one and the same. The animation is beautiful. Love the colors and the backgrounds are very nice. Excellent voice work from Mel Blanc. Carl Stalling's music is energetic and fun. It's a funny cartoon with a cool ending and one of my favorite bits of random business in any Bugs short: Bugs doing a bizarre Liberace impression ("I wish my brother George was here.").

Bugs Bunny loves his daily feeding of carrots by Dr. Jekyll so much that he wants to live with him. The good Doctor is happy to oblige. But little to Bugs knowledge Jekyll has a small addiction of drinking a potion to change into the homicidal Mr. Hyde who wants to kill the rabbit. This cartoon is alright but really is a one joke premise that wears thin before long (Jekyll turns into Hyde, scares Bugs who runs away, Hyde changes back into Jekyll, bugs is happy to see him, he changes again, Bugs runs away...etcetera over and over again). This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional music only track.

My Grade: B-