Little Red Riding Rabbit

The 'big, bad wolf' (apparently on sabbatical from Disney Studios) plans trick innocent Red Riding Hood into surrendering her basket, which is full of delicious rabbit. Mayhem ensues. The cartoon opens with Red belting out an obnoxiously loud rendition of 'Five O'clock Whistle' as she bops her way over to Grandma's (who's off Rosie-riveting at Lockheed). The wolf, now in old-lady drag, tricks the credulous bobby-soxer into leaving the basket only to end up the target of Bugs' usual semi-sadistic shenanigans. Despite being dismissed from the tale early, Red feels obligated to carry out her usual role of questioning Grandma's big eyes, big ears, big teeth etc., much to the irritation of the wolf, and eventually, the rabbit. Bea Benedict (of Petticoat Junction (1963) fame) is fabulous voicing the irritatingly loud and brassy granddaughter. A funny cartoon war-time cartoon with a great score from a time when the wabbit was as much a bastawd as he was a wascal. (#41 in the '50 Greatest Cartoons'),

Little red riding hood is on her to her grandma's house with a little rabbit for her to stew. When she gets there she finds a wolf in her grandma's bed but one who is unwilling to play the usual game and is only interested in getting a bit of rabbit. Bugs is trapped in the house and has to try and outsmart the wolf.

All the Warner Brother cartoon characters have gone through changes throughout the years and Bugs is no different. Here his smart mouthed persona has an element of the sheer wacky about it, in fact all the characters do. This attitude that the characters have feeds through the whole cartoon and infects the humour to good effect. The gags are very knowing - eg the wolf gets into bed as grandma to find that four other wolves have already stolen his racket! This type of mocking humour is really good and it makes the cartoon funny in a wacky way.

It is the characters where it shows through most noticeably. Bugs is as close to a wise-ass New Yorker here as he ever is and it works well for me as I like that side of him. Riding Hood herself is nice and annoying with good voice work for her! The wolf is really funny and he suits the style of humour of the cartoon.

Overall this is a very funny Bugs cartoon if you like him in smartass mode! The humour, animation and characters all feel rough and ready and all totally suit each other and it is very easy to spend the whole short laughing, right up till the typically Bugs ending.

In 'Little Red Riding Rabbit' we follow Little Red Riding Hood on her way to grandma. She brings him a bunny rabbit, Bugs Bunny of course. This time the wolf, hiding in grandmas bed, is not interested in the little girl (presented slightly more mature than you might expect), but in the rabbit. While the wolf is chasing Bugs, the girl interrupts them from time to time.

This cartoon, the first to credit Mel Blanc for his voice work, has a great start and ending, both good for some great laughs. The middle part is pretty standard with the chasing moments, although I liked it when they were interrupted by a very annoying Little Red Riding Hood. Maybe this cartoon does not belong to the greatest, it is entertaining nonetheless.

Warner Brothers' made some of the greatest cartoons of all time and this is one of them. Absolutely hilarious and the quotes are classic like "HEY GRANDMA!..." or "...I'll do it. But I'll probably hate myself in the morning." Or the scene where Bugs gets the wolf singing "Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet". God, it's great stuff!!! Anyone who knows this cartoon doesn't need any explanation of the above. Another great one from this era is "Hold The Lion".

Friz Freleng's 'Little Red Riding Rabbit' is a much admired gem of a cartoon and another strong retort to those who accuse Freleng of being a dull director. Taking liberties with the original Red Riding Hood story, 'Little Red Riding Rabbit' deletes Grandma from the story entirely and features a wolf who is actually more interested in the contents of Red's picnic basket than the girl herself. These contents turn out to be Bugs Bunny, who sets about having enormous fun with the dumb wolf in a series of beautifully orchestrated routines including a truly inspired vocal sparring match in which Bugs repeats everything the wolf says and slyly switches places so that he controls the dialogue. As great as the battle between Bugs and the wolf is, however, the cartoon is completely stolen by the loud-mouthed Red who persistently bursts in on the action to try and get the traditional version of the story back on track. By the end even Bugs has had enough of her and teams up with the wolf to deal with the little annoyance. In 'Little Red Riding Rabbit', Bugs is neither the good-hearted moral crusader or the aggressively anarchic lunatic, he's simply a mischievous manipulator having a great time with the latest dupes he's been presented with. This lends 'Little Red Riding Rabbit' an enjoyable sense of ethical ambiguity which makes the cruel finale seem entirely appropriate. It's a perfectly paced, beautifully written and hilariously executed classic.