Customer Reviews

Essential Bugs Bunny

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a very good, concise collection of the best of the Bugs Bunny shorts. Unfortunately for those who have been collecting the Looney Tunes Golden Collection sets, there are a lot of repeats here. However, there are enough new items in this set that have never been released on DVD before, that it really is "essential" for fans.

Here's an updated list of the contents on each disc, along with the release year and director of each short:

Disc 1:

* Elmer's Candid Camera (1940, Jones)

* Excerpt from "My Dream is Yours" (1949)

* A Wild Hare (1940, Avery)

* How Bugs Bunny Won the West TV special (1978)

* The Old Grey Hare (1944, Clampett)

* Bugs Bunny Wild World of Sports TV special (1989)

* Baseball Bugs (1946, Freleng)

* Carrotblanca (1995, McCarthy)

* Hair Raising Hare (1946, Jones)

* Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas (2003 [unreleased], Kopp/Shin)

* Haredevil Hare (1948, Jones)

Disc 2:

* 8 Ball Bunny (1950, Jones)

* Rabbit of Seville (1950, Jones)

* Ain't I A Stinker (2010 mini-documentary)

* Rabbit Fire (1951, Jones)

* Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (1992, Ford/Lennon)

* Show Biz Bugs (1957, Freleng)

* Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over (1980, Jones/Monroe)

* Knighty Knight Bugs (1958, Freleng)

* The Carnival of the Animals (1976, Jones/Klynn)

* What's Opera Doc? (1957, Jones)

All in all, a terrific anthology of Bugs Bunny's best. I just wish that Warner Bros. would either continue with the Looney Tunes Golden Collection sets or come up with another collectors' series that did not repeat so many of the same shorts.

Revised Note 8/25/2010: With the unfortunate cropping of the picture done by Warner Bros. on its two recent "Superstars" releases -- "Bugs Bunny - Hare Extraordinaire" and "Daffy Duck - Frustrated Fowl" -- I feel I have to withhold recommending this title for the time being. If Warner Bros. chooses to not make the same horrible cropping mistakes with this title, it WILL be a good collection to own as a supplement to the Looney Tunes Golden Collections or as a good stand-alone title. If, however, the powers-that-be decide to crop these cartoons and specials for wide-screen televisions, send them a message and stay away from this. Hopefully, Warner Bros. will get the message.

Quick note for those who own all the LOONEY TOONS GOLDEN COLLECTION: all of the cartoons on the ESSENTIAL BUGS BUNNY collection that were made before 1978 are also to be found in one of the 6 LOONEY TOONS GOLDEN COLLECTIONs.

I have all 6 of those, and so am much less interested in this collection. However, for those just starting out with getting Bugs on DVD, this disc has a nice selection.

First the good news, Warner did not mask any cartoons to make them look widescreen. Those cartoons that were masked in the theaters are shown in their original full screen here, retaining all of the animation. (Most likely because they are just re-issues of the Golden Collection transfers.)

The only cartoon in question is HARE AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, the main titles & end title are in widescreen, but the cartoon is full frame. The picture looks a little tight which makes me think this WAS a widescreen cartoon and "Center Cut" or cropped on the sides to make it full screen here.

For those with the Golden Collections (like me) Disc 2 will be the only disc of interest. It is too bad we have to re-buy all of the cartoons on disc 1 to get the new stuff on disc 2. Disc 2 seems like the "Bonus Material" that would have been in a Golden Collection if one were released this year. So add this to the Bugs, Daffy & Foghorn single discs released this year and you will get a 4-disc pseudo-golden collection.

The correct disc listing:

Disc 1: (all re-issues from the Golden Collections)

* Elmer's Candid Camera (1940, Jones)

* A Wild Hare (1940, Avery)

* The Old Grey Hare (1944, Clampett)

* Baseball Bugs (1946, Freleng)

* Hair Raising Hare (1946, Jones)

* Haredevil Hare (1948, Jones)

* 8 Ball Bunny (1950, Jones)

* Rabbit of Seville (1950, Jones)

* Rabbit Fire (1951, Jones)

* Show Biz Bugs (1957, Freleng)

* Knighty Knight Bugs (1958, Freleng)

* What's Opera Doc? (1957, Jones)

Disc 2: ( + means it is NEW TO DVD)

* "My Dream is Yours" - sequence (1949)

* How Bugs Bunny Won the West - TV special (1978) +

* Bugs Bunny Wild World of Sports - TV special (1989) +

* Carrotblanca (1995, McCarthy)

* Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas (2003, Kopp/Shin) +

--Bonus Material-- (listed as such on the disc menu, but only one is a documentary)

* Ain't I A Stinker, All new career profile of a remarkable rabbit: Bugs Bunny (2010 mini-documentary) +

* The Carnival of the Animals - TV special (1976, Jones/Klynn)

* Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (1992, Ford/Lennon) {Original and Uncut theatrical cartoon}

* Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over - TV special (1980, Jones/Monroe)

The bottom line: There is still something new here for the Golden Collection owners to want, you just hate having to buy disc #1 to get it.

Packaging complaint: While Warner went to the expense of creating a cardboard slipcase, they only printed the contents on the reverse side of the DVD jacket. So you always have to remove the jacket from the DVD case to read the contents on the reverse side. It would have been nicer if Warner skipped the slipcase & printed a title list insert.

I love Bugs Bunny - don't get me wrong. I love it so much that I wanted to share some of the classic episodes with my two little kids (5 and 3). So I bought this. I am still looking for classic episodes to share with my kids. The first disk has a few decent to classic Bugs cartoons. The second is some 70s era rehash that clips together some classic scenes but doesn't provide whole cartoons. I'm not sure what dull normal thought this was the compilation to make. As mentioned, the first disk has a few good ones. The second is just a teasing waste of plastic.

There is no question that there is so much joy around Bugs Bunny this year. It has been 70 years since he was introduced to the public as Looney Tunes and Warner Brothers most famous cartoon character. He has been named T.V. Guide's Greatest Cartoon Chartacter of all time back in 2002, and he is still looked upon as one of the greatest influential chartacters that many favorites like Spongebbo Squarepants and The Fairly Odd Parents always seem to take a strong page from. But with Warner Brothers ending their Looney Tunes: Golden Collection series a few years ago, their needs to be a improvement in the way we see not just Bugs be re-introduced, but the entire Looney Tunes gang be recognized with a new generation of cartoon lovers. A new collection of Looney Tunes from everyones' favorite Wabbit is finally coming to DVD, but is it worth the wait?

The Essential Bugs Bunny is a 2 disc DVD reflection of Bugs Bunny through some of his greatest tales. The cartoons have all been remastered nicely, and include a lot of fan favorites. While the DVD might be a great buy for new fans who've never seen Bugs Bunny in action. The collection includes some of Bugs Bunny's best cartoons and a few of the classic Looney Tunes specials of the 70's and 80's, but nothing new for hard core fans. Still there are a lot of great cartoons including the influential and iconic Chuck Jones masterpiece What's Opera Doc, to the Tex Avery classic where Bugs introduced his classic phrase What's Up Doc? in A Wild Hare, to favorites like 8 Ball Bunny, the Oscar-winning Knighty Knight Bugs, and the Wabbit and Duck Seaon war he and Daffy have been infused by start in Rabbit Fire. While there are so many classics here, there are a lot of great that could've been shown like Hare Brush, where Bugs actually is mistaken for a flipped-lid Elmer Fudd (whom thinks he is a Wabbit) by a doctor, then becomes like Elmer hunting him, to fan favorites like him going at the Tazmanian Devil like Devil May Hare, and Rabbit Rampage where a foolish animator makes Bugs into a joke weren't highlighted. I was absolutely surprised that more should've been showcased.

All in all, The Essential Bugs Bunny isn't a bad buy for newcomers to Bugs and the Looney Tunes gang, but there just was so much that could've been showcased from top to bottom to make it a much better buy. If you own all of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection volumes, this honestly isn't a good buy for your DVD collection. What's Up Doc?, more Bugs Bunny delights should've been included.

Price: C

Extras: B-

Remastering: B

Overall: C+

One would think WB would strive to push for more sales of the old, excellent Golden Collections. To do that, WB would NOT release new DVDs containing cartoons from these collections, but, like Hare Extraordinaire and Frustrated Fowl, would release DVDs containing more previously-unreleased cartoons, and anyone who wanted certain cartoons from the GC could easily buy those collections. But, once again, WB has released a double-dip set, trying to sucker people into buying what they already own by including a tiny few previously-unreleased cartoons. I've bought all 6 GCs and the recent Hare Extraordinaire and Frustrated Fowl because I'm a collector, and I would like to have the previously-unreleased cartoons in this release. But I will not buy double-dipped releases like this one. Hopefully future DVD releases will avoid double-dipping, and hopefully a future release will contain this release's previously-unreleased cartoons too (although that would be double-dipping too, wouldn't it?).

So I guess I'm no longer a collector.

Another slapped-together release of Warner Bros. animation (some classic, others less so) created for the sole purpose of making a fast buck. "8 Ball Bunny," "Elmer's Candid Camera" and "Show Biz Bugs" do not represent "Essential Bugs Bunny" - the same goes for the latter-day theatrical shorts and TV specials. Save your money and purchase the "Looney Tunes - Golden Collection" series.

How long does the deceased Mr. Clampett have to continue to pay in popularity for pissing off every other director and animator from Termite Terrace in the 1960's?

His 'toons are the wildest, zaniest, most violent and funny ever produced at Warner Bros, yet when compilations appear he his barely represented.

True, many of Clampett's gags and plots may be considered dated as they were extremely topical to the 1940s, but is this ommision indicative of his actual popularity or some low-key vengeance executed via the studio by those who've sided with Chuck Jones over the course of the last fifty years?

At any rate, this set's contents are a nice step towards getting all the Bugs collated into an ongoing series of collections.

Being that it's Bugs Bunny's 70th birthday, it's only fitting that WB release something like this. However, after reading the content I agree with other people who sent in their reviews that even more effort could of been put into this disc. For one thing, most of the cartoons have been released previously on the looney tunes golden collection so that's the downside. The upside is that there is a new documentary on the wascilly wabbit, some new to DVD cartoons and there are various TV specials which have not seen the light of day since VHS. Speaking of TV specials, Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers previously on Space Jam (a cut version to remove the scenes of Yosemite Sam) will also be on here. Hopefully it will appear intact. Overall, I think I'll buy this.

Happy Birthday Bug 70 Looney years!!!

As mentioned, I do not know about this collection, but I do have all of the 'looney tunes golden collection' (now defunct). In my opinion, warner is doing this all wrong: they should release all of the cartoons in chronological order -30's, 40's etc. the same way they did with Popeye's theatrical cartoons (which they still have not realesed the 1941 to 1957 ones) and the way Diseny did with their 'Walt disney treasures' series (though not with 'limited collectors editions' like diseny did - a very unfriendly to buyers policy) in which mickey, donald, pluto and goofy each has his own separate but full filmography. If Warner wants to give buggs bunny or duffy or porky or a any other looney tune his separate collection that's fine, but they should give us the chance to see all of the looney tunes and merry melodies films, restored and in the original order they were produced.