Customer Reviews

First Easter Rabbit [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This half hour film released in 1976 is one of 3 Easter films produced by the Rankin and Bass Studio. The other 2 are
"Here Comes Peter Cottontail", which is about all the Holidays as 2 rabbits compete to deliver the most eggs and become the new Easter Bunny, and "The Easter Bunny is Coming to Town", which concentrates on explaining traditions of Easter, very similar to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

The main difference with this film is that it uses traditional animation, and the 2 above are Animagic, (stop-motion). Burl Ives narrates and sings again in this one, and is even drawn to be dressed like the character he played in Rudolph. There are at least 2 good songs in the film. The studio that made this film are perfectionists, and even their credits are imaginative and fun to watch. The story starts before there was ever an Easter Rabbit, and he was stuffed bunny owned by a girl. He is brought to life to serve as the symbol of Easter and moves to a magical place called Easter Valley. When Easter is threatened Santa joins the bunny in defending Easter Valley.


You may remember Rankin and Bass as the folks that brought us such beautiful holiday classics such as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Year without a Santa Claus, Nestor the Long Eared Donkey, Mad Monster Party, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is coming to Town, Mouse on the Mayflower, Here Comes Peter Cottontail, The Easter Bunny is Coming to Town, Cricket on the Hearth, the Stingiest Man in Town, Jack Frost, Pinnochio's Christmas, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, the First Easter Bunny. They also made non-holiday films such as the Hobbit, Flight of Dragons, the Last Unicorn. It is incredible that one company is responsible for all those TV specials, 95% of the ones we see every year. Their work includes standard animation, stop-motion animagic, and live action. There is a great book on the studio called "The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass.

I have bought all the other Rankin/Bass that has been released on DVD.

The First Easter Rabbit is another story to add to your Rankin/Bass collection! This story is animated though,instead of stop-motion, which they are probably more known for. This does not make it any less charming though(Frosty the Snowman, one of my faves, is animated also) and as a Rankin/Bass fan you can really tell it is one of their animations.
The First Easter Rabbit is about Stuffy, a lttle girls stuffed rabbit, and how he becomes the Easter Bunny. I first saw this when I was a little girl, I am now 25 and still love this and all other Rankin/Bass stories. My only reason for giving it 4 stars is because you can't get it on DVD yet, and it should be teamed up with the other 2 Easter stories "The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town" and "Here comes Peter Cottontail".

This is a cute animated feature created by one of the world's best creators of holiday films: Rankin & Bass. It's about the Easter Bunny. I won't say any more, but I highly recommend it! It's a great cartoon; especially, for Easter time.

This video is alright for kids, but never held my granddaughter's interest. Certainly not as good as Peter Cottontail.

This is truly my most favorite Easter special. Was ecstatic to see it on dvd, to upgrade my vhs. Burl Ives makes it as the narrator as with Rudolph. I definitely watch it more than once for the Easter season.

THE FIRST EASTER RABBIT is another holiday gem from Rankin/Bass - creators of most of the classic holiday specials including RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER, SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, MAD MONSTER PARTY etc...

This is their 3rd (and least-known) Easter special, the previous two being HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL and THE EASTER BUNNY IS COMIN' TO TOWN. While those two were filmed in stop-motion "Animagic", this one is done in regular cel-animation similar to the style of "Frosty The Snowman". This is a sort of re-working of The Velveteen Rabbit story, with some mischievous bunnies, an icy villain and Santa Claus thrown in for good measure. It was originally a half-hour special, so that means it will run only around 25 minutes without the commercials.

While not as good as Peter Cottontail or Easter Bunny, this is still an enjoyable special with all of the familiar Rankin/Bass touches - a nice, warm holiday feeling, bouncy songs and music, and colorful, fun animation. Featuring the voice of Burl Ives whose classic narration and songs add to the holiday spirit! This DVD will be of special interest to those kids who just don't dig the puppet-animation, which I myself and many others prefer.

This is definitely one of the lesser known RANKIN/BASS specials and should have been combined on THE EASTER BUNNY IS COMIN' TO TOWN DVD when it first came out AS AN EXTRA. If this was going to be released on it's own (since it is only 25 minutes) WB should have included a nice documentary with ARTHUR RANKIN, PAUL COKER, etc. I do like the cover and the fact they included the RANKIN/BASS logo on the cover BUT who is minding the store at WB HOME VIDEO these days?