For the past several decades Warner Bros has been making fairly ill use of Bugs Bunny. The same could be said of Disney and Mickey Mouse, but Mickey Mouse is boring, so who cares. Mickey always made a better mascot than a character, whereas Bugs never made as great mascot for WB because he was such a great character.
Bugs’ irreverence has been absent far too frequently. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Bugs cartoon on TV, and his outings in the cinema are even rarer. Sometimes rarity is a good thing, keeping a character fresh, but that hasn’t really been happening with Bugs. I mean, his best film role to date was a cameo in a Disney movie of all things (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), and that was over twenty years ago. Then the 90’s had Space Jam, which provided some light chuckles, but was nonetheless still a Michael Jordan vehicle, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action didn’t exactly set the world a laughin’.
Frankly WB has been putting their entire stable of cartoon stars to poor use. Though recently it would appear that someone at WB has wised up (either creatively or with $-signs over their eyes). Cats & Dogs 2 opened with a 3D Coyote/Road Runner short, and WB has apparently already cooked up two more shorts for theatrical release. And now Deadline is reporting that “Warner Bros has hired Elf scribe David Berenbaum to write Bugs Bunny, a live action/CG feature film designed to revive one of the studio’s most iconic intellectual properties. I’m told that Berenbaum, who also adapted The Spiderwick Chronicles and is writing an animated project with George Lucas–just closed his deal.“
George Lucas animated movie, you say? Hmm. Anyway, Bugs…
So will it be a Roger Rabbit or a Garfield? Elf and Spiderwick were both more good than bad, I guess, but Berenbaum isn’t the most exciting choice. Though there’s a long way to go still. We’ve supposedly got a true-to-the-glory-days Muppet movie coming our way. Could we possibly get a legit Bugs film? Is it even possible to get a legit Bugs film? Can the character truly work in a feature-length setting, especially as the lead? That’s the real question.
And, just cause I’m a classy lad, I’ll leave you with this…
10 comments
Yeesh. Why do they always insit on these live action/cgi mash-ups? They never ever work (the latest Yogi Bear poster is still giving me nightmares). Why not just stick to animation?
Seriously, they need to stop w/ the cgi + live action BS. As if this is the best way to revive Bugs Bunny.
They need a Roger Rabbit sequel "Who Killed Eddie Valiant". Cause Hoskins is getting up there. But that is definitely the way to go if it has to be live action. go with hand drawn & live action. More Soul and effort put into it, than CGI.
Anyone catch the Goofy short before National Treasure 2. I thought it was good.
We need a Bugs Bunny Begins movie, and it should be directed by David Lynch with music by The White Stripes and a cameo by Scott Adkins.
The way to "revive" Bugs Bunny would be to send random OLD shorts out to theatres, so you'll never know what you'll see. When my Dad ran a theatre, he would get everything he could, and played the shorts randomly. And get classic shorts back on TV.
Know what the problem is? Know why every revival involving the WB toons has stunk up theaters for the last 20 years? The original talent behind these classic characters have long since died. They were never intended as 'kid's fare', these were shorts, full of (then) pop culture references and in-jokes. Only when TV became popular did the audience focus change, and the toons became watered down. Now, Bugs, Daffy and the crew are just used for commercials or crappy licensing deals. I say just release the old toons, unedited, into theaters. Better than having to sit through more military recruitment ads, no?
It may have been a box office failure, but creatively speaking, I deem Looney Tunes: Back in Action a success. Definitely the funniest and most relevant the characters have been in years. Needed less of Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman, though.
Wow… is that clip of Bugs in the shower real? And how can I unsee that?
It's not his penis. It only shows up in one frame and it is clearly his knee. The ink and paint girls just messed up and colored it white instead of grey.
I agree with Doug.
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