| (Blooper) Bunny | |
|---|---|
 Title card. | |
| Directed by | Greg Ford Terry Lennon |
| Story by | Ronnie Scheib Greg Ford Terry Lennon |
| Produced by | Greg Ford |
| Starring | Jeff Bergman Gordon Hunt Russell Calabrese |
| Music by | George Daugherty |
| Animation by | Doug Compton Nancy Beiman Russell Calabrese Frank Gabriel Bob McKnight Nelson Rhodes Larry Ruppel Louis Tate Dean Yeagle |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 8 minutes 20 seconds |
| Language | English |
(Blooper) Bunny is aMerrie Melodiesanimated short film directed byGreg Ford and Terry Lennon, with music byGeorge Daugherty, produced in 1991[1] byWarner Bros. Animation. Featuring the voice talents ofJeff Bergman,Gordon Hunt,[2] and Russell Calabrese,[3] the short is a parody of some of the specials produced forBugs Bunny's 50th anniversary the previous year.[4] The short never received its intended theatrical release and was shelved for six years.[5] It was finally given a television premiere on June 13, 1997, afterCartoon Network discovered the film sitting unseen in the vaults. It is featured on theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 as of 2003[update], and on theBugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection as of 2020[update].
The cartoon opens with a short special, celebrating Bugs Bunny's 51st and a Half Anniversary Spectacular. Once that is finished, what happened earlier that day is shown, with a backstage look at the characters (featuring 3D rendering of the scenery). Bugs is shown rehearsing his one line in the special.Elmer Fudd is shown trying to useminoxidil to regrow his hair.Daffy Duck andYosemite Sam are shown only begrudgingly going along with the act, complaining non-stop until called to their places by the director. They attempt a performance, which results in a series of animated "bloopers".
(Blooper) Bunny was produced between 1990 and 1991 at a time when newerLooney Tunes shorts were being released to introduce the Warner cartoon characters to a modern generation[6] — a process that was, thanks to the tepid reception of 2003'sLooney Tunes: Back in Action, eventually discontinued for some time from 2004 to 2009.[7] Greg Ford and Terry Lennon began production on the short with the idea of working the story into a future compilation special. The idea of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam acting friendly while being filmed but being their adversarial selves off-camera was done as a critical jab toward the executives at Warner Bros. for their handling of the characters at the time (marketing them in the vein ofDisney). According to Lennon, "On-camera, they've got their big marketing grins on their faces; off-camera, they want to kill each other."[6][8][9][10] The film was animated using a combination of both new computer technology (done byBill and Susan Kroyer) and traditional cel animation — a first for a Warner Bros. cartoon — with three-dimensional rendering distorting the background in the "backstage" scenes to give the appearance of ahandicam being used.[6][11][12] The first "backstage" scene in the film, a sequence that goes on for nearly a minute and a half without a cut, is, according to Ford, one of the single longest uninterrupted shots ever attempted in animated cartoons.[13] The characters in the scene were animated byNancy Beiman (Bugs and Daffy),Dean Yeagle (Elmer), and Nelson Rhodes (Sam).[11][14][15]
The short features several direct references to some of the previous output of Warner Bros. animation department. During the first, aforementioned "backstage" scene, the name ofBosko, the first trueLooney Tunes star, can be seen on one of the dressing room doors for a few frames (ironically, the Warner Bros. studio did not own the rights to Bosko at the time).[12] Midway through the film, there is also a deliberate homage to the "Hunting Trilogy" made popular byChuck Jones, of whom Ford reportedly holds great admiration.[12][13] Additionally, during the end credits, "Hello! Ma Baby," a song featured prominently in the Chuck Jones-directedOne Froggy Evening, can be heard.[12]
(Blooper) Bunny is a self-parody of some of the specials produced for Bugs Bunny's 50th anniversary the previous year, 1990.[4] Intended to be released theatrically in 1991 with the Warner Bros.-released animated filmRover Dangerfield,[16] the short, however, never received its intended theatrical release and was shelved for six years, due to the executives at the studio not liking the short's edgy humor, which included "the sound of a toilet flushing".[5][17][9] According to co-director Greg Ford, the executives withheld the short's release due to one of Daffy Duck's lines where he criticizes the studio for "not having an original bone in [their] body".[18]
Kevin S. Sandler stated in his book,Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation, "Unfortunately,(Blooper) Bunny's corporate irreverence proved to be its downfall.Time Warner delayed the cartoon's release in theaters, on video, or on television for six years. Possibly believing that(Blooper) Bunny's combination of hyperbole, innuendo, profanity, and wickedness might contribute to the "paradigmatic disarray" of the now-watered-downLooney Tunes characters, the heads of Time Warner in 1991 decided to shelve(Blooper) Bunny rather than risk potential public outcry."[8]
Jonathan Rosenbaum, in a review forChicago Reader, noted: "Ironically,Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers, another Bugs Bunny cartoon directed at the same time by the same rebellious duo, Greg Ford and Terry Lennon, is even more directly critical of studio greed, yet it got a pass and wound up on the TV specialBugs Bunny's Creature Features, perhaps because it was less formally transgressive."[17]
(Blooper) Bunny would not receive a television premiere until1997, afterCartoon Network discovered the film sitting unseen in the vaults. It is featured on disc 1 of theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 DVD as of 2003[update], and on disc 3 of theBugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray as of 2020[update], along with an optionalaudio commentary by Ford.[13]
Jules Faber, in a review for DVD.net, lauded the cartoon as a "highlight" and elaborated further: "Blooper Bunny: Bugs Bunny's 511⁄2 Anniversary is a clever little blooper reel created in 1991 and utilizing some brilliantly conceived early 3D rendering making a very funny behind the scenesmockumentary."Chicago Reader also gave the film a positive mention, saying:
Much of what's funny aboutBlooper Bunny is the temperament of the aging cast: Bugs rehearsing his opening line, "Gosh, I'm so unimportant," over and over; Elmer still trying to grow hair with tonic; Daffy insanely jealous about being upstaged and threatening to have "my people" talk to "your people"; and Sam grouchily declaring as he's being forklifted onstage that he couldn't care less how old Bugs is — he still hates rabbits.
Dawn Taylor in a mixed review forThe DVD Journal, however, said: "it has some very funny moments, and falls completely flat in others."[19]
Gabe Schleifer: Greg Ford told me that a few years ago (a former employee of his was my first year professor at SVA, and Ford came to talk to my class once). According to him, their film "(Blooper) Bunny" was withheld from release for about six years because WB would not let them release it with Daffy's line "WB doesn't have an original bone in their body!" and this is something a classic short could get away with because nobody at WB actually watched the films, they just bankrolled and released them.
