Hyde and Hare (1955)

Growing up a fan of the classic horror movie monsters, I always enjoyed seeing the Looney Tunes shorts with a horror theme. Whether it was Frankenstein or Dracula or a witch or whatever, it was something I got a kick out of (and still do, really). Here we have a kindly old doctor bringing Bugs home to be his new pet, an arrangement Bugs is surprisingly happy with. The doctor turns out to be Dr. Jekyll, who drinks a potion and turns into the horrible Mr. Hyde. What follows is Bugs trying to escape the monstrous Hyde, while also protecting Jekyll because he doesn't realize they are one and the same. The animation is beautiful. Love the colors and the backgrounds are very nice. Excellent voice work from Mel Blanc. Carl Stalling's music is energetic and fun. It's a funny cartoon with a cool ending and one of my favorite bits of random business in any Bugs short: Bugs doing a bizarre Liberace impression ("I wish my brother George was here.").

. . . Hare, green fur and all, in this Warner Bros. animated short, HYDE AND HARE. Always a gifted pianist, America's favorite rabbit also performs Chopin's "Minute Waltz" flawlessly (though Mr. Hyde deprives us of the final 39 seconds). Dr. Jekyll as a wimpy bunny lover absent his live-action feature film strumpet patients plays a sour second fiddle to the harmonious hare, however, in HYDE. Most, if not all, viewers will finish this episode wondering what the chartreuse rabbit will do next, and resent Dr. Jekyll for hogging so much of the screen time, thus depriving us of an answer. Mr. Hyde fares little better here. One can take just so many Hyde-and-go-Squeak sequences within a confined space before they become quite monotonous. With most Looney Tunes, you feel that the animators reached at least 110% of the potential of their material. But HYDE AND HARE checks in at a much more pedestrian 65 or 70% at best.

Hyde and Hare (1955)** 1/2 (out of 4) Being a major fan of horror movies as well as Bugs, you'd think I'd love this short but in fact I find it to be rather tame. The kind Dr. Jekyll comes to the park everyday to feed Bugs some carrots and one day decides to take him home as a pet. At the house the doctor drinks his potion, which turns him into the monstrous, green skinned Mr. Hyde. This film really doesn't contain too many laughs until the end when Bugs turns into the monster but sadly they don't spend anytime with this joke. Everything before that is decent but nothing really jumps off the screen. I enjoyed the calmness of Dr. Jekyll and I thought the transformation scenes were good but there still weren't enough laughs.

"It's shameful; but it's a living," shrugs Bugs before he goes into his "timid little rabbit routine" so he can get his daily carrot from his "benefactor" at the park. Bugs plays it to the hilt, jumping into the man's arms and suggesting he adopt him as his pet and could feed him in bed every time. The quiet, unassuming little man is thrilled and carries Bugs to his home. The shock is that the man is "Dr. Jekyll!" It turns out both Bugs and "the doc" are not what they seem! This, then, was a two-joke cartoon the first part on the nice old man, the second on Bugs.I enjoyed the funny bits with Bugs imitating Liberace and then Dr. Jekyll's quick transformations back and forth to Mr. Hyde. That was not overdone, only went for a couple of minutes and was entertaining. The ending was the only weak part, too predictable and not funny. I still liked this cartoon, which was included in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 DVD.