My Bunny Lies Over the Sea (1948)

. . . each North Carolina public school to offer 31 separate bathrooms to accommodate all of his Sex-of-the-Month Clubbers, he opened up the Can of Worms with which Bugs Bunny fiddles during MY BUNNY LIES OVER THE SEA. This story takes place in that mixed up portion of Britain which nixed Brexit. Bugs calls the Scotchguards on the carpet for skirting their congenital conditions. Adding insult to injury, these bearded belles insist upon wailing into windbags likely to be harboring lethal doses of malign microbes. On top of that, they're prone to fritter away all their time puttering around a playing field set up as a Rapist's Paradise, with 18 undefended holes ripe for attacking. Whereas baseball has nine guys available to catch balls, with hockey and soccer employing goalies to swat orbs away, as football and basketball rely on the entire team to do the same thing, the Scotch are shooting fish in a bucket, using up to a dozen specialty sticks to accomplish what Bryce Harper does with one, or LeBron James manages to do with his bare hands (that is, score). Nevertheless, Bugs Bunny's Scot antagonist thinks he's a Big Man here every time he's able to cram his dimpled egg into a poor, defenseless opening.

I wouldn't put My Bunny Lies Over the Sea among the best of the Looney Tunes canon, but it was an enjoyable and entertaining cartoon. Even with its predictable game of golf and I wouldn't have minded it being a minute or so longer as well.That said, it goes at a cracking pace, has some fine sight gags and dialogue, beautiful crisp animation and an energetic music score. Also Mel Blanc as he always does does a fantastic job with all the voices. Bugs is still the witty and likable rabbit that I fell in love with, and the support characters work well too. I loved the title too, almost poetic like a love song.Overall, an entertaining cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"My Bunny Lies over the Sea" is a fine Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. This time around, the wascawwy wabbit matches wits with a pompous, arrogant Scotsman (voiced by Mel Blanc, of course).Here are my personal favorite moments from this cartoon. Believing the Scot to be a helpless little old lady, Bugs attacks a "horrible monster" (the gentleman's bagpipes). For the ending, Bugs adds a bass drum, cymbals, clarinets, a trumpet, a trombone, and a saxophone to his own set of bagpipes. During the golf tournament, the expression on Bugs' face is hilarious as he indicates to the Scot that his impatient foot-tapping is very rude while Bugs plans his first swing; I also love how Bugs makes use of an "auction" to bring his fifty-five swings down to one."My Bunny Lies over the Sea" is proof that Bugs Bunny can outwit just about ANYBODY with whom he comes into contact.

In perhaps Bugs's first reference to that "wrong turn at Albequerque," he instead finds himself in Scotland where he encounters a Scottish bagpipe player (whom he mistakenly presumes is an old lady being attacked by a monster - if that makes sense to you). After Bugs unknowingly destroys the Scotsman's bagpipes, he decides to settle the dispute by challenging the rabbit to a game of golf. Wackiness ensues.Although nothing above the ordinary, this is still a pretty amusing Bugs Bunny short. The interplay between him and the Scotsman at the beginning is funny (particularly Bugs's portrayal of a Scottish landowner). As are several of the tricks Bugs plays on him when on the links. As far as characterization is concerned, Bugs is his usual tricky self (but no more) while the Scotsman is the stereotypical foreigner complete with a deliberately funny Scottish accent. With no other characters to speak of, this may be one of Bugs's most simplistic cartoons ever (not to be confused with "worst" mind you). The surprise ending is pretty funny too as it finally gives the Scotsman a fair come-uppance.Perhaps the most interesting thing about this short is its animation. Despite being released in 1948, the cartoon both looks and sounds more like a 1950s short. By contrast, later shorts like High Diving Hare and Rebel Rabbit look and feel more like 1940s shorts. This just goes to show how ahead of his time Chuck Jones really was as his less cinematic style of animation was in the 70s and 80s imitated by almost every cartoonist in one way or another.Overall, this is a fairly average Bugs Bunny cartoon. But understand that an average Bugs cartoon is still better than a top cartoon with most other cartoon characters. That alone makes it well worth watching.