What's Up, Doc ? (1950)

"What's Up Doc?" is a fairly known quote from all these Bugs Bunny short films that comes up again and again and here we have the short film with the same title that shows us how it was created. This cartoons runs for 7 minutes and has McKimson, Foster and Blanc work on it, some of Warner Bros' most known and most prolific. It depicts the early days of Bugs' life and career as we see him as a baby rabbit (cute!) and as an aspiring artist with a rocky road to stardom as well as the crowd did not love him initially. But Elmer makes him a star and this short film tells us that all the Bugs Bunny cartoons we watch are actually show and acted by everybody we see in there, not real life. An interesting new perspective. As a whole, this was an okay short film, the highlight was certainly the scene with the caricatures of famous (actually existing) actors who lost their fame and I like it in particular because it was also a bit critical about the industry. Luckily, Bugs managed to get back and really launch his big career unlike the others. Good cartoon, I recommend the watch.

While the cartoon feels rather short and the story on the standard side, it is a interesting, memorable and handsomely mounted Bugs Bunny cartoon. Nothing here is remarkably funny, but there are some effective scenes like the scene in the park and the repeat of "What's Up Doc?" The cartoon also begins and ends in a very cute fashion, and throughout there is handsome animation, lovely vaudeville-like music and excellent voices from Mel Blanc and Arthur Q.Bryan as Bugs and Elmer who make a great double act if I must say so. Bugs is great here, he's been better, but I like his somewhat subdued side here, and Elmer is fine.Overall, memorable and interesting, not the best but a cartoon worth watching. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Robert McKimson's 'What's Up, Doc' is a witty take on Bugs Bunny's rise to fame. Relating his life story to a reporter over the phone, Bugs tells of his birth, his early experiences with showbiz and his big break when he was discovered by "big vaudeville star" Elmer Fudd. Although it feels vaguely like a one joke picture which spends it whole time building to a funny but slightly non-sensical punchline, 'What's Up, Doc' has some great moments such as its take on the origins of the titular catchphrase and even a musical number. While the laughs are a little thin on the ground, 'What's Up, Doc' is still a handsome and decently paced film. It's a minor but reasonably memorable cartoon.

This is a bit different from most Bugs Bunny cartoons: the life story of Bugs, from when he knew he was "a bit different" (the rest of the babies were humans and he was a rabbit) to his beginnings in the world of show business.However, the latter doesn't pan out. Bugs is down on his luck and moping around on a park bench, when Elmer Fudd passes by and says, "Why are you hanging around with these guys? They'll never amount to anything." (They are Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor and Bing Crosby!) Elmer gets him a job back in the theater. The vaudeville show opens in Peoria (where else?). It travels on to Buffalo and then New York City, but Bugs is getting bugged. He's tired of being Elmer's foil and getting pies shoved in his face, etc. He reverses the act and finishes with "What's up, doc?" It's a smash! Offers come in from everywhere and the two head off to Hollywood and Warner Brothers. The rest is history.There are not a lot of laughs in here: very few, in fact, but it's fairly interesting. This is good for one viewing only, unless you're a big fan or a collector of BB cartoons, then it might be of historical significance.