A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court (1978)

the audience applauded

A lot of fun.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it more now thanks to broader knowledge of directors, studios and animation styles that was not had as much before.Chuck Jones is one of the greatest geniuses in animation history, or at least to me and many others, he deserves his legendary status and his best cartoons are masterpieces. Even his weakest works generally are watchable. 'Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court' was one of those cartoons done when Looney Tunes were past prime (which generally they were since the mid-60s) and while not among Jones' best work (nowhere near) or the best representations of Looney Tunes it is worth watching.'Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court' is a long way from perfect. The animation is mostly not very good at all. A good deal of the drawing is rough rather than smooth, the backgrounds sparse in detail and the colours sometimes lack vibrancy, coming over as flat. Although Mel Blanc was, and still considered as, one of the greatest voice actors ever, that doesn't mean he wasn't immune from sounding off on occasions. Have never really cared for Blanc's voice work for Elmer, a large part of it may be down to being familiar for goodness knows how long by Arthur Q. Bryan and have always found that Blanc doesn't fit anywhere near as well, his voice too deep and abrasive and his speech impediment not as natural. Some of the material is a bit over-familiar and would have benefitted from more wit and variety.However, Blanc shows with the other characters that he had definitely not lost it, every ounce of the exuberance is present as is his unmatched ability to give individual identities to multiple characters. While having relatively little to do as Porky, he is especially spot on as Bugs and Yosemite Sam.They are the two characters that come off best easily, Bugs is charismatic and both arrogant and likeable while Sam is wonderfully hot-headed and temperamental, for a first time attempt for Jones at the character (being a creation and prolific character of Friz Freleng) he does very well. Daffy is as manic and witty as ever and enjoyed everything with Ray Bradbury. Porky is underused but still likeable and Elmer does have funny moments but would have made more of an impression if Blanc's voice work worked. 'Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court' is very amusing on the whole, with some nice dialogue, well-timed gags, a lot of energy and some neat tricks and little things. Things may be predictable but nothing is dull.Jones's trademark humour and directing style is all over the cartoon, showing that he was still going strong rather than running out of steam. The music was better than expected, it is not discordant from the action and it is nowhere near as cheap-sounding as Bill Lava's later work, while not coming close to Milt Franklyn and especially Carl Stalling.On the whole, pretty decent but wasn't mind blown by it. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court" is an American animated short film from 1978, so this one has its 40th anniversary next year. The legendary Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc reunite here to bring back Bugs Bunny in a television special. Unlike the old Warner Bros cartoons, this one runs for over 20 minutes and includes also more characters than those that they usually fit in under 8, also more antagonists. This is set during the days of knights, princesses and dragons (yep SciFi is missing as a genre here) and Bugs really just wants to do his stuff, but the bad guys messing with him obviously only has bad consequences for them. Anyway, like I said earlier this film is not really working. It lacks focus and seems all over the place with the runtime. You can add the overlong title to the "too much" in the title of my review. The only really good aspect is once again Blanc's voice work and he was still at least as good as he was decades earlier, maybe even better. Okay anyway, all in all this one did not leave me impressed and it may have to do a bit with personal bias as the Middle Ages were never a time that interested me too much. Okay mention of Ray Bradbury though. I still believe Mark Twain would not have liked it either. Only worth checking out for the really biggest cartoon enthusiasts.

. . . that Mel Gibson was drawn and quartered at the end, and he's never been the same since. Bugs Bunny is sentenced to the same Fate during BUGS BUNNY IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, and while Bugs has not drunkenly ranted anti-Semitic Nazi slurs in Public after COURT was in session during the late 1970s, Bugs too seems greatly diminished since his 1940s heydays. As the historical record documents that the fastidious British always began a good intestinal drawing with the Castration\Penectomy combo, it's not hard to see why this process might get a guy "down in the dumps." The fact that such distasteful fodder was grist for the Looney Tuners' mill by the 1970s simply proves how morally bankrupt this bunch became after Warner Bros. cut most ties with these Uncontrollable Pervs. TWO Mark Twain novels are mentioned here, counting a passing reference to SAINT JOAN. As Mr. Clemens famously observed, a UPA-style minimalist animation outing is a good cartoon spoiled.

Warner Bros. had retired the Looney Tunes characters throughout the '60s and stopped producing cartoons at the end of the decade (although the cartoons kept rerunning on TV). The release of "Bugs Bunny Superstar" in 1975 renewed interest in the series - sort of like how "American Graffiti" and "Happy Days" renewed interest in 1950s culture - so it was no accident that they brought the characters back for original productions.I should say that the animation in "A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court" looks really rough, and Sir Elmer of Fudde (Elmer Fudd) doesn't sound quite right with Mel Blanc doing his voice (his original voice artist Arthur Q. Bryan died in 1959), but you just gotta love some of the tricks in this movie. Whether it's Merlin's (Yosemite Sam) rants, Connecticut Rabbit's (Bugs Bunny) excessively long lance, or just the idea that advice from Ray Bradbury crossed with the missed left turn at Albuquerque could result in all this, there's some really funny stuff here. Chuck Jones had not run out of steam. Really great.BTW, did you notice that the shield displaying the title said "Whatsupius Doctorus"? That could easily be one of the bogus scientific names in a Road Runner-Wile E. Coyote cartoon.PS: this was the first time that Chuck Jones had directed Yosemite Sam, who had previously been a Friz Freleng character.