Looney Tunes: Rabbit's Run [2015]

After nine years of absence from the film industry (albeit direct-to-video), the Looney Tunes are back with "Rabbits Run", a 70-minute animated action-comedy involving an every-man-for-himself chase after two rabbits with an invisibility potion (hence the title). The DVD also comes with four CGI cartoon shorts (produced by Reel FX) and the very first episode of the Looney Tunes Show as a bonus, which I wholeheartedly approve of.Taking place five years after the events of the Looney Tunes Show on TV, we find our cast of characters out of the Los Angeles suburbs and in the big city of New York. This movie focuses on the misadventures of aspiring perfumer Lola Bunny (who has come a long way since her old self in Space Jam).After receiving a floral gift (i.e. the mystical Flora Occulta) from her landlord Speedy Gonzales on the day she was fired (for accidentally trashing her workplace in her daydreams), she fulfills her dream to create the ultimate perfume, unaware that she actually created an invisibility potion which everyone is dying to get their hands on. With General Foghorn Leghorn, Agent Elmer Fudd, bank robber Yosemite Sam and many more Looney Tunes hot on his tail, her only hope of escaping in one piece are dueling taxi drivers Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Needless to say, it's gonna be a wild and bumpy ride for the whole family!So is it a good movie? Long story short, I'd say yes, it's pretty good, but it definitely could've been better. This movie can be considered a sequel to the sitcom-styled Looney Tunes Show which focused more on the characters' interactions than just old-fashioned cartoon slapstick. So, if you're hoping to get lots of cartoon slapstick, you may be a little disappointed.Nonetheless, this movie does a nice job putting our characters in new wacky situations. For instance, when Bugs and Daffy have to rescue Lola from interrogation halfway through the movie, we finally get to see Bugs on the receiving end of the slapstick instead of Daffy as usual (although he gets his comeuppance later on). We also get to see Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, two of Bugs' greatest adversaries, on opposing sides in a bank standoff. So, when you can put characters in a new situation and make it work, I'd call it situational comedy done right.The production value looks decent as well with colorful scenes and backgrounds, fairly expressive character animation and almost the entire voice cast of the Looney Tunes Show (e.g. Jeff Bergman, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, etc.) reprising their roles with the exception of Lola Bunny (voiced by co-writer and co-voice director Rachel Ramras by the way).But, on the other hand, I feel this movie would've done much better if it had better voice performances and audio editing, especially during the cringeworthy first 10-minutes. The opening song "Smell in my Mind" (performed by Lola) in particular felt needlessly drawn out and underwhelming. If this wasn't a direct-to-video film, I fear it'd lose most of the audience in the theatre. Thankfully, the rest of the movie makes up for it.So, in spite of all its production flaws (namely the cringeworthy opening), I'd call this a charming cartoon chase adventure which stays mostly true to the Looney Tunes spirit. Unlike the two major Looney Tunes movies (i.e. Space Jam and Back in Action) which had characters working together as teams for some reason, this movie has practically every character apart from Lola and Bugs looking out for themselves as they would in the good old days (i.e. the theatrical shorts). Yes, this may be a plot about everyone fighting to get their hands on a MacGuffin (in this case, an invisibility potion), but what better plot for cartoon characters as crazy and ambitious as the Looney Tunes?I bought two copies of this movie for Easter; one for myself and one for my family. Is this a movie for the kids? Definitely! Is this a movie for long-time and/or hardcore Looney Tunes fans? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Another modern take on the classics focused on making money rather than on quality of writing and comedy.

Funny

Great

Think of this as a romantic comedy with Lola Bunny sharing top billing with Bugs, and you won't be disappointed. Rachel ("Mike Tyson Mysteries") Ramras, the third actor to provide Lola's voice, plays her as a spazzy-cute obsessive who shakes up everyone and everything around her, including the unflappable Bugs. Ramras, who co-wrote the screenplay and co-directed the voice cast, turns Lola into a screwball but stunning leading lady, in contrast to Kristen Wiig's scary-crazy Lola in THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW. I enjoy both approaches to the character, but Ramras's Lola is definitely the more marketable version.If anything, RABBITS RUN is the first big step in promoting Lola from the supporting cast to the first female character in the front lines of the Looney Tunes boys' club (unless you count the gender-ambiguous Tweety). As a trickster figure who can hold her own with Bugs Bunny, she's got possibilities -- let's see what Warners does with her next. The present movie is more than watchable, but if you were expecting another slice of THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW, forget it. The Macguffin is an invisibility formula accidentally created by Lola, for which she and Bugs are chased by absolutely everyone, pausing only for a couple of musical numbers. The one sung by Mac and Tosh is, of course, completely over the top, and they get to do more cross-dressing than Bugs (Bugs, by the way, wears heels in his scenes as a female flight attendant, and his calves are spectacular).The disc's bonus cartoons are a random assortment: the Looney Tunes Show's pilot episode, three digital Road Runner cartoons from 2010, and a digital Sylvester & Tweety from 2011.

I may have just turned 23, and I know that's still very young, but some people might say that my days of 'Looney Tunes' fandom should have long since past - what rubbish. These cartoon characters were my childhood, and as it's been almost ten years since we've had a Looney Tunes movie, either direct-to-DVD or otherwise, when I heard about 'Rabbit Run', I immediately tracked down the 'leak' to watch it on the internet, and when the DVD is released in September, I fully intend to buy it.I know that television's recent 'The Looney Tunes Show' divided the fans, but I loved it. I regarded this modern and up-to-date series as the perfect way to introduce to these classic characters to younger generations, and it's suburban setting in the form of a plot-driven sitcom was great. This film is based on the said show by Warner Bros. Animation.'Rabbit Run' stars wise guy cabdriver Bugs Bunny and the wonderfully annoying, crazy Lola Bunny, recently sacked from her job at a perfume store. Both of these bunnies find themselves getting into mischief as they travel the streets of New York and Paris in the search of a highly sought-after invisibility spray.'Rabbit Run' has an interesting, original plot with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and good jokes. As well as Bugs and Lola, most of the other central Looney Tunes appear, including Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, Porky Pig and Foghorn Leghorn, in addition to a couple minor and more obscure toons like Cecil Turtle (Bugs's old racing nemesis) and Pete Puma.If you didn't like 'The Looney Tunes Show', then it's doubtful that you'll enjoy this film. If you did appreciate it, then rest assured, you'll love 'Rabbit Run'. Let's be honest, at least it doesn't have a weak plot that mixes in severely cut episodes of classic 1940s/1950s cartoons, like that awful straight-to-video 'movie' of 1982: '1001 Rabbit Tales'.Edit: I have since bought the DVD, and as a wonderful bonus, the disc contains five shorts from 'The Looney Tunes Show': including three with Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner, one Sylvester and Tweety, and 'Best Friends', the show's first episode starring Bugs and Daffy.