Bugs Bunny: Big Top Bunny (NR, 1951)

BUGS BUNNY: BIG TOP BUNNY packages 10 classic Bugs Bunny episodes. When Bugs joins the circus, he's partnered with the egotistical Bruno, the Dancing Bear in "Big Top Bunny." Bugs challenges Cecil Tortoise to a race in "Tortoise Beats Hare." A mad scientist and his furry, tennis shoe-wearing monster try to steal Bugs's brain in "Water Water Every Hare." An off-screen animator makes Bugs's life miserable in "Rabbit Rampage." In "The Abominable Snow Rabbit," Bugs and Daffy Duck encounter an overly affectionate Abominable Snowman. Bugs protects a little rabbit from Pete Puma in "Rabbit's Kin." Bugs toys with a group of fox hunting hounds in "Foxy by Proxy." In "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid," he has to defend himself against a goofy buzzard. Bugs gets into a game of golf with a hot-headed Scotsman in "My Bunny Lies Over the Sea." He gives the performance of his life, conducting a symphony in "Baton Bunny."

It can't be said often enough: Bugs Bunny is one of the greatest cartoon characters ever conceived, and this collection offers 10 reasons why. By giving us 10 cartoons that encompass three decades of the rabbit's career, the range of the character becomes especially clear. Every cartoon here is worthwhile, but a few deserve special mention. "Water Water Every Hare" features Bugs against the red-haired, tennis shoe-wearing monster. It includes the classic bit when Bugs becomes a chatty hairdresser who insists on giving the monster an explosive perm, and boasts a dreamlike conclusion, when the mad scientist continues his pursuit of Bugs in slow motion after both have inhaled ether.

"Rabbit Rampage" is a Chuck Jones remake of his classic of classics "Duck Amuck," in which Daffy Duck was tormented by an off-screen animator. This time it's Bugs who's abused by a malicious artist, and although it doesn't reach the heights of the earlier cartoon, there are enough standout visual gags to make it an enjoyable effort. "The Abominable Snow Rabbit," contains one of Daffy's most memorable lines. After betraying Bugs to the Abominable Snowman, who is determined to keep one of them as a pet, he proclaims, "I'm not like other people. I can't stand pain. It hurts me." And finally, "Rabbit's Kin" pits Bugs against Pete Puma, who, with his oddball voice and extremely bizarre laugh, ranks as Bugs's all-time strangest adversary.