Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The story is not exactly unfamiliar territory, and is occasionally predictable, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Heckling Hare and found it had a number of interest points. The animation is nice enough to look at, the backgrounds are audacious to watch especially, and the music is a lovely, rousing touch. One major point of interest are some very clever and hilarious sight gags, especially the lengthy fall down the cliff, and the dialogue is funny. Another point of interest is Tex Avery voicing the dog, I felt he did a very good job and his character was entertaining. But for me Bugs steals the show, arrogant and cunning, with excellent vocal work from Mel Blanc. Overall, hilarious and has a lot of interest, but not absolutely exceptional. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Directed by Tex Avery, "The Heckling Hare" is a wildly funny Bugs Bunny cartoon featuring some terrific animation. The term "wascawwy wabbit" doesn't even begin to describe Bugs as he takes advantage of a dopey canine who tries to track him down.My favorite moments from "The Heckling Hare" include the following (DON'T read any further if you have not yet seen this cartoon). The best and most memorable sequence in this film is the lengthy, hilarious fall off the cliff (which, by the way, was the cause of some seriously bad blood between producer Leon Schlesinger and Tex Avery, who decided to part ways with Warner Bros. and move on to the cartoon studio at MGM). Bugs does his nonchalant "Strollin' Thru the Park One Day" walk with a carrot jutting from his mouth, after which he and the dog exchange a myriad of funny faces, ending with Bugs applying a baseball bat to the dog's head. And when the dog chases Bugs underwater, Bugs' ears incongruously circle around a tree stump! "The Heckling Hare" is one of those Bugs Bunny cartoons you just gotta see! Catch it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 Disc 1.

Bugs Bunny sure was a mischievous rascal, particularly in his early years. A smug, conceited and pitiless little fiend, Bugs often appeared to take a near-sadistic pleasure in tormenting his enemies. Of course, that he is the "prey" works considerably in his favour, and audiences will always continue to cheer him on, as nobody likes to see a cute little wabbit become a hunter's next meal. But the most interesting aspect of these cartoons is how the writers cunningly invert the usual scenario, with Bugs, in effect, becoming the hunter of the story, though we instinctively continue to celebrate his successes. Willoughby the hunting dog may be an exceedingly dim-witted canine, perhaps even bordering on mental retardation, but the audience considers him fair game for Bugs' farcical style of bullying. Just why is Bugs the hero in this cartoon, and, indeed, in most of his cartoons? A worthwhile counterpoint to this trend is in Tex Avery's 1941 short 'Hare Beats Rabbit,' starring Bugs and Cecil B. Turtle, in which the bigheaded rabbit is decisively beaten in a foot-race by the quietly-deceitful reptile.These tantalising questions aside, Tex Avery's 'The Heckling Hare (1941)' provides some solid entertainment, which is the real reason why we're watching it. After Willoughby (voiced by Avery) catches Bugs' scent at the entrance of a rabbit-hole, he goes into digging-overdrive, and is so focused on the task at hand that he fails to notice the rabbit (Mel Blanc, as always) idling above him with a carrot between his teeth. Numerous outrageous chase sequences ensue, one ending in the depths of a river and another in a thousands-of-metres plummet from a ridiculously-high cliff. There is some very convincing personality animation in the sequence where Willoughby believes himself to have crushed Bugs to death with his own hands, and he touchingly collapses into tears as he lays a bouquet of flowers at the entrance to the rabbit-hole. Bugs, displaying that uniquely-compassionless streak of his, thinks nothing of this emotion and merely exploits it for some further humiliation.'The Heckling Hare' moves at a brisk pace for seven minutes, and continues at this pace until the closing seconds, when it forgets to add an ending. In actual fact, the cartoon's conclusion was severely truncated by producer Leon Schlesinger, who allegedly felt that the final punchline ("Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!" as the pair fall off another cliff) would somehow be perceived by audiences as having undesirable connotations. This lack of resolution blemishes the film to an extent; I liked the idea of the unusually-protracted freefall, but I was waiting for another good idea to bookend the gag, and it never came (perhaps the instantaneous brakes were a spoof of traditional cartoon physics, abused so frequently for comedic effect). In any case, Avery was aghast at the changes made to his cartoon, and he stormed out of the studio. He eventually wound up with the fortunate folks at MGM, with whom he worked until 1953.

The last Tex Avery Bugs Bunny short is not only his best, but one of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons if not ever, then certainly the early years of the rabbit. We follow Bugs Bunny as he cons Willoughby the mentally retarded dog over and over again.Every single gag in this short is hilarious and makes this film a timeless classic. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.which is interesting in itself. Furthermore it has a little featurette "Behind the Tunes - A Conversation with Tex Avery" that I'll get more into in the listing for that on this site.My Grade: A+