Good start, but then it gets ruined

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Brilliant and touching

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

What's Opera, Doc? (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Classic animated spoof of the opera has Bugs Bunny playing Brunhilde and Elmer Fudd playing Siegfried. As a child I remember hating this short with a passion and I'd go do something else anytime it came on. Looking at it as an adult I can see why many considering this to be one of director Jones' greatest achievements. While there isn't any big laughs and the action isn't your typical chase 'em stuff, the visual style of this thing is just downright amazing and the opera spoof certainly aims more at adults than kids. The visuals are what makes this film stick out for me and the perfect example of this happens early on during a rain storm, which just has some of the most beautiful backgrounds to any animated film. The clouds rolling in looks spectacular as does another joke involving a lightening strike.

The very fact that you've come to this page suggests to me that you are already aware of everything I am about to tell you about Chuck Jones's 'What's Opera, Doc?' Nevertheless, it's all worth saying again since this is undoubtedly one of the high points in animation history and thus warrants as much discussion as possible, even if it is just reiteration of old points. An ingenious double parody of both Wagner's "Ring" cycle and the standard Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd cartoon as epitomized by Tex Avery's 'A Wild Hare'. It's instantly apparent from the opening moments that 'What's Opera, Doc?' is an extraordinarily beautiful cartoon. What also becomes quickly apparent is that 'What's Opera, Doc?' is far less crammed with traditional Warner Bros. gags than the average short. The luscious look and stunning vocal work and music is far more important than gags here and so, instead of joke after joke, we get lengthy operatic routines including the longest and most emotionally charged drag act Bugs has ever done.It's all still very funny but 'What's Opera, Doc?' has so much more to offer. Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan (as Bugs and Elmer respectively) give the performances of their careers, summoning up genuine emotion from their astonishing work. The pair had been working on Bugs and Elmer cartoon for years by this point and had the characters and their relationship down to a tee but they exert themselves even harder here and the result is an explosive chemistry that provides 'What's Opera, Doc?' with its emotional core. This is key in making the jaw-droppingly tragic ending even more effective as we see the murdered Bugs lying vulnerable beneath a weeping flower. The glorious final wisecrack alleviates some of the sadness but not so much that it spoils the mood. You come away from watching 'What's Opera, Doc?' with a real sense of melancholy alongside the invigorating swell of having seen something truly brilliant.It's unsurprising to learn that Jones swapped round his schedule, finishing other cartoons more quickly in order to give this masterful cartoon the extra attention it deserves. What is perhaps more surprising is the fact that 'What's Opera, Doc?' went virtually unrecognised in its time, not even being nominated for an Oscar in a year that Robert McKimson's Speedy Gonzalez picture 'Tabasco Road' was! (Incidentally, Friz Freleng's great Sylvester and Tweety short 'Birds Anonymous' won the Oscar). Thankfully, 'What's Opera, Doc?' has been retrospectively re-evaluated and has since been hailed as the classic it so blatantly is. Today, it is perhaps the most famous Warner Bros. cartoon of them all.

I absolutely love this cartoon! I though it's one of Bugs Bunny's best cartoons ever and also Chuck Jones' finest cartoons too. I especially love the "romance" scene when Bugs dresses in drag as the Valkyrie Brunhilde and Elmer/Siegfried falls for it. As a kid I used to record the love song "Return My Love," play it on my tape player and pretend to be a beautiful princess standing on the balcony waiting for her Prince Charming; I am a hopeless romantic (*sigh*).All-in-all, the animation, the backgrounds and the music put into this cartoon are excellent! I would love to say: "R.I.P Chuck, we will miss you."

Disney animation legend Chuck Jones' 'Merrie Melodies' short, 'What's Opera, Doc?,' is a pleasant and enjoyable cartoon tribute to the classic operas that have inspired audiences for generations. However, not particularly being a fan of opera – nor, indeed, having even seen many – I'm afraid that much of the film's charm might have been lost of me. The film features the voice talents of Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan, voicing the classic Disney characters of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, respectively (though Blanc did independently voice one of Elmer's lines - "SMOG!"). As we all know, Elmer's primary preoccupation is "hunting wabbits," and, in this film, he plans to do so as the demigod Siegfried, using the mighty powers of his "spear and magic helmet."The seven-minute film is essentially an operatic parody of Richard Wagner's operas, particularly 'Der Ring des Nibelungen / The Ring of the Nibelung.' Several pieces of Wagner's music are used in the film, to great effect, as both characters sing their lines in tune to the classic score: the overture from 'The Flying Dutchman' is used in the opening storm scene; Elmer memorably sings "Kill the wabbit!" to the tune of 'Ride of the Valkyries;' Siegfried's horn call from 'Siegfried' ("O mighty warrior of great fighting stock"); the overture and Pilgrim's Chorus from 'Tannhäuser' ("O Bwünnhilde, you'w so wuvwy," "Return my love").Quite surprisingly, the film ends with the death of Bugs Bunny, and with Elmer instantly regretful for the death he has caused, marking one of those rare occasions when Elmer has actually succeeded in "killing the wabbit!" Luckily, however, I am happy to report that, despite the unavoidable tragic opera conclusion, good old Bugs eases our worries by raising his head in the final seconds to declare, "Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?" This is an endearing Chuck Jones classic.