French Rarebit (1951)
While visiting Paris, Bugs Bunny wanders past the restaurants of Louis and François, rival chefs who fight to cook him, until he promises to teach them the recipe for "Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Bordelaise à la Antoine."
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Wonderful character development!
Overrated and overhyped
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
I do agree that this is not one of Bug's better efforts, but it is an amusing little cartoon. What doesn't make it as good is that the first two minutes or so is a tad slow and unfunny, but once the action moves to the kitchen it is then when it gets quite amusing. There are a number of good things, particularly the art work, as the Parisian backgrounds are beautiful to look at. The music is great, and the sight gags in the latter half range from pretty good to very good indeed. Bugs himself is great, and the two chefs are not too bad either, personally it would have been better with just one chef but oh well. Finally, Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations are stellar as always. Overall, slow to start with, but it is really quite amusing once it kicks off. 8/10 Bethany Cox
French Rarebit (1951) ** (out of 4) Bugs Bunny finds himself in Paris, walking down a street when rival chefs start fighting over which one will have Bugs on their menu that night. Soon Bugs joins the fighting in order to make both of them look like fools. This was never one of my favorite Bugs shorts and I'd probably say this is one of the least entertaining over all. There's some nice imagination and good animation but outside of that this thing is pretty lifeless. You expect a lot more in terms of laughs but there's not a single one here, which is rather shocking. Another problem are the two chefs and how bland and boring they are. Not once did they make me laugh and they even manage to bring Bugs down to their unfunny level.
For whatever reason, (probably that I saw this cartoon 6 billion times on TV when I was a kid) this one has always stuck with me. The music stand out for me too.When Bugs is 'kneading" the two Chefsthat "urmf! oof! arf!" sound Bugs makes has cracked me up for almost fifty years!I also love the characterizations of the two chefs: their outrageous, over-the-top accents of the Chefs and just their whole lookparticularly with rabbit teeth.I admit, there's not much to the script. Perhaps it stands out for the never-before-seen characters...
"French Rarebit" is a brilliant Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. While in Paris, Bugs becomes the subject of two competing chefs' dinner menus. As all of us Bugs Bunny fans have come to expect by now, the "wascawwy wabbit" manages to outwit the two French culinary blowhards. And how! Highlights from "French Rarebit" include the following. The cartoon opens with the two chefs battling each other in order to capture Bugs. Bugs shows one of the chefs his "secret recipe" by switching places with him and dressing him up as a rabbit while the popular song "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" (also heard in countless other Warner Bros. cartoons) plays in the background; Bugs then tortures the chef by immersing him in a wine barrel, stuffing his mouth with tons of HOT ingredients, dipping him in flour, and kneading him! What's the moral of this story? Don't ever mess with Bugs Bunny, no matter how hungry your customers are!