Release Date:

June 13, 1942

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

In order to keep his title “King of the Jungle”, a dopey lion attempts to catch Bugs Bunny.

That’s Not All, Folks:

This is one of the rare instances where a Bugs Bunny cartoon does not contain the words “rabbit”, “wabbit”, “doc”, “hare”, or “Bugs” in the title.

This is also one of the few Bugs Bunny cartoons from this era to not feature Bugs leaning on the shield and eating a carrot.

This is Jones’ first cartoon with Bugs’ personality fully established as “Elmer’s Pet Rabbit” had not had Bugs’ character fully developed yet.

This is the first time where both Bugs and his antagonist lose in the end.

The cartoon was originally going to be included on the Looney Tunes Super Stars Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD in 2010, before being reconsidered. It was later included on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set in 2020.

What I Like About This One:

The lion is first shown to take sarcasm very blindly when a hippo, a monkey, and a giraffe make fun of him, before catching himself nodding after the hippo states his belief that “that palooka couldn’t kill a rabbit!” (animated by Ben Washam).

Now determined to prove the trio wrong, the lion declares they shouldn’t have talked bad about him, and starts swinging his fists before accidentally punching himself. The lion then says “Hey! He fouled me! You seen him!” The hippo, monkey, and giraffe laugh at the lion for making a fool of himself before the lion attempts to roar at them but only succeeds in coughing. The three animals then pretend to be frightened before continuing to laugh as the lion sets off to find a rabbit (animated by Washam).

The hippo, monkey, and giraffe then transition into the next scene where plants rustling have taken their place.

Holding a carrot in his hand, the lion comes across a railroad crossing labeled “Stop Look Listen Rabbit Tracks”. There are rabbit tracks on the ground, and Bugs comes past imitating a locomotive and then reverses back to retrieve the carrot from the lion’s hand (animated by Robert Cannon).

While chasing after Bugs, the lion skids into a hollow log and comes out with Bugs lying in his paws and asking “What’s up, doc?” before taking out another carrot. The lion then activates each claw via a switchblade but one of them comes out rather nasty-looking so he pulls it out. He swings at Bugs just as Bugs conveniently puts his carrot in the lion’s reach. Bugs tells him, “Not a bad trick, doc, but can you do this?” and tries to get the lion to wiggle his ears. Getting wise, the lion informs Bugs of his plan to capture him to prove he’s king of the jungle. Bugs finds this silly as if he was being hunted, he’d be scared. He pretends to be scared and runs off in a mocking way :“Shriek, shriek. Scream, scream” (Cannon animated this entire scene).

The lion stalking Bugs while he’s picking carrots and singing “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano”, complete with sunbonnet. Every time Bugs looks over in the lion’s direction, the lion pretends to be doing something else, at one point pretending to swim to the tune of the Blue Danube (animated by Ken Harris).

Harris’ animation of Bugs spinning like a top up into the air and then diving down into his hole.

Bugs setting up a door in front of his hole before the lion (who’s now wearing the sunbonnet) can skid into it. When Bugs opens the door to the lion, he laughs at how ridiculous the lion looks with the sunbonnet. The lion soon finds himself laughing as well to which Bugs pulls down a shade: “Silly, isn’t he?” Bugs then moves the door to the other side and refuses to give the lion the key. The lion attempts to run at the door but Bugs opens it at the last second causing the lion to crash (this scene is entirely animated by Rudy Larriva).

The lion eventually has Bugs cornered but then the phone rings (animated by Larriva). Bugs answers it and it turns out to be the lion’s wife, Hortense, who demands him to come home, revealing the lion is a henpecked husband. Bugs laughs at this, finding it ironic that the lion wants to be king of the jungle, but isn’t even the master in his own home. Bugs confides that he “wears the pants” in his family, but this is immediately debunked by the arrival of his wife, “Mrs. Bugs Bunny”. She reveals that she literally wears the pants: lifting up her skirt to reveal a pair of pants (animated by Phil DeLara).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½