KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Hare Tonic" is an 8-minute cartoon from 1945, so this one is already over 70 years old. And as this is another collaboration between Chuck Jones, Tedd Pierce and Mel Blanc for Warner Bros., you will certainly know already that it is another Bugs Bunny short. There are basically two stories in here, the first pretty generic one being about Elmer wanting to make rabbit stew and the second about Bugs tricking Elmer into thinking his house is contaminated with a rare illness named "rabbititus". But Titus kinda fits because Bugs is a real Satan's brew in here and you could almost feel sorry at times for Elmer. So yeah this one is all about cooking and contamination, even if both is of course not part itself of the story. It's more about the attempt for one and the phenomenon of the other. Elmer is pretty great in here (or I should say Blanc with his amazing voice acting once again) and he'd have deserved a better rating as it's one of the best I have seen him in. But sadly the two key stories are so forgettable and it's been a while since I watched a Bugs Bunny cartoon where I found him so forgettable. The breaking of the 4th wall does not make the dots plot any better, actually more repetitive only. The mirror reflection scene was fine, the coated tongue joke was a nice little play on words. But that's really all the positive here. Even the title is bad. Don't watch, this one gets a thumbs-down.

slymusic Directed by Charles M. "Chuck" Jones, "Hare Tonic" is a fine Warner Bros. cartoon that once again pits Bugs Bunny against his favorite nemesis: Elmer Fudd. Fudd brings Bugs home for a rabbit stew, and Bugs easily escapes. But get this: Bugs actually comes to his senses and realizes that if he leaves Elmer's house, there'd be no cartoon! So he rushes back and invents a gigantic whopper about a disease knows as "rabbititus", which scares Elmer out of his wits. Things get even screwier when Bugs poses as a bearded, bespectacled doctor.Here are my favorite moments from "Hare Tonic". I always enjoy hearing cartoon characters singing, as Elmer does at the beginning of this film with his version of "Mamie's Wittle Baby Woves Wabbits" while he carries Bugs home in a basket. Bugs then childishly begs Elmer to let him take a peek at the rabbit, after which Bugs stuffs Elmer in the basket and takes over the singing! (Bugs can't seem to get the song out of his head, since he later sings it while sitting in Elmer's cooking pot slicing carrots.) And when "Dr. Gilpatient" (Bugs) tests Elmer's reflexes, Elmer goes into a familiar Russian kick dance, and Bugs decides to join him in a busby hat and boots; the subsequent "heys" are hilarious! "Hare Tonic" is a fun cartoon in which Elmer Fudd has somewhat of a different look than usual, but who cares? Bugs Bunny realizes the need for his audience to be entertained, so he sticks around and makes the most of his "victimhood".

ccthemovieman-1 If nothing else, this cartoon points out two basic facts: Bugs Bunny is very sadistic, and Elmer Fudd is extremely dumb. Immediately, to prove the latter, Fudd buys a rabbit to make rabbit stew but doesn't know a rabbit when Bugs pops out of the basket. Finally, after some gags, he says, "Oh, you twicked me; you're the wabbit." At least Bugs acknowledges the little man's ignorance with the statement, "He don't know me very well, do he?" (Have you ever noticed how bad the grammar is in many of these cartoons?)Bugs' sadistic side comes into play when he decides to torment the idiot, standing behind Elmer's big radio and pretending to be an announcer, saying the Health Department is warning people against bringing any rabbits into their house. He then describes the horrible symptoms one would get if infected with this contagious "rabbititus" disease.The gag of the cartoon is mainly BB trying to convince Elmer he's caught the disease. Funny scenes included Bugs smelling himself and saying, "Oh, goodness; don't tell me I offend;" walking around with the kettle attached to his butt; his "coated" tongue and the '40s expression, "Come on, Jackson, cut yourself a slice of rug! (which means, let's dance).Not being one who particularly laughs at sadism on display, I thought this cartoon was just "fair."

J. Spurlin Elmer Fudd buys Bugs Bunny from a meat market as he anticipates a nice rabbit stew. Bugs climbs out of his basket to tell him he's been robbed: the rabbit's gone! Incredibly, Elmer believes him. The dope eventually catches on when Bugs shoves him into the basket and then carries it himself. Somehow Elmer manages to get Bugs home, but the wily rabbit easily escapes. But wait! Why waste a great opportunity? Bugs returns to "heckle that character." He fools Elmer, through a faked radio program, into believing that there's an epidemic of something called "rabbititus" going about. Through Bugs's trickery he sees spots, a coat on Bugs's tongue and his own rabbity image reflected at him in a "mirror" that's really just Bugs after the glass has been removed. Dr. Killpatient arrives to help, but he has a suspiciously fuzzy tail. But it's we in the audience who may prove Bugs's ultimate dupes.This is a very good short, remarkably so from Chuck Jones, who had not yet hit his stride in 1945 and was frequently bringing out interesting failures or tepid successes. Elmer Fudd has never been stupider; the hilarious business on the telephone is reason enough to see this.This cartoon is available on the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Three," Disc 1.