utgard14
The very first cartoon featuring Witch Hazel, a hilarious character who appeared in several Bugs Bunny shorts. This one begins with Bugs reading the story of Hansel and Gretel when he happens upon the real thing as Witch Hazel is luring two little fat kids inside her house to eat them. Bugs decides to save the kids, which puts him in the crosshairs of kooky old Hazel. A funny short with great characters, directed by the always-amazing Chuck Jones. Superior voice work from Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet. Fun music from Carl Stalling. The animation is colorful and crisp, although the backgrounds are that sketchy style Jones seemed to prefer sometimes. Creatively I suppose there's nothing wrong with it but it just seems a little lazy to me. Anyway it's a terrific cartoon with many funny gags and lines. Love the bit where Prince Charming wanders into the wrong cartoon. Gotta appreciate the non-PC ending.
slymusic
Directed by the great Charles M. (Chuck) Jones, "Bewitched Bunny" is a brilliant Bugs Bunny cartoon that cleverly parodies the famous fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel. Let's face it: Walt Disney played his fairy tale cartoons straight, so the Warner Bros. fairy tale cartoons HAD to have a humorous slant to them! Here are, in my opinion, the funnier moments from "Bewitched Bunny" (DON'T read any further until after you've seen this cartoon). Hansel & Gretel are two pudgy little kids who only care about eating sweets; the way they excitedly speak to each other in their mock German accents, loudly declaring that their sweets are "gut" and "yummy", is quite hilarious, as is their belief later on that the witch's mother rides a vacuum cleaner. AND when Bugs - and later, Prince Charming - says to himself, "Hansel? Hansel?? HAN-sel?!", it's really funny, and I don't know why! "Bewitched Bunny" is a lovable cartoon, from the facial expressions of Bugs & Witch Hazel, to the vocal performances of Mel Blanc & Bea Benaderet, to the musical accompaniment of Carl Stalling. Catch this amusing fairy tale on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 2.
Lee Eisenberg
In Witch Hazel's first appearance, she tempts Hansel (Hansel?) and Gretel into her house, only to have Bugs Bunny intervene; of course, he might be just as tasty. If absolutely nothing else, it's always great to see the various and sundry tricks that Bugs comes up with on the spot - always helped, natch, by the fact that any useful substance is immediately at hand. If "Bewitched Bunny" has any problem, it's that the cartoon sort of stereotypes Germans (the children have accents like the characters in "Fargo"). But no matter, this cartoon is purely a joke, and it's impossible not to like. I'd say that Witch Hazel, with her lovable cackling, did as much to advance the cause of witchcraft as Harry Potter or Samantha on "Bewitched". A real classic.
maymad
..and in an edited version-on VHS. Classic Chuck Jones directed short with REALLY funky backgrounds and one of the most hilarious quotes: "Ahh,Your mother rides a vacuum cleaner!!!" spoken by the Teutonic Twins with a glorious German accent! And let's not forget Bugs' "....Hansel?.....Hansel?". I wonder if I've ever seen the original uncut version of this classic short, since, like most of us who've only watched it on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon programs in the 70s-80s, the majority of these were chopped off because they were deemed "violent"...hmmm...I guess these censors were never informed that most of these WB shorts were made FOR and BY ADULTS, so , if kids got a kick out of it, even better!!!Should have been included in the Golden Collection DVDs.
AD
