Fresh and Exciting

A Disappointing Continuation

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

" . . . is the hobgoblin of small soles," so Bugs Bunny sets out to prove WWE wrong in FORWARD MARCH HARE. Though Bugs is later shown to have much keener eyesight (and, consequently, reading ability) than a human, all of the events of FORWARD are predicated upon Bugs mistaking an Army Draft Notice addressed to "B.(ERTRAM) BONNY" as a missive intended for B. BUNNY (that is, himself). As one might expect, it takes many days for an army officer to exclaim, "Jumping catfish, we've inducted a rabbit!" Setting aside this example of military intelligence, FORWARD is about as graphic as FULL METAL JACKET in depicting the horrors of boot camp. For instance, when Bugs is punished with K.P. (Kitchen Patrol) Duty and ordered to clean and dress a flock of roosters for officers' mess, the very literal hare tricks out the fated fowl in tuxedos! This reminds me of a Real Life incident in which a close relative of mine drew similar duty, only his was to cut grapefruit for 50 men at breakfast. Never having handled this jumbo citrus fruit before, he bisected all of them pole-to-pole, instead of at their equators!

A different kind of Bugs Bunny short from the great team of Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Bugs accidentally gets someone's draft notice and thinks it was meant for him. He shows up for Army training and causes all kinds of mischief. The reason why I said this is a different kind of Bugs short is that here we have Bugs being a bit of an oaf. Instead of being the witty character who gets the best of everyone, he's basically a moron for the sake of the plot he had no business being involved with in the first place. I don't know the backstory to this cartoon but I wouldn't be surprised if this was originally meant for another character and Bugs was substituted at the last minute. It just doesn't feel like a Bugs short and the Jones/Maltese combo certainly knew Bugs by this time. Now, all of that being said, it's not a bad cartoon. The animation is crisp and colorful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Carl Stalling's music is lively as ever. The voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc is flawless. There are laughs to be had, including the "Sergeant Porky Pig" bit, but most of the gags are corny slapstick. Worth a look for Bugs fans but don't expect a classic.

Knowing that Bugs Bunny is usually the cleverest character in the cartoons, it's quite jarring to see him engage in the buffoonery portrayed in "Forward March Hare". True, he makes a living being irreverent, but his actions here border on the sorts of things that one would expect to see on "Gilligan's Island". But if we try to call him stupid, as a previous reviewer did, that gets countered by his super-vision.So why didn't he realize that the letter bore a slightly different name? Well, that was an honest mistake. But it does seem that he should have suspected something strange about suddenly getting a letter announcing that he's been drafted. Still, it's really funny to see him walk around with a deadpan expression, befuddling the X-ray man and getting the general angry at the sergeant.So, it's a funny cartoon, but kind of strange.

Throughout my childhood I sat transfixed through many hundreds of Warner cartoons and as an adult my appreciation and love for them has grown. Chuck Jones's 'Forward March Hare' is one of the many cartoons I distinctly remember watching and enjoying as a youngster. However, I watched it last night on the excellent Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 and something didn't quite ring true about it. Slowly, it dawned on me what it was. Bugs is an idiot! When I was young, of course, such a blatant disregard for character didn't register. It's also worth mentioning that Bugs' character has often been experimented with very successfully. I love the cartoons that cast Bugs as the loser for a change, such as 'Falling Hare' or 'Tortoise Beats Hare'. However, even when playing the loser, Bugs generally remains a strong, smart-alecky personality. In 'Forward March Hare' he is an oblivious buffoon with nary a wisecrack to offer.Throughout the cartoon, only one gag (incidentally, the funniest in the whole film) fits in with the Bugs character we know and love: It involves an eye chart and a jaw-dropping display of superior eyesight, presumably due to enormous carrot intake. Apart from this one display of superior abilities, however, there is no sign whatsoever that Bugs is aware of his disruptive behavior. From the mix up which kick-starts the action through numerous military disasters (including an unintentional misunderstanding of an order to dress some chickens), Bugs is wide-eyed and willing to serve his country but can't stop messing up. The moment when he attempts to hammer in a nail with live ammunition confirms that Bugs isn't heckling, as he usually would in this situation; he's just plain getting it wrong.Character experiments in the Warner Brothers cartoons were often very rewarding (notably, the expanding of Daffy's character from nutty maniac to greedy, manipulative but ultimately sympathetic loser), and putting a new slant on Bugs' character frequently worked a treat. However, while 'Forward March Hare' proves entertaining enough, the concept of Bugs the well-meaning buffoon is impossible to accept for any long-standing cartoon fan.