Deep Background
“Wackiki Wabbit!” This is the one about two castaways stuck on a tropical atoll with that Oscar winning rabbit. They spend almost as much time chasing our buddy Bugs, as imagining each other, in true cartoon tradition, as different, beautifully rendered, items of food. Vintage Chuck Jones material, most of it, roll-out-of-your-chair hilarious— so funny, you won’t notice the exquisite character animation. A genuine riot.
But dig that crazy island! For the most part, Warner Brothers was just beginning to experiment with stylized scenics in 1943. But suddenly Jones unleashed the background boys, letting ‘em go nuts, and the results look like bargain day at a Polynesian fabric store! Even when the studio did embrace less realistic layouts, they were usually used to simplify things graphically. Here the melange of print designs and floral patterns create insanely complex compositions — once or twice it looks like the undernourished characters are about to be engulfed by the surrounding flora! Gorgeous stuff! Gaudy, but gorgeous!
It’s “Nice Place to Visit but I Wouldn’t Want to Live There Week” on ReFrederator. Have your cartoon passport ready for tommorow’s animation/vacation.
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On June 14th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Oh man I LOVED this short! Very trippy! It’s funny tho that even thought he bgs are techinally “busy” with the patterns, they do not impede on the animation or detract from seeing the characters. The dancing sequence when Bugs tricks them is hilarious! Plus I love the character designs as well (I believe I read somewhere that they are based on the writers. This version of Bug’s design is my favorite because it does not get that huge McKimson jowl or even that slick streamlined Jones character from the later years. In this cartoon Bugs is still annoying enough to be funny which I love, and not sophisticated yet which I do not care for as much.
On June 14th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Yeah, this is prime stuff. Really tops in all categories. I think writers Tedd Pierce and Mike Maltese also provided the voices for their caricatures!
On June 16th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Ah cool! I didn’t know that! It’s interesting that John K. on his blog just yesterday was talking about this style of Bugs as the best one as well. He explained it much better than me.