Director: Chuck Jones
Release date: November 30, 1963
Stars: Bugs Bunny
Rating: ★
Review:
‘Transylvania 6-5000’ is one of those late Warner Bros. Cartoons, which are equally beautiful to look at as they are boring to watch.
In this short Bugs Bunny wanted to travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, only to end up in Transylvania, where he encounters a vampire with the name Count Bloodcount.
The cartoon is very talkative, and features an annoying female two-headed bird. Worse are the central gags, which are all constructed around the words Abacadabra, which turn the count into a vampire, and ‘hocus pocus’, which turn him back to a human form, again. These sequences suffer from a lack of inner logic and sloppy timing, and are hardly as funny as intended. Bill Lava’s canned music doesn’t help, either.
Despite its gorgeous settings, one cannot conclude but that the Warner Bros. studio ran out of inspiration and of ideas quickly in the early 1960s, contributing to its own shutdown after only one other cartoon, ‘Señorella and the Glass Huarache‘ (which, incidentally, is more fun than this jaded Bugs Bunny cartoon). And yet, already in 1964 Warner Bros. cartoons appeared again, now produced by the DePatie-Freleng cartoon studio of Pink Panther fame. And thus four more Bugs Bunny cartoon were released in 1964, before the character was retired.
Watch ‘Transylvania 6-5000’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Bugs Bunny cartoon No. 164
To the previous Bugs Bunny cartoon: Mad as a Mars Hare
To the next Bugs Bunny cartoon: Dumb Patrol
‘Transylvania 6-5000’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Five’
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February 4, 2024 at 03:28
Tony Perodeau
‘Transylvania 6-5000’ is one of the most polarizing WB cartoons — for every Dr. Grob or Leonard Maltin there are others, including Jerry Beck and this writer, who think it’s great. The incongruity of a calm, cheerful Bugs in a spooky setting works for many folks. My only complaint is with the loud, harsh Bill Lava music over the opening titles; thankfully he tones it well down once the cartoon is in progress. The animation is effective despite its reduced budget, with Ken Harris crafting a fine ‘take’ on the Count as he puzzles over Bugs’ request for a telephone. Thanks to co-director Maurice Noble, layout man Bob Givens and background artist Phil DeGuard, the designs of Count Bloodcount and his castle are far above generic — it’s like Chuck Jones is getting in early practice for the popular, praised Dr. Seuss TV specials he would later craft.
February 4, 2024 at 11:36
Gijs Grob
Thanks for your comment, Tony! I certainly agree that both animation and background art arte top notch – and of course it remains a matter of opinion, so I am glad to read your counter-arguments here.