Director: Friz Freleng
Release date: December 8, 1962
Stars: Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam
Rating: ★
Review:
In one of his last appearances (only two would follow in the classic era) Yosemite Sam is a cook for a king (who’s, I guess, a caricature of Charles Laughton, an actor already dead at the time).
Despite Yosemite Sam’s efforts the king is bored with what he’s offered and demands Hasenpfeffer, a dish unknown to Sam. He soon finds out, and happily Bugs Bunny comes along to borrow some carrots. What follows are some terribly unfunny routines, with too much dialogue and rather poor animation for a Warner Bros. cartoon.
Worst is the scene in which Bugs talks while laying in a large oven tray: in an obvious and unconvincing cheat only his head is animated, while his body remains perfectly still. I would expect that in a Hanna-Barbera television cartoon, not in a theatrical Warner Bros. cartoon.
Better than anything moving in this cartoon is the background art by Hawley Pratt (layouts) and Tom O’Loughlin (paintings)
Watch ‘Shishkabugs’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Bugs Bunny cartoon No. 158
To the previous Bugs Bunny cartoon: Bill of Hare
To the next Bugs Bunny cartoon: Devil’s Feud Cake
‘Shishkabugs’ is available on the Blu-Ray-set ‘Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Edition’
Discover more from Dr. Grob's Animation Review
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 13, 2024 at 16:52
Isla
Boy, the animation here is *bad*! I’d swear I was watching a Paramount cartoon from this period from how limited it is sometimes!
November 13, 2024 at 16:41
Tony Perodeau
I’d rate this *½ or even **. From first view at the end of the 1960s I thought that Shiskabugs was thoroughly mediocre but interesting at times. In the 1940s, cartoonists seemed to assume that everyone knew what hasenpfeffer was, in contrast to the 1960s when it had to be explained. When Bugs is in the tray, one ear tilts slightly more than the other — a Virgil Ross trait. When Friz Freleng caricatured Charles Laughton there was always visual impact; compare with Bob McKimson’s just-competent attempt in Good Noose. As the guards march Sam to his punishment, the statue of an ax-wielding knight provides a silent clue about what awaits him. Yes, this cartoon is talky but not as bad as it might have been.