bugssponge Little Red Riding Hood is depicted as a typical teenage girl from the 1940s, a "bobby soxer" with an extremely loud and grating voice (inspired by screen/radio comedienne.After she sings the first verse in the opening to establish this fact, Bugs Bunny pops out of her basket to ask where she's going. She replies that she's going to "bring a little bunny rabbit to my grandma's. Ta HAVE, see?"With this part of the story set up, the wolf is now introduced. The wolf switches a "Shortcut to Grandma's" sign, so that Red has to go through a long mountain path, while the wolf uses the real shortcut---a few short steps to the house. Seeing a note on the door that Grandma isn't home, the wolf sneaks inside and dresses like Grandma---only to find that a bunch of other wolves are similarly dressed and waiting in the bed for Red! The wolf growls for the others to "COME ON! COME ON! take a powder---this is ''MY'' racket!" and the other wolves leave muttering to themselves, and then a small wolf leaves from under the pillow.Once in bed, the wolf waits for Red to come to the door. But in a twist, the wolf isn't interested in eating Red, but rather the rabbit she brought with her. The wolf quickly shuffles Red out the door and tries looking for Bugs. Bugs, however, gets the better of the wolf and runs around the house, being 'chased' by the wolf. Along the way, Bugs subjects the wolf to the famous lots-of-doors in-and-out routine. The wolf, however, is constantly interrupted by Red, who continues asking the questions from the story, such as "That's an awfully big nose for you – ta HAVE." Towards the end of the cartoon, the wolf finally corners Bugs, but Bugs imitates the wolf's every action even when the wolf keeps telling Bugs to stop. After eluding the wolf by distracting him into singing ''Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet (With the Blue Ribbons on It)'', Bugs manages to get a glowing coal from the fireplace and sends the wolf to the ceiling by scorching his backside. When the wolf comes down, Bugs has a large shovelful of coals waiting to scorch the wolf.However, the wolf manages to catch his feet on the ends of two benches just in time, doing the "splits", facing the camera. Instead of simply kicking one of the benches away, Bugs proceeds to dump heavy weights into the wolf's arms. After clearing out just about everything in the house (except the kitchen sink), Bugs is about to apply the coup de grace on the wolf---by placing an olive branch on top of the mass of junk and furniture the wolf is holding---when Red comes back in, bellowing "Hey, GRANDMA!" (by now, Red had already commented on the wolf's big eyes, ears and nose, and his sharp teeth, one wonders what she was planning to ask next).By now, even Bugs has gotten sick of Red's interruptions, prompting himself to say, "I'll do it, but I'll probably hate myself in the morning." He descends the ladder, out of frame, there's a shuffling of the furniture... and now RED is the one desperately trying to avoid getting scorched (doing the "splits" in her dress, but modestly facing ''away'' from the camera), while Bugs and the wolf, arms around each other's shoulders, share a carrot and self-satisfied looks, and await the inevitable.This was ranked 39/50 greatest cartoons by Jerry Beck in 1994. 10/10Highly recommended!

ackstasis Everybody knows how the story of Little Red Riding Hood should go. The titular character should be an innocent, precocious and trusting little girl, and her ultimate adversary, the Wolf, should be a ugly and contemptible villain – but all this is forgotten when Bugs Bunny comes around! 'Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944),' directed by Friz Freleng and released on January 4, 1944, is a pretty average Merrie Melody for the most part, but the ending is one of the most audacious and satisfying conclusions to a Warner Bros. cartoon that I've ever seen; I was almost tempted to rise from my chair and offer a standing ovation. Mel Blanc, in his first credited voice role, provides the voice for the rascally Bugs, Billy Bletcher plays the gruff Wolf, and Bea Benaderet – whom I can't decide whether to praise or chastise – offers a voice to one of the most annoying cartoon characters ever conceived.Fortunately, though this isn't always the case, the filmmakers here were quite aware that the character of Little Red Riding Hood was immediately irritating, and they make this known from the very beginning, provoking the audience with a grating rendition of "The Five O'Clock Whistle." Little Red is strutting through the forest, basket-in-hand, when a familiar head pops itself out of the basket and politely asks where she is heading: "Ta bring a little bunny rabbit to my grandma's. Ta HAVE, see?" Meanwhile, the irritable Wolf cunningly switches the "short cut" sign, leading Red onto a lengthy path over the mountains instead of three steps to Grandma's doorstep, and uses the additional time to disguise himself in the old lady's bed. When Little Red finally gets to Grandma's house, and begins to notice curious peculiarities about her elderly relative, the Wolf surprises everybody by kicking the annoying little girl out of the house and going for her rabbit instead.From here, Bugs goes about getting the best of the Wolf, and there's a dynamite sequence of running in and out of random doorways (vaguely reminiscent of the sinister shenanigans in George Méliès' 'The Cook in Trouble (1904)'). It's all a nice bit of fun, but hardly groundbreaking, and Little Red returns on occasion to continue the version of the story with which she's most familiar. The cartoon's ending is the moment that ranks among Merrie Melodies' finest hours, and it achieves the impossible by making the preceding appearances of Little Red Riding Hood tolerable, and even enjoyable. Bugs' decision to roast the irksome little girl over the hot ashes may lead him to hate himself in the morning, but, for his audience, it provides yet another explanation for why he's one of cinema's most beloved cartoon characters.

Lee Eisenberg Everyone knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but Bugs Bunny has his own version, natch. This one is mostly more of Bugs's irreverence, but I liked how they gave the wolf a slightly different role than we usually know. A previous reviewer noted how they used sounds created by Bob Clampett (although Clampett didn't direct this one). Whether or not you notice that, this is still a great cartoon. It just goes to show why the Looney Tunes were truly the gold standard of their day (I can't say the same for their more recent cartoons). You're sure to like "Little Red Riding Rabbit". And that's certainly not all, folks.Might I hate myself for this review?

paskuniag This cartoon is one of my favorites for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it's a showcase for the sound F/X that were created by Robert Clampett and used throughout in the WB cartoons, even the ones that he didn't direct, such as this one. There is the "bee-whup," the singular "boit," and the most famous one, the "yada-yada-yada." There may even be a couple more I can't think of, but those three are instantly recognizable to long-time Bugs Watchers as Clampett's own.