Michael_Elliott Wackiki Wabbit (1943)*** 1/2 (out of 4)Delightful short has two men lost at sea when their prayers are answered. They finally spot some land and once on the island they see Bugs Bunny and plan on a rabbit dinner.If you're a fan of Bugs Bunny then you'll find plenty to enjoy here as there are some nice supporting characters, some good laughs and plenty of nice action. I thought both supporting characters were very fun and especially the early scenes at sea where they're looking at each other as food. Bugs is in fine form as he creates some chaos between the two including a very good scene where he replaces himself in their stew.

slymusic Two guys - one tall and lean, the other short and fat - become shipwrecked on a desert island. Who should be an inhabitant of this island but Bugs Bunny, the "Wackiki Wabbit"! And the two castaways believe they can easily capture Bugs for their supper. Sure they can. Yeah.Here are my favorite scenes from this wonderful cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. When the two guys first meet Bugs, he does a hilarious dance and says "What's up, Doc?" in his native tongue. The tall guy then expresses his gratitude to Bugs, with the appropriate foreign subtitle appearing below, and the two guys actually READ the subtitle! Then more dancing ensues, ending with a slap on the face. I also love composer/orchestrator Carl Stalling's accompaniment of "Trade Winds" (when the short guy blows on the sail toward the island, and when Bugs bathes in the cooking pot) and his use of a frolicsome Raymond Scott tune (when the two castaways set up a table & cooking pot and chase Bugs swinging on a vine, and when Bugs later struggles with his "roast rabbit" marionette).If you're a Bugs Bunny fan, then you can't miss "Wackiki Wabbit"! Catch it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 Disc 1.

theowinthrop As fitting a Second World War cartoon we see two shipwreck survivors on a raft, presumably sunk in the war in the Pacific. The two men (who are caricatures of two of the Warners Cartoon artists) have not eaten in day. One is tall and thin, one is short and fat. They are beginning to think of each other as potential sources of food. They see an island and get onto it (almost sail through it due to the eagerness of the fat fellow), and they soon spot Bugs. He is quite a figure wearing Hawaiian costume and giving the men leis, and speaking to them in Hawaiian (although he does end a section of his speech with a popular American vulgarism). One of the best moments in this cartoon is that translations of his comments appear underneath his lines of dialog (oddly enough his longer messages are short in English, and vice versa). When the skinny castaway returns the friendly greeting he says something short and sweet, and two lines of translation into Hawaian appear underneath - the fat one points this out to him and says, "Did you say all that?".The remainder of the cartoon deals with their attempts to catch Bugs and eat him. There is the almost obligatory Bugs having a warm "bath" in a cooking pot sequence, and a great bit dealing with a cooked chicken getting hot under the collar with the two thunderstruck castaways. A final getaway from the island and a permanent chase end the cartoon - almost perfect in construction and humor.

Mister-6 If you're a stranded castaway on a desert island and you find your nearest neighbor is Bugs Bunny...maybe it's time to build a getaway boat.The two seagoing saps in "Wackiki Wabbit" don't take the hint, though, and make the mistake of trying to make Bugs part of their regularly balanced diet after days of starvation and considering each other as main courses ("...and hold the onions", one mutters).Bugs holds his own well as if there were a doubt, and the big and little castaways make like a disheveled version of Abbott and Costello (even looking the part) and are voiced by Bugs' regular writers Maltese and Pierce (hey, at least they didn't have to hire out for new voices!) with a penchant for sing-songy tunes of joy ("We're gonna have roast rabbit!" and "We're going on a boo-ooat!" are their favorites).Chuck Jones again proves why he is such a pro at this kind of thing with the breath-taking island vistas and Mel Blanc makes smart-aleck repartee a work of art. And creating a marionette out of a roast chicken never looked so easy before.Ten stars and an authentic hula dance from Bugs for "Wackiki Wabbit". You can't get more "Wackiki" than this.