User Reviews

Elmer Fudd's old auto is doing the "conga" while driving through a mountain pass on his way to "Jellostone National Park" where Elmer is looking forward to peace and quiet. (He looks different in this early cartoon; older and much bigger and fatter.)

Bugs sees him coming, puts up a "camp here" sign and Elmer quickly sets up camp. "Oh, boy, now for a weal west," he says. Yeah, right. Sadistic Bugs is going to wuin his west weally soon! At least Bugs knows he's bad. He stops at one point, looks at the camera, and tells us, "I do this kind of stuff throughout the picture."

Poor Elmer. What did he do to deserve this torment? I have to say, though, that after a slow start, the last half of this short became very funny. Bugs imitating a grizzly bear was a real howl, and the real bear chasing Elmer in the woods was good, too.

Both the fat Elmer and the Elmer we came to know and love were great! Here director Bob Clampett uses the fat Elmer wisely and puts him in a series of great gags that leave you laughing from start to finish. This was truly a great start for the fat Elmer. Sad is that he never really lasted that long.

I don't only laugh at the fat bugs bunny joke but the bear joke with the shoes and him in elmer's cell is so hilarious gotta laugh at Elmer not getting his peace and welaxzation

I have made no secret of loving the Looney Tunes cartoons, and this cartoon featuring inspired duo Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd is no exception. Thanks to the brilliant visual gags and the razor sharp dialogue, Wabbit Twouble never ceases to be less than hugely entertaining. The animation is spotless and the music is rousing and dynamic. Although you do feel sorry for Elmer as he is the butt of the joke as is usually the case, you have to love Bugs here, he isn't what I feel as obnoxious but certainly devious and cunning. Their chemistry is another reason to see this cartoon, it is somewhat electric! And the voice acting of Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan is superb. Overall, a hilarious cartoon and definitely one I recommend. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I've never understood why everybody delivers unlimited praise to Chuck Jones' contributions to Looney Tunes (which are great in their own right), while the brilliant early-era directors like Freleng, Avery, McKimson, and Clampett go virtually unrecognized. Here, in his first Looney Tune, Bob Clampett gives us a priceless gem. Not only does this mark a drastic change in appearance for that eternal comic foil Elmer Fudd, but it breaks new ground in the visual style and uproarious physical comedy that we have come to love about Bugs, Daffy, and the rest of the crew. This was the beginning of an amazing career for Clampett, who directed some of the best Looney Tunes EVER (Daffy Duck imagines that he is Dick Tracy, fighting colorful villains in a twisted, art-nuveau/film-noir dream sequence, Bugs Bunny terrorizes a retired Elmer Fudd in an effort to save his nemesis' contract, Bugs battles a crafty wartime Gremlin on an aircraft, etc.) Great stuff! But don't watch this crazy little cartoon expecting west and wewaxation. You'll be laughing too hard!

Ew! Elmer Fudd's appearance in this short is quite disgusting and distracting. He's so fat with a horrible red nose that it's not nice to look at. One of those awful human-exaggerations that were thankfully infrequent in Looney Tunes cartoons.

Here he shows up a Jellystone park for a few days camping. Bugs naturally does not want to have a fat man in his space so he proceeds to make Elmer's trip hell by playing all sorts of tricks on him. The humor is still funny and intelligent but the fact that Elmer is not the way we know (and prefer) him lessens the appeal of the short. Fortunately, this bloated version of him only ever appeared in 4 cartoons.

Bugs Bunny is one of my favorite Looney Tunes characters, and this short is one of my favorites directed by Bob Clampett. In this cartoon, Elmer Fudd (a pudgy Elmer Fudd in this short) takes a vacation at Jellostone National Park, for some "west and welaxation" and Bugs deliberately messes around playing- jokes on him and such.

My favorite scene is when, after Elmer hammers up Bugs' hole and Bugs opens the board like a door and mimics Elmer: "That'll hold all wight." And he even chuckled like him too. I also love the "play dead" scene, which involves a huge, Black Bear - not a Grizzly Bear, but a Black Bear! The facial expressions Elmer uses during the bear attack (either one) are priceless.

I guess that it didn't really hurt anything that they made Elmer Fudd portly for this cartoon - looking like his voice artist Arthur Q. Bryan - but it looked kind of weird. Here, he tries to spend his vacation in Jellostone (!) Park, but Bugs Bunny makes a mess of everything for him; the presence of a hungry bear abets this. I guess that at this point, they were still trying to figure out the relationship between Bugs and Elmer, so I can forgive "Wabbit Twouble" if it's not quite as funny as the most famous cartoons featuring those guys (plus Daffy Duck). And anyway, how can you not like seeing what Bugs does to Elmer?

Yeah, how long will they be in there?

Bob Clampett's 'Wabbit Twouble' is an oft overlooked masterpiece which exemplifies everything that is great about Warner Cartoons. Animation, colour, sounds, music and dialogue are all used to hilarious effect. The cartoon is so packed with gags that they spilled over into the credits, which are presented in Fudd-ese with W's replacing all the R's and L's. 'Wabbit Twouble' stars early incarnations of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny and fans will notice immediately that they are quite different to the characters they would later become. Elmer (in his quickly abandoned obese form) does nothing at all to provoke the hard time which Bugs metes out to him. He is merely a sweet-natured holiday maker at a small campsite looking for "peace and wewaxation". Bugs is a complete sociopath here, his eyes gleaming with a "now for some fun" look the moment Elmer arrives. In this respect Bugs resembles a less manic version of early Daffy Duck. Audiences naturally felt sorry for Elmer which lead to Bugs nearly always being provoked before unleashing the full force of his heckling in later cartoons.

The fact that we feel sorry for Elmer does not diminish how hilarious 'Wabbit Twouble' is, however. Bugs' tormenting of Elmer is inspired throughout from his gentle glasses-painting stunt to the more violent moments which implicate a grizzly bear. All my favourite moments in 'Wabbit Twouble' involve character's interacting with the audience. The cartoon's most classic moment and its most enduring legacy is the moment Bugs breaks off for a second during one of his pranks to confide in the audience "I do this kinda stuff to him all through the picture". In a later gag involving Bugs sitting on a terrified Elmer and snarling like a bear, he turns to the camera once again and remarks "Funny situation, ain't it?" In another of the film's funniest jokes, Elmer hurriedly packs away his belongings and mistakenly take a huge tree with him. Realising his mistake, he returns to the screen, replaces the tree, looks at the audience and shrugs. It's a priceless moment and a refreshing signal that even the cartoon's dupe knows we are out there.

'Wabbit Twouble' is an exceptional piece of work. Bob Clampett's typically brilliant direction and Dave Monahan's fabulous script combine beautifully to make a remarkably handsome, considered but very fast paced gem which overcomes its essentially mean-spirited premise by virtue of its impeccable execution of every single element. Although it is a critically acclaimed work, 'Wabbit Twouble' is infrequently mentioned in polls of the greatest cartoons ever. It deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the great classics and hopefully its appearance on the essential 'Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1' will bring it to a wider audience.

The fun for this cartoon starts with the beginning credits when, after the title shows, the rest of the credits is also written in Elmer Fudd-speak: Superwision-Wobert Cwampett, Stowy-Dave Monahan, Animator-Sid Sutherwand, Musical Diwection-Cawl W. Stawwing. Fudd, by the way, is more of a large fat guy than the small, slightly pudgy fellow we usually see him as. Anyway, as his car conga-lines its way to Jellostone Park for some "west and wewaxation", he thinks everything will by all right. Then Bugs comes along and plays all sorts of tricks on him! Among them: painting his glasses black to make him think it's night, Bugs pretending to be a bear as Elmer plays dead and kissing him making him blush, and other things that makes Bugs pretty cruel here but funny nonetheless. Hilarious stuff and quite recommended for all Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies fans. It's on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 1.

The sign greeting campers says, "Welcome to Jellostone National Park: A Restful Retreat." Elmer Fudd finds this to be a dirty lie when Bugs Bunny torments him for the fun of it. Bugs will trick Elmer into thinking day is night, mid-air is safe ground, and his rabbity self is a grizzly bear before Elmer commits an act he'll immediately regret.

In deference to Mr. Fudd, the opening credits are spelled out the way he would say them: Wobert Cwampett, Sid Sutherwand, Cawl W. Stawwing and so forth. The canyon setting is depicted with a realistic illusion of depth that is unusual for Warner Brothers cartoons. And Elmer makes one of his rare early appearances as a fat man - even though he was relatively slim before *and* after this brief period.

The gang at Termite Terrace were still feeling out Bugs in these early days, and they end up breaking a rule that they established for him only later: Bugs Bunny is a passive figure until sorely provoked. Elmer certainly doesn't provoke Bugs in this cartoon. He merely shows up.

Few complain about Bugs's obnoxious behavior. The film is wildly funny and makes the favorite list of many cartoon fans, including Leonard Maltin. Besides, Elmer's entire personality practically invites people to harass him.

This cartoon is available in the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume One," Disc 1.

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and soon he would change into the Elmer we know today. In this episode he does not look much like Elmer, but this was 1941 when "Wabbit Trouble" was made and Elmer was still developing. I have a feeling this was also the first Bugs Bunny short directed by Robert Clampett.

Anyhow, I quite like this Bugs Bunny episode, due to the clever jokes from Bugs (even though he's rather mean), the animation (especially at the very beginning) and the plot. I thought the farce jokes with Elmer and the bear were not very good, but that is only because I have seen it before. In those days it almost definitely was not so cliché. I think Elmer and some of his lines are quite sweet.

In this episode, Elmer arrives in Jellostone (L.O.L) for "west and wewaxation." Instead, as soon as he sets up his campsite, he receives some bullying from both Bugs Bunny and from a fierce grizzly bear... Chaos follows (Duh)...

I recommend this to people who like old episodes, Bugs Bunny when he is particularly mean and farce. Enjoy "Wabbit Twouble"! :-)

P.S Robert Clampett calls himself Wobert Cwampett in the credits!

Many folks seeing "Wabbit Twouble" will be shocked at the more obese and less cute version of Elmer Fudd you see here. Originally, he was cuter and skinnier...and after experimenting with a few shorts in the early 40s, the studio relented and returned to the original look. Why? Well, believe it or not, this fat Elmer actually LOOKED like the man who voiced his character, Arthur Q. Bryan! While you rarely see Bryan in the flesh, I saw him in a few Joe McDoakes shorts (also by Warner Brothers) and the likeness is strong!

This cartoon is different from most featuring Bugs and Elmer. This is because Elmer is NOT hunting nor wants to hunt the rabbit...he just came to Jellostone Park to get 'a weel good west' (a real good rest). However, Bugs does his best to annoy Elmer and make his vacation awful!

It's very funny watching Bug torment poor Elmer and you can't help but laugh at this. Add to that some amazingly nice 3D looking animation at the start and you have an excellent cartoon...one well worth seeing despite Elmer's redesign.

"Wabbit Twouble" is one of the best early Bugs Bunny cartoons. Bob Clampett, wacky as ever, goes all-out with this production, using some of the best and surreal gags you'll see. And it's not just the gags with the "wascawwy wabbit" that are good; the intro is a great example of matching music to animation, but it's done in a surreal way. Like Frank Tashlin, Clampett emphasizes acceleration, and utilizes Elmer's gullibility and stupidity to the full. The last few gags are impeccable. The cartoon is simply great, it's so imaginative, and it has no restrictions. Clampett tries it all. Finally on DVD, and thank God for it!

A fat Elmer Fudd goes to Jellostone National Park in search of 'wewaxation', but has the misfortune of putting his tent over Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole in this great Robert Clampett directed and Dave Monahan written Looney Tunes short. This cartoon is hilarious with almost every single gag hitting it's mark. My favorite being Bugs kissing a Elmer who's pretending to be dead thinking a bear is still attacking him. Elmer's reaction to this is simply priceless.This cartoon is the twelth short on disk 1 of the 'Loony Tunes Golden Collection'. It also has a Commentary track and a featurette.

My Grade: A+

Wabbit Twouble (1941)

**** (out of 4)

Masterpiece animated short has Elmer Fudd going to Jellostone National Park so that he can get some west and welaxation but instead he finds himself camping in the back yard of Bugs Bunny who decides to torment him. While neither character are in their traditional classic look that really means nothing as this short delivers some of the biggest laughs of the series. There were countless scenes so funny that I had tears running down my face because on one hand Fudd is the perfect goof ball to see tormented but on the other hand you can't help but love him for how dumb he is. The scene where Bugs makes him think it's night and then day is classic as is the scene where Bugs pretends to be a grizzly bear before the real one shows up. The final sequence is also rather hilarious as Fudd finally suffers his breakdown.

Bob Clampett's first Bugs Bunny cartoon seems more like the kind of film that Tex Avery would have made if he stayed with the studio (not surprising, since Clampett inherited Tex's crew). Unwarranted troublemaker, casual asides to the audience, and a likable foil.

Clampett's style starts to break from Avery's and take its own in the facial expressions. Elmer's takes during the bear attack (either one) are priceless. And the goofy-scary design of the actual bear is a great blend...perfect for a cartoon.

This is also the first appearance of the "fat Elmer," a redesign Clampett wanted to use because he felt the character looked funnier...and so Elmer could more resemble his voice actor, Arthur Q. Bryan. To a point he does look funnier, but one can already see the future physical limitations it will set on the character (see "The Wacky Wabbit" for a good example of that).

All in all, a silly first Bugs cartoon for Clampett. Definitely one to see!