Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979) Reviews

Not only do we get Chuck Jones’ involvement in 1979’s Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales, but Friz Freleng, another one of Termite Terrace’s genius directors. Usual suspects and big names like Bugs, Daffy, Poky, and Yosemite Sam are here, but the presence of Foghorn Leghorn, Taz, and Speedy is most welcome.

The anthology structure of the short means its filled with highs and lows, but at least we get the lows out of the way quickly. A Christmas Carol has been adapted straight, sideways, parodied, and reinvented every which way that it’s hard coming up with fresh jokes or angles into the story. You’d think Bugs Bunny playing merry prankster against Scrooge (here embodied by Yosemite) would be a laugh riot, but it merely raises a few mild laughs. It starts strong but quickly fizzles before rushing to the well-known climax.

The second segment features Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner running through a typical yarn, this time with the desert covered in snowfall and pockets of ice. These two never fail to make me laugh, and this is a good enough run through for the two. But it’s the final segment, a variation of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” featuring Taz dropping in on Bugs and his nephew, Clyde. Watching Taz eat everything in sight and Bugs continually outsmart him is one of my simplest pleasures in life.

There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining. Spending time with these characters is always entertaining. There are infinitely better Christmas specials out there, but watching Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales is still a perfectly solid way to spend thirty minutes come December. Or whenever you need a quick laugh and a pick-me-up.