Water, Water Every Hare (1952) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
22 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
9/10
A beautiful and surreal cartoon with a great balance of jokes and stunning visuals
phantom_tollbooth18 August 2008
Chuck Jones's 'Water, Water Every Hare' is significantly better than its truly dreadful title. Pitting Bugs against a bulbously headed green faced scientist and his furry orange, sneaker wearing monster (later dubbed Gossamer but here referred to as Rudolph), 'Water, Water Every Hare' features some breathtaking visuals in the opening minutes. His home beset by flooding, an oblivious, soundly-sleeping Bugs is washed away on his mattress. This sequence is glorious to behold with its flowing water and cascading waterfall. Ultimately, this watery subplot plays only a small part in the cartoon, making the dreadful title even more unforgivable. Most of the action takes place inside the castle. The most famous sequence is the hairdressing scene in which Bugs assumes the role of a camp beautician spouting a monologue about all the "inter-resting" monsters he's met (this is actually a rehash of a similar routine in the previous Gossamer cartoon 'Hair-Raising Hare'). Far more memorable, however, is the climactic chase scene in which Bugs and the green faced scientist are both under the influence of ether and bound across the screen in slow motion. It's an appropriately striking climax to a particularly handsome and dreamlike cartoon which proves to be inventive and entertaining in equal measures. A lesser talked-about classic, no less.
13 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
One of my favorites!
movieman_kev20 July 2004
Bugs Bunny is whisked away via his bed to a mad scientist's castle when his rabbit hole is flooded in the great Chuck Jones directed and Michael Maltese penned Looney Tunes short. As a kid, i loved watching 'that VERY hairy monster' and still get a kick out of him as an adult. This is one of my favorites.

On a side note: I'm writing these reviews as I rewatch each tune as they're ordered on the 'Golden Collection' set. So after "What's up Doc?" and "Rabbit's Kin" I was VERY glad that I didn't have to sit through another Robert McKimson directed short. Don't get me wrong I'll ALWAYS be grateful that he created Taz and Foghorn, I just dont care for alot of his Bugs cartoons.This cartoon is the eighth Looney Tune short on Disk 1 of the 'Loony Tunes Golden Collection'

My Grade: A+
10 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Big hairy monster
Bugs sleeps through a flood and is washed out of his Rabbit hole, down the river and floats by a spooky old castle. Unfortunately for him, said castle is the, not so subtle, residence of a mad scientist who needs a brain to put in his new robot. He chooses Bugs as that brain, but Bugs is having none of it.

His escape is made difficult by the unleashing of that big, orange furball thing. How cute is it really? Bugs pretends to be a camp hairdresser and fancy up Things hair. But uses sticks of TNT instead of curlers. Mere seconds later Thing has quit after Bugs shrinks him down to the size of a mouse using a magic potion.

After breaking a ether potion both Bugs and the Mad Scientist go on a trippy chase that results in Bugs falling asleep and being washed away in the river again. He wakes up in his hole believing it all to be a dream.

But the little Thing sez otherwise.

An above average Bugs cartoon with the always lovable Thing.
7 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Excellent!
TheLittleSongbird7 February 2010
Water Water Every Hare is a great Looney Tunes cartoon, helped by chiefly the beautiful artwork, the voice work and the script.

The story I do think is the weakest element here. Don't get me wrong, it is great and compelling enough, but everything else was even stronger.

The artwork is a thing of true beauty. You can never go wrong with beautiful backgrounds and sharp character features and this cartoon succeeded in both areas.

The music is also beautiful. Featured is the Raindrop Prelude by Frederic Chopin, and you know what, it works orchestrated. It gives a somewhat lyrical feel to it.

The script is fine, Bugs has some very snappy lines and the Evil Scientist is really sinister with his appearance, lines and especially his voice. The monster is hideous at first, but really is quite cute.

The voices are perfect. Mel Blanc excels as always, and John T Smith does a superb job as the evil scientist. All in all, excellent cartoon. 10/10 Bethany Cox
13 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Water, Water Every Hare is another fine Bugs Bunny cartoon from Chuck Jones
tavm31 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Six years after Hair-Raising Hare, Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese revisit the Bugs-encounters-an-evil scientist(with neon letters saying "EVIL SCIENTIST" on his castle)-and his pet monster premise with Water, Water Every Hare. In this one, instead of Peter Lorre, the scientist looks like Boris Karloff with green skin in an inside joke to his Frankinstein's Monster role. And the fully red-haired giant monster is named Rudolph here instead of Gossamer. This time, Karloff wants a brain for his giant robot so Bugs conveniently becomes the target. Of course, Bugs escapes both the scientist and Go...I mean, Rudolph and when ether makes everything go slow, Bugs escapes and then sleeps as the water that flooded his hole-in-the-ground takes him back there and as he wakes back up, he says, "Must have been a nightmare." What happens after that brought big laughs from me! This short was just as funny, maybe even more so, as HRH and, once again, I loved when Bugs turned into a gossip-chattering nail filer shooting the breeze with the fully red-haired monster who doesn't realize how crafty the rabbit really is. Most definitely recommended.
10 out of 12 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
a thing of beauty
CatTales26 January 2002
Warning: Spoilers
The colors, the sound, the humor - everything clicks in this one. Not a sequel to "Hair-raising Hare" with it's Peter Lorre-voiced mad scientist, but clearly a slow quiet revision. The Peter Lorre voice has been replaced by a sinister Vincent Price imitation (obviously not intended to be Boris Karloff). The same orange monster (name changed from Gossamer to Rudolf) repeats his comic routine, but it's now more focused and funny.

Besides the humor and artwork, the cartoon is memorable for the overall sense that Bugs is out of control. The "natural" perils (the waterfall Bugs approaches, the realistic alligators, the ether fumes and dream states) feel more threatening than the evil scientist and monster - we know Bugs can handle those two characters, of course. He does his usual wacky antics to outwit them, but we also see him drugged and performing an ethereal nocturnal dance. Near the end, he frantically wakes, trying to regain control. Seemingly never having left his burrow, he tries to deny the reality of what has happened, and assumes it "Must have been a nightmare." But it's a waking nightmare we saw, rather than just another multiple-mad-chase, shoot-up story.
12 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
a terrific followup to A HAIR-RAISING HARE (1946)
planktonrules14 June 2006
A HAIR-RAISING HARE was a wonderful cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and the attempts by a mad scientist to use him for his evil experiments. The film also featured the orange monster as the scientist's evil assistant.

Well, they are back, though slightly changed due to the passing of six years between the two cartoon shorts. Plus this time the scientist is not modeled after Peter Lorre, but is a large cranium-ed Boris Karloff wannabe. But the cute orange monster is pretty much the same and Bugs is once again at the top of his game in his attempts to foil these two. This cartoon only receives a slightly lower score because it was less original and ground-breaking that A HAIR-RAISING HARE.

The water in the title refers to a flood that takes Bugs and his bed to and from the mad scientist's home.
8 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
"Never send a monster to do the work of an evil scientist."
slymusic17 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"Water, Water Every Hare" is a fairly entertaining Bugs Bunny cartoon written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones. Maltese was probably the best writer on the Warner Bros. cartoon team, and this short is full of gags from start to finish.

Here are my favorite highlights from this cartoon (if you haven't seen it, don't read any further). Bugs adopts a beautician's accent and gives the orange monster a hair-parting (reminiscent of "Hair-Raising Hare" [1946]). Upon spotting a mummy at his side, Bugs screams and clings onto the hideous mad scientist. Then, upon spotting the scientist's green, monstrous face, Bugs screams louder and clings onto a statue of the Pharoah Tutankhamen. He then screams louder and clings onto an over-sized robot. He then screams even louder and dashes away. And towards the end of the short, as the atmosphere becomes filled with ether, Bugs and the scientist are absolutely hilarious moving in slow motion as the latter chases the former.

Last but not least, "Water, Water Every Hare" showcases the true genius of composer/orchestrator Carl W. Stalling. In this particular short, Stalling's music score is influenced by the Polish pianist/composer Frederic Chopin. During the opening rainfall scene, and a little later when the sleeping Bugs floats on his mattress heading towards the evil scientist's laboratory, the musical accompaniment is Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15. And when Bugs spots the mummy on his back, we hear just a snatch of Chopin's popular C-Minor Prelude, Op. 28, No. 20.
5 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Artwork Better Than The Story
ccthemovieman-120 February 2007
Bugs is flooded out of his hole, still asleep in bed. The bed floats for miles and winds up at an "evil castle" (it says so in neon lights!) with a green-headed Boris Karloff-imitated voiced Dr. Frankenstein guy in charge.

Bugs finally wakes up, sees all the crazy sights, panics and runs. The scientist unleashes his reddish-orange hairy monster "Rudolph" to capture the rabbit.

I enjoyed the artwork in this animated short, but the story didn't have a lot of laughs, certainly as much as it should have had considering the premise.
9 out of 24 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
...and lots to drink from this cartoon
lee_eisenberg19 October 2006
Sort of playing off of "Frankenstein", a Boris Karloff-resembling mad scientist sends a big, hairy monster after Bugs Bunny, whose brain he wants to give to a robot. Sure enough, Bugs isn't gonna take it lying down, especially since he can turn into a (seemingly gay) hair stylist, and then make himself invisible.

I gotta wonder how they came up with such hilarious, twisted stuff. But the point is: they did it. And they went all out here. I'm especially surprised that they were able to sneak in what could have been a reference to homosexuality (isn't it a stereotype that hair stylists and people like that have to be gay?). But whether or not he was supposed to be, the cartoon's still a hoot. I guess that even floods can have neat results!
10 out of 19 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Usually, when a cartoon shows Bugs Bunny's hutch . . .
cricket3021 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
. . . a long gun is depicted mounted above the mantle of America's favorite hare''s fireplace, as it's a well-known fact that one of the hallmarks of this famous rabbit's personality is his strong support and enthusiasm for the shooting sports. Unfortunately for Bugs, his Peacemaker is nowhere to be seen as torrents of water flood into his underground domicile during a 500-year rain storm (similar to the one we suffered through here in Texas during Hurricane Harvey). Since Bugs is unconsciously asleep when an ill tide washes him over to the castle of his Evil Scientist neighbor, the lack of his shooting iron leaves Mr. Bunny at the not-so-tender mercies of the would-be rabbit brain snatcher, and his thuggish red-haired monster. Ouch!
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
"Never send a monster to do the work of an evil scientist."
utgard143 November 2015
Classic Bugs Bunny short from the great Chuck Jones. Bugs' rabbit hole is flooded while he's sleeping and his bed is sent down river to the castle of a mad scientist modeled off of Boris Karloff (although the voice sounds more like Vincent Price). The scientist intends to take Bugs' brain and put it inside the mechanical man he's created. When Bugs wakes up and tries to escape, the scientist sics his big orange hairy monster on him. This monster is called Rudolph here but today we know him as Gossamer. Wonderful voice work from Mel Blanc and John T. Smith. Lovely music from Carl Stalling. The animation is beautiful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Love the mad scientist's lab and whatnots, including mummy sarcophagi he has lying around for some reason. Very funny short with some great gags and lines. Bugs does his "IN-teresting hairdresser" routine, which is always a treat. Definitely a short to seek out if you're a fan of Chuck Jones.
5 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
The weaker of the two Gossamer cartoons
Horst_In_Translation10 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
In these 7 minutes here, Bugs' home is flooded after a heavy rainfall and he is carried through the river right in the arms of an evil scientist. Buffy is actually really scared here at times, maybe because he does not know him so well like Elmer Fudd for example, who he has run into so many many times. And the red furry monster is around again too. However, most of the jokes were not that great in here in my opinion compared to Looney Toon's finest work. The director is Chuck Jones again, Michael Maltese wrote it and Mel Blanc did all the voices. My personal recommendation is: Watch "Hair-Raising Hare" instead. It's from 6 years earlier, right after World War II, but in my opinion it is more fun.
2 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Clever, fun well done monster short cartoon!
blanbrn12 October 2021
This 1952 short from "Warner Brothers" "Looney Tunes" collection called "Water, Water Every Hare" was one that was fun and clever plus it had entertaining gags and smart tricks from one little rabbit. Bugs Bunny living in a rabbit hole has it to flood one day during a heavy rainstorm and as he is floated off, he lands to the spooky, scary, castle of an evil doctor who wants to put any brain he can into a robot that he has created. Bugs starts the chase and game of trying to escape the castle and he even uses and pours liquid acid to vanish himself, still he's faced with an evil red haired monster that the doctor owns and Bugs tries to do the red beast's hair and shrink the monster with liquid. Really Bugs gets lucky with more rain and water to float him home to his hole still plenty of clever smarts and gags are used. This cartoon is highly memorable and very enjoyable one of the best.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Bugs Bunny
Michael_Elliott12 April 2009
Water, Water Every Hare (1952)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

A great imagination is really what pushes this Looney Tunes short into the classic territory. A flood forces Bugs Bunny out of his hole when he ends up in a strange castle where a deranged scientist puts Rudolph, a red headed monster onto him. This is one of the more famous shorts in the series and it's easy to see why because of the brains known as Chuck Jones. Not only is his animation of Rudolph, the scientist and the robot monster all perfect but he also does plenty of small things that many might not notice. One of my favorite moments is when the hole is flooded and Bugs gets up to get a drink of water. While walking back the top of his ears are outside the water and while many might not see the comedy here I see it as a small, magical moment by Jones. There are plenty of laughs from start to finish as Bugs is in classic shape and he's got two great villains to work with.
3 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
I did not think this was the best, but it has its good parts.
Mightyzebra12 June 2008
This is an in-between short for me on the scale of my favourite to my least favourite Bugs Bunny episode (at the top is "Bugs and Thugs" and at the bottom is "Easter Yeggs"). In this episode, I enjoyed the plot, the animation and the jokes. I do not find these three parts incredibly good, but I find them pretty good. I think my favourite part of the episode is when Bugs becomes a hair-stylist - classic! :-) I shall remember that till I am 40 if I do not watch this episode again until then.

Basically this episode starts when Bugs Bunny is asleep in his flooded house (this part is also very funny). It continues when Bugs, along with his duvet and mattress, floats out of his burrow down a river. At the edge of a waterfall, an evil scientist has nearly completed his giant robot and he needs a living brain to finish him. When he spots Bugs, he "fishes" him into his castle, with exciting results...

I recommend this Bugs Bunny episode to people who like unusual Bugs Bunny episodes and to people who like funny Bugs Bunny quotes. Enjoy! :-)
3 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
"Laughs Galore!"
kensirhan-861987 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It's only fitting to borrow from Daffy (Daffy Dilly, 1948) for a subject line to describe this outing of Bugs. Just like the previous - & unfortunately only other - appearance of the Monster (Hair-Raising Hare, 1946), the nighttime exterior castle scenery is richly atmospheric; along with (naturally) the spell-weaving Background Score, it draws the viewer in "Ooh!" style, anticipating what's going to happen next. It's been a decades-long tossup as to which of the 2 Mad Scientist characters is better; I love em both individually, & have quoted bits of dialogue from both toons - e.g. "I need what little I've got!" from here - in my writings for years, so while I give just the teeniest edge to the superbly realized Peter Lorre version (he was real, after all), that don't take anything away from this bulb-headed nut job with his smoothly evil voice & a face just perfect for a Halloween mask. This toon with yet another hilarious Bugs "working girl" portrayal, like the giant robot which never got started, really is "so nearly perfect!"
1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A Sequel To "Hair-Raising Hare"...
mjsmith20 April 1999
...Which proven again, that Bugs Bunny HAVE disposed of the monster, once and forever! The slo-mo chase is a Classic!!! So does the shrinking of the monster, and the ending!
2 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
For STAR WARS fans who've always wondered . . .
oscaralbert23 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
. . . what red-haired Wookies like to eat, Warner Bros. provides an answer in the 1952 Looney Tunes animated short, WATER, WATER EVERY HARE. It turns out that the "Evil Scientist" who Hare-Naps Bugs Bunny from the latter's impromptu water bed to transplant his brain into the former's giant android also has a ginger Wookie under lock and key (which would seem a more size-appropriate transplant option, were not Wookies so brainless that most of their vocabulary sounds like squeaky doors and defective plumbing). Anyway, Mr. Green Scientist lets slip that spider goulash is a crimson Wookie's favorite treat. Perhaps an even more major revelation highlights WATER, WATER EVERY HARE in that Bugs has constructed his lair smack dab in the middle of a flood plain, counting on the U.S. government to bail him out as many times as he can get away with (American taxpayers have sprung for two dozen home make-overs--each!--for some of the most notorious waterfront Fat Cats during recent years, thereby making them dead ringers for the critters who did in the Father of Our Country--George Washington--that is, leeches!). Clearly, Warner Bros. is using Bugs to warn us against the advent of a special government insurance giveaway scam for the Super Rich!
2 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Bugs Is Amphibious
Hitchcoc28 June 2019
While Bugs sleeps, he is washed away by a flood in his rabbit hole. This leads to the strange fact that an evil scientist is looking for a brain for his robot. Guess who is chosen? It's quite a romp and the water issue is never solved. But who cares?
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Chuck Jones at his trippiest.
wilhelmurg26 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of those cartoons that had an edge to it, even as a child I knew there was something different about it (the same feeling I had about The Beatles' song "I Am The Walrus.") As a child I remember being fascinated by the 3D realism of the robot,the sarcophagus, and the bottle, in contrast to the equally beautiful2D image of the green Evil Scientist, which is a caricature of Vincent Price, and the fire engine red Gossamer, here named "Rudolph." I also thought it was somewhat disturbing with the it-was-a-dream!/"That's-what-YOU-think!" ending, especially after watching Bugs and the scientist drift around on ether to a less famous, slow section of the "William Tell Overture." Trippy. "Come... back... here... you... rab... bit. "
3 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
An amusing, but inferior, follow-up to "Hair-Raising Hare" with an Evil Scientist that accidentally anticipates an upcoming horror star
J. Spurlin9 March 2007
Bugs Bunny is too sound a sleeper to notice that a sudden rainstorm has flooded his rabbit hole and sent his mattress, with him on it, floating downstream toward a castle with helpful neon signs that say "Evil Scientist" and "Boo." Said Evil Scientist needs a brain for his mechanical monster, and when he sees Bugs Bunny floating by, decides a rabbit's brain is as good as any other. Bugs Bunny awakens to the horror of reposing mummies, an Evil Scientist with a huge, green head and an enormous robot waiting for its brain. Bugs tries to escape, but the scientist sends Rudolph after him. Rudolph is an unlikely beast covered with orange fur; it wears sneakers, but why not? Who says monsters don't have sensitive feet? Bugs poses as a chatty hairdresser, uses vanishing fluid on himself, and pours reducing fluid on the beast to thwart him. But Bugs's only weapon against the Evil Scientist will be a broken bottle of ether. Will it be enough?

"Water, Water Every Hare" is an amusing short with excellent artwork. (Love that mechanical monster!) But it's not as funny or as well plotted as the earlier, and very similar, "Hair-Raising Hare," which also featured a castle, an evil scientist, the same furry orange beast (with a different name), a scene where Bugs narrowly escapes a trap door and a scene where Bugs poses as a chatty beautician.

Silent movie fans will recognize the ether gag, a standard for that era, jazzed up with sound effects and cartoon animation. Bugs Bunny fans will notice that the beast from "Hair-Raising" has changed its name from Gossamer to Rudolph. Finally, horror movie fans will think the scientist is a prescient creation. Supposedly he's meant to evoke Boris Karloff. But he sounds much more like Vincent Price, who had not quite become the horror icon that he is now. How did Chuck Jones and company know? That's even spookier than this spooky-funny film.
4 out of 12 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed