Back in the day of televisionless homes, people would either their form of entertainment from the movies theaters or use a radio and try to use their imagination. In the movie theaters before they show the movie they would play a short film before it starts. Most of the time, it would be an animated short from either Disney or Warner Brothers. If had to pick a side, I would go with Warner Brothers. Sure the animation is cheap comparing to Disney, but they had great memorable characters and great writing. For this review I’ll be talking about one of my favorite Bugs Bunny shorts, and that is Bewitched Bunny directed by Chuck Jones.

This is a pretty special short when you do a little research on it. Not just because it debuts a new character, but this one isn’t voiced by Mel Blanc. The new character is Witch Hazel and she is voiced by Bea Benaderet. You may know her best for doing the voice of Betty Rubble (Barney is voiced by Mel Blanc; these two keep working with each some way or another). I find her to be quite funny and I just love the voice the Bea does for her.

Now let’s get into this review shall we. The short starts off with Bugs reading while walking in the woods of the tale of Hansel and Gretel. While reading he notices that there is witch like figure doing exactly in the story that Bugs was reading. There is a joke about how Hansel pronounces his name, I didn’t get it at first, but later I realize it was of his thick German accent that made the joke work. As you may thick Bugs save the two wienerschnitzel with a costume change and then has to worry about him now as the witch has chained her dinner plans to rabbit stew.

For a Bugs Bunny short it is pretty basic and you get what you expect for any other one of the other shorts. However I find this one special to me, because this is a history maker if you ask me. For one this is one of the first short done by Chuck Jones after he came back from working with Walt Disney when Warner Brother reopened their animation studio. Second this is one of Bugs Bunny’s first female enemies, that and one that is not voiced by Blanc, I already talked about that.

Also this short has some get moment as well from the Hansel joke. The classic German voice, that Mel Blanc hasn’t done since the WW2 shorts. And not to mention the scene where Price Charming wakes up Bugs from the sleeping curse. This shows that even though that Chuck Jones only worked with Walt Disney for a few months he has a love for their films. Like I said earlier I this short is special to me so you may have an idea how I rate it.

Rating 4.7/5 stars.