If news that a Marvin the Martian vehicle was in the works invoked a collective wince, today’s reports (via Deadline) that Warner Bros. is pushing for a Bugs Bunny movie may well provoke public outcry.
Bugs Bunny, last seen in 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back In Action and due for a television comeback courtesy of Cartoon Network, is set to star in a movie that will be penned by Elf scribe David Berenbaum. The film is to be a mixture of live action/ CGI and is designed to revive the character after Back In Action underwhelmed at the box office.
With the new CG polished Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner shorts currently preceding Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Legends of the Guradians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Yogi Bear, it was only a matter of time before more of the Looney Tunes found themselves back on the big screen.
However, with other rebrandings tending towards the family friendly (Alvin and the Chipmunks and, by the looks of it so far, The Smurfs) there is a risk of losing touch with what made Bugs Bunny so iconic to begin with: his smart, topical and subversive shorts. We can only hope that this movie can tap into what made the character so great and sustain it throughout a feature film.
While Space Jam was a success, and many might hold it as proof that a Looney Tune film can work, you have to wonder just how large a part nostalgia plays in our fond memories. Hopefully, however, this film will be more Roger Rabbit than Garfield: The Movie, and with Berenbaum in the writers chair, that’s a distinct possibility.
