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Disapointment

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I honestly think this deserved an Academy Award win but however, Birds Anonymous, one of my favorites, deserved its Oscar win. This short is very good in multiple ways. In six minutes, it manages to cover a plot, an opera parody and much more. As Warner Bros. Cartoons was entering its last few years as the original studio, this short was made. Chuck Jones, Michael Maltese, Abe Levitow and Maurice Noble's working of the short allows this film to receive a 10 in my book.

What's Opera, Doc? (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Classic animated spoof of the opera has Bugs Bunny playing Brunhilde and Elmer Fudd playing Siegfried. As a child I remember hating this short with a passion and I'd go do something else anytime it came on. Looking at it as an adult I can see why many considering this to be one of director Jones' greatest achievements. While there isn't any big laughs and the action isn't your typical chase 'em stuff, the visual style of this thing is just downright amazing and the opera spoof certainly aims more at adults than kids. The visuals are what makes this film stick out for me and the perfect example of this happens early on during a rain storm, which just has some of the most beautiful backgrounds to any animated film. The clouds rolling in looks spectacular as does another joke involving a lightening strike.

I absolutely love this cartoon! I though it's one of Bugs Bunny's best cartoons ever and also Chuck Jones' finest cartoons too. I especially love the "romance" scene when Bugs dresses in drag as the Valkyrie Brunhilde and Elmer/Siegfried falls for it. As a kid I used to record the love song "Return My Love," play it on my tape player and pretend to be a beautiful princess standing on the balcony waiting for her Prince Charming; I am a hopeless romantic (*sigh*).All-in-all, the animation, the backgrounds and the music put into this cartoon are excellent! I would love to say: "R.I.P Chuck, we will miss you."

Disney animation legend Chuck Jones' 'Merrie Melodies' short, 'What's Opera, Doc?,' is a pleasant and enjoyable cartoon tribute to the classic operas that have inspired audiences for generations. However, not particularly being a fan of opera – nor, indeed, having even seen many – I'm afraid that much of the film's charm might have been lost of me. The film features the voice talents of Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan, voicing the classic Disney characters of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, respectively (though Blanc did independently voice one of Elmer's lines - "SMOG!"). As we all know, Elmer's primary preoccupation is "hunting wabbits," and, in this film, he plans to do so as the demigod Siegfried, using the mighty powers of his "spear and magic helmet."The seven-minute film is essentially an operatic parody of Richard Wagner's operas, particularly 'Der Ring des Nibelungen / The Ring of the Nibelung.' Several pieces of Wagner's music are used in the film, to great effect, as both characters sing their lines in tune to the classic score: the overture from 'The Flying Dutchman' is used in the opening storm scene; Elmer memorably sings "Kill the wabbit!" to the tune of 'Ride of the Valkyries;' Siegfried's horn call from 'Siegfried' ("O mighty warrior of great fighting stock"); the overture and Pilgrim's Chorus from 'Tannhäuser' ("O Bwünnhilde, you'w so wuvwy," "Return my love").Quite surprisingly, the film ends with the death of Bugs Bunny, and with Elmer instantly regretful for the death he has caused, marking one of those rare occasions when Elmer has actually succeeded in "killing the wabbit!" Luckily, however, I am happy to report that, despite the unavoidable tragic opera conclusion, good old Bugs eases our worries by raising his head in the final seconds to declare, "Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?" This is an endearing Chuck Jones classic.