Overrated and overhyped

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

BEING AN OBVIOUS stop on the schedule of every cartoon series and live action comedy shorts department, Robert Louis Stevenson's THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE provided rich and obvious fodder for spoofing. In addition to all of the straight, dramatic adaptations that had appeared over the years, there were many comic send-ups.WHEREAS WE HAD seen dramas with the title role's being portrayed by such luminaries as John Barrymore, Frederick March and Spencer Tracy; the funsters would not be denied. Funnymen who essayed the story's well known plot from the view of parody included Stan Laurel (solo in a silent short)*, Abbott & Costello, the Bowery Boys and the 3 Stooges. (Although the last 2 weren't strictly JEKYLL & HYDE, the elements were definitely there.) IN REGARDS TO this little mini-film, it is a study in economy of both story telling as swell as in filming. Its "cast" is held to a bare minimum. Other than Bugs Bunny and the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde combine, the only other characters that are portrayed are the group of elderly folks who are feeding the pigeons in the park.PRRHAPS INTENDED AS a sort of "hallmark" the LOONEY TOONS/MERRIE MELODIES of the Warner Brothers Animation, director, I."Fritz" Freleng, and voice actor, Mel Blanc, added one additional characteristic to their Dr. Jekyll. They made him a very timid "Casper Milquetoast" type. This probably gave an outstandingly sharp contrast to the Mr. Hyde's over the top growling, knuckle dragging and otherwise murderous gyrations.OTHER THSN THAT, everything went just as about as we expected with all of the action that took place between and because of the constant changes between the two personalities and their manifesting of the comic/horror aspects of the story.

Hyde and Hare (1955)** 1/2 (out of 4) Being a major fan of horror movies as well as Bugs, you'd think I'd love this short but in fact I find it to be rather tame. The kind Dr. Jekyll comes to the park everyday to feed Bugs some carrots and one day decides to take him home as a pet. At the house the doctor drinks his potion, which turns him into the monstrous, green skinned Mr. Hyde. This film really doesn't contain too many laughs until the end when Bugs turns into the monster but sadly they don't spend anytime with this joke. Everything before that is decent but nothing really jumps off the screen. I enjoyed the calmness of Dr. Jekyll and I thought the transformation scenes were good but there still weren't enough laughs.

Bugs Bunny loves his daily feeding of carrots by Dr. Jekyll so much that he wants to live with him. The good Doctor is happy to oblige. But little to Bugs knowledge Jekyll has a small addiction of drinking a potion to change into the homicidal Mr. Hyde who wants to kill the rabbit. This cartoon is alright but really is a one joke premise that wears thin before long (Jekyll turns into Hyde, scares Bugs who runs away, Hyde changes back into Jekyll, bugs is happy to see him, he changes again, Bugs runs away...etcetera over and over again). This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional music only track.My Grade: B-

Bugs Bunny here presents himself as a normal, everyday bunny rabbit who is adopted and taken home by the mild-mannered Dr Jekyll.Once in the house (playing the Minute Waltz by Chopin, no less) Bugs is startled to find himself chased by a green faced monster wielding an axe - Mr Hyde, after Dr Jekyll's transformation. During the chase the monster changes back to the good doctor several times and then back again (usually once the doctor and Bugs are in a locked room, or a cupboard, etc.).Finally Bugs makes a run for it, but being the rabbit we know and love, and not that normal little bunny, he's taken something he shouldn't ...'Hyde and Hare' is another hilarious and clever Bugs Bunny cartoon, as we have come to expect. It sends up the Stevenson novella and has echoes of the film versions in the transformation from Jekyll to Hyde. It can be found on the double-feature Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde DVD, alongside the feature films from 1932 and 1941.