Mad as a Mars Hare (1963)

Mad as a Mars Hare Review

Mad as a Mars Hare is a 1963 animated short film from the Merry Melodies series. It is a pretty flawed, but funny short.

Humans send Bugs Bunny to Mars, where he encounters Marvin the Martian. The two then proceed to fight of course. My only big issue with this short is its structure and pacing. I knew pretty quickly on that too much time has passed before Bugs set foot on the red planet and sure enough the movie ended abruptly. He never returned and the two never settled things. It was disappointing to see it end so poorly.

But the short before that was definitely pretty great. The animation is as gorgeous as ever in its minimalism and darker hues. The score and sound are terrific too as is the voice acting. The highlight is the dynamic between these two classic characters. A couple of gags were very well executed and Marvin is very endearing here. The beginning was all his and it was so much fun. This was the last classic Marvin the Martian film and I will surely miss the little guy.

Mad as a Mars Hare has an abrupt ending, but the short before that was terrific. The animation and the dialogue are the highlights here.

My Rating – 4