An action-packed slog

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

"Bugs Bunny", "Shorty/Buster Bunny", "Pete Puma". Director: ROBERT McKIMSON. Story: Tedd Pierce. Animation: Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Phil De Lara. Lay-outs: Robert Givens. Backgrounds: Richard M. Thomas. Voice characterizations: Mel Blanc. "Pete Puma" voiced by Dtan Freberg. Music director: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Edward Selzer. Copyright 16 December 1952 (in notice: 1951) by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros. "Merrie Melodies" cartoon. U.S. release 15 November 1952. 7 minutes. COMMENT: Despite some splendid character animation - the freewheeling, gobbledegook-spruiking Buster/Shorty is especially endearing - this is a very mild offering in which Bugs outwits a not overbright puma. Bugs really needs someone more aggressively stupid as a foil. The pace is reasonably fast (though somewhat ambling by Warner Bros cartoon standards), the gags mild, familiar and/or predictable.

Rabbit's Kin is an amusing if unexceptional Bugs Bunny cartoon. The storyline is mediocre mostly, Shorty is cute but he does have an irritating voice as well and the pacing was a little too quick. That said, it is amusing, with some amusing sight gags like Pete Pumas's semi-dance and some razor sharp dialogue. The animation is vibrant and colourful, and the character designs are excellent, and the music is lovely to the ears. Shorty aside, the characters are fine. Bugs is great here, a little underplayed compared to other times I have seen him, but Mel Blanc voices him marvellously. My favourite character though was Pete, he was absolutely hilarious and quite likable, with a scream/howl that you just love to imitate with a brilliant vocal performance from Stan Freberg. Overall, not absolutely superb, but definitely worth the watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Shorty," a little rabbit, comes racing into Bugs' hole seeking shelter and help. A ferocious monster, according to the fast-talking little hare, is after him. Bugs figures it is "Pete Puma," and goes to investigate. Sure enough, it is, and Pete -with a funny voice - tells Bugs he's after a little rabbit who is going to eat. Bugs asks him, "Wouldn't you rather have a big rabbit?"Bugs then torments the poor, dumb sap, which is how the orange puma is portrayed. I'll tell ya, this Puma was a funny guy. He dresses up as Shorty's mother, trying the lure the little one, and is hilarious. However, poor Pete isn't smart enough to pull off any ploy...and pays the price each time.Puma's voice (by Stan Freberg) was probably the highlight of this so-so cartoon. Using English subtitles to translate the super-speed-voice little rabbit helped, too.

Priceless dialog: Bugs: "How many lumps you want?" Pete Puma: "Oh, better give me a lotta lumps. A *WHOLE* lotta lumps... (After realizing his mistake) No thanks, I'll do it myself."Did you know that the character and voice of "Pete Puma" in the Warner Brothers cartoon "Rabbit's Kin" was based on Frank Fontaine's character of "Crazy Guggenheim." Pete's voice was provided by Stan Freberg. Freberg reprised this voice in another Warners cartoon (as Pete!) and in 1990 as Pete on "Tiny Toon Adventures."