The Adventures of the American Rabbit

PLOT:

The story begins just after the birth of Robert Rabbit. As his parents and friends welcome him into the world, a mysterious old rabbit whose walking is assisted by a cane greets young Rob and disappears. Neither parent knew who he was, each assuming that he was from the opposite side of the family. Rob grows up as a normal child, learning to play the piano. One day his parents become endangered by a falling boulder. Rob sprints towards them and changes into a star and striped spangled superhero on golden rollerskates. The old man on his cane reappears and tells Rob that he is the American Rabbit; capable of changing into superhero form when he sprints and capable of being changed back to normal when someone, or he himself, says his name.

As Rob moves to the big city he decides to keep his secret identity hidden. He finds a job as a piano player in the Panda Monium nightclub (run by a panda named Teddy and female rabbit Bunny O’ Hare) that is harassed by a gang of jackals and their mafia style protection racket. Bunny O’ Hare and Teddy organize a march & rally the next day. The Jackals ruin the march the next day, but are thwarted by the American Rabbit. Teddy then announces at the rally his plans to rebuild the Panda Monium and announces he will do a cross-country tour with the White Bros. in order to raise money.

Walt gets mad and comes up with a plan with the jackal gang to kidnap a gorilla named Ping Pong, forcing him to destroy the American Rabbit. The motorcycle gang kidnaps Ping Pong, but is rescued by the American Rabbit. at their Grand Canyon hideout “The Trap Door” (disguised as a club). Rob and the gang decide to go to New Orleans to play at “The Hog and Frog”, but find that it has been burnt down. O’Hare sees a sign advertised for a band to play at the Paradise club. They end up with the club, until Rob realizes that the manager is part of the Jackal gang.

Teddy and his crew board a boat, where they are trapped inside while Voltur and has crew engulf the boat in flames. Rob becomes the American Rabbit and manages to get everybody off before the boat explodes. Bunny O’Hare stars to worry about Rob, but the American Rabbit assures her that he’s fine. He will do a search for Rob and learn more about the mysterious fire. He overhears a plan for Walt and the Jackals to head to New York, where their master plan is afoot. The American Rabbit head back into the water, where he transforms back into Rob and swims to shore. He suggests to Teddy that they should go to New York. Worried they do not have instruments, Teddy tells them that he’s got connections (they turn out to be penguins)

Walt and his group, meanwhile, the jackals decide to take over a moose run chocolate factory and in turn cut off the chocolate supply to the city, by kidnapping a moose and his son, Junior. Walt reveals their plan to control the world through their chocolate supply, and they’re “renting” the Statue of Liberty as bait. The American Rabbit interferes with their plan, and clobbers Walt. Walt’s clothes are the only thing that remain; it is revealed that “Walt” is actually the buzzard. He uses the American Rabbit to do his bidding after he threatens to blow up the Statue of Liberty with his doomsday switch.

Some time passes and the Buzzard’s laws are enacted upon the city, and Rob leaves his friends to take a taxi ride home. However, the city turns on the Jackals, which makes the Buzzard angry at them and calls Rodney (the Jackal’s leader) a traitor for siding with the people. Humiliated and defeated, Rob tells the driver that he’s a failure, and the taxi driver turns out to be the elderly rabbit from the beginning of the film, who advises Rob that he can’t win em all, but he can make “a power play of his own”. Rob notices an ad for Niagara Falls, which brings him back to action. He cuts the power supply, causing the doomsday switch to be deactivated. The Buzzard faces the American Rabbit once and for all, but the Rabbit chases the Buzzard into a blizzard. The Buzzard makes one last attempt to kill the Rabbit by lunging at him, but plunges to his death.

The American Rabbit returns as Rob to rescue his friends, and gets a kiss from Bunny O’ Hare

REVIEW:

I’ve already had more than a few people ask me why I love this film so much. So, I got a whole bunch of them over tonight and watched this great non-Disney animated flick from my childhood. If I’m not mistaken, this is one of the first films I saw in theaters, and was probably there first cartoon movie I saw that wasn’t Disney (along with All Dogs Go to Heaven and/or The Land Before Time).

I have to start by saying this film already has a negative mark for trying to blatantly rip off the Superman theme. It is one thing to quote such great music, but it is quite another to try to make your stuff sound the exact same. Just a minor issue I have with this flick.

So, what is it that makes The Adventures of the American Rabbit such an endearing tale to me? Well, I think it is the great story. Sure, it is the basic superhero plot we all have engrained in our heads by now. You know, small town boy grows up, gets super powers, heads to big city, and all of a sudden foils a super villain in his first outing. Sure, that’s been overdone, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

The voice casting is full of all-star voices from the 80s. Rob Rabbit’s voice is provided by Barry Gordon, best known as Donatello from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Also, there is Lorenzo Music, the longtime voice of Garfield. Also in the cast is Kenneth Mars, an accomplished actor as well as voice. Animation fans are sure to recognize his pipes, but his biggest role may very well be as King Triton from The Little Mermaid.

The villain that holds this film together is a bit og a mystery. Vultor is the leader of a pack of jackals (who look more like foxes), and holds a vulture on a perch. After an encounter with the American Rabbit, it is revealed that the buzzard is actually the boss and the “man” was just some clothes. One of the best things about this film was this little deception.

The animation of this flick is typical 80s, but I didn’t care for how many of the non-rabbit characters such as Teddy and Ping Pong, have huge heads. It was like they ran into some kind of radiation and get enlarged craniums.

THe nostalgia factor makes this a better film than it really is, at least for me. Sure, there are plot holes galore here and you can drive a tank through most of them, but wasn’t that what was so great about the 80s? You didn’t need to know every detail about everything, but rather just enjoyed what you watched without trying to decipher and analyze everything about it. I recommend this to everyone, but to fully enjoy The Adventures of the American Rabbit, one has to lose themself and just enjoy the ride.

4 out of 5 stars

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