The Adventures of an American Rabbit - The 1986 animated film
The adventures of an American rabbit (The Adventures of the American Rabbit in the American original) is a 1986 animated film directed by Fred Wolf and Nobutaka Nishizawa.
In Italy it was broadcast by Telemontecarlo on 1 January 1988. In the same year it was distributed on VHS by Roxy Video, with a new dubbing.
History
The story begins soon after the birth of Robert Rabbit. As his parents and friends welcome him into the world, a mysterious old rabbit walking with a cane greets young Rob and disappears.
The old rabbit still shows up a couple of times in Rob's childhood. He always disappears after making comments or questions about his talents and attitude.
One day, Rob's parents are endangered by a falling boulder. Rob suddenly sprints at them and transforms into a striped, star-studded superhero on gold roller skates.
The old rabbit reappears and tells Rob that he is the American rabbit, capable of transforming into superhero form in moments of danger, but when he says his name he returns to normal.
Panda Monium
Rob decides to try to keep his superpowers secret and moves to town. Find work as a pianist at Panda Monium, a nightclub run by a panda named Teddy and a bunny named Bunny O'Hare.
The club is harassed by a gang of jackals running a Mafia-style protection racket. When Teddy refuses to buy insurance from them, they get back on the bike during a White Brothers show and destroy the club.
Bunny and Teddy organize a march and get together the next day. Walt (Kenneth Mars), the well-dressed leader of the Jackals, orders them to ride their motorcycles on the march.
The jackals cause a distraction, while Walt's buzzard destroys the cables that support a bridge the walkers are crossing. Fortunately, the American rabbit prevents the bridge from collapsing.
Teddy then announces his plans to do a cross country tour with the White Brothers. This will allow him to raise enough money to rebuild the Panda Monium.
The kidnapping of Ping Pong
An angry Walt orders the Jackals to kidnap a gorilla named Ping Pong and turn him against the American rabbit. They take him to a secret lair in the Grand Canyon and threaten to drown him unless the American rabbit fights for them. Rob discovers that Ping Pong is missing.
He sends Teddy, Bunny and the White Brothers rafting down the river and is captured by the Jackals. Rob manages to transform into the American rabbit and save Ping Pong.
Rob and his friends then travel to New Orleans, where they plan to play at a couple of clubs. Walt and the Jackals trap them on a boat and set it on fire. Rob becomes the American rabbit and gets everyone off the boat before it explodes.
Bunny is worried when she doesn't see Rob, but the American rabbit promises to find him and find out more about the fire. He follows Walt and the Jackals and hears them talking about going to New York, where their plan is underway.
The American rabbit dives back into the water, where it transforms back into Rob and swims to shore. He suggests that the tour group go to New York, where Teddy has some contacts who can provide them with new tools.
Meanwhile, Walt and the Jackals capture a chocolate-making moose and his son and rent the Statue of Liberty for a day. They arm him with dynamite and Walt threatens to blow up the visiting public if they refuse to serve him.
The American rabbit discovers dynamite, follows Walt's voice to his hiding place and hits him.
Walt's clothes are the only thing left; it is revealed that "Walt" is actually the buzzard, Vultor. Perched on the dynamite detonator, he forces the American rabbit to fly over the Statue of Liberty and deliver an announcement to the public.
The Jackals have control of the city
Vultor and the Jackals have total control of the city. Those who oppose them will be killed and those who obey them will be rewarded with chocolate. Out of great shame at his inability to defeat Vultor and protect the city, Rob vanishes from the public eye.
With the American rabbit out of the way, Vultor and the Jackals begin to enact their New York laws. However, people rebel against Jackals when they fail to keep their promises and keep order. Teddy, Bunny, Ping Pong and the White Brothers free the moose and his son.
Vultor curses the Jackals, dismissing them as traitors when they tell him how frustrated people are. He vows to destroy the American rabbit (and the city) with his doomsday switch.
Rob, still humiliated by his previous defeat, takes a cab and tells the driver that he is a failure. The taxi driver is revealed to be the old rabbit from the beginning of the film. He offers Rob some advice: "You can't win them all, but you can play your own power game."
Rob notices a poster for Niagara Falls, which prompts him to get back into action. He uses his telekinetic powers to generate a force field from his hands to stop the flow of water.
This runs New York's hydroelectric turbines, cutting power to the city and turning off the doomsday switch.
A furious Vultor confronts the American rabbit for a final showdown. The American rabbit chases him into a blizzard and rejects his offer to join forces. Vultor makes one last attempt to kill the American rabbit by diving on him, but misses him and rushes to his death.
The American rabbit returns as Rob to see
Production
An American / Japanese co-production between Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (now Fred Wolf Films Dublin) and Toei Animation, The Adventures of the American Rabbit was based on the poster character of the same name created by pop artist Stewart Moskowitz. The artist's characters have been adopted as mascots for many important Japanese companies. Hence the support of the film from Japanese investors and the participation of the aforementioned Toei Animation. Legendary animator Shingo Araki was among the animation staff working on the film.
The screenplay for the film was written by Norman Lenzer.
The film was co-directed by Fred Wolf and longtime Toei Animation director Nobutaka Nishizawa.
Release and reception
The film was among the first to be released by Clubhouse Pictures, a division of independent distributor Atlantic Releasing, which specializes in children's entertainment. It was not well received by critics or audiences during its original run. The film grossed $ 291.126 during its 242-screen opening weekend and ran for two months, grossing $ 1.268.443.
Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times said, "Both the writing and the animation in The Adventures of the American Rabbit are so inept that the viewer expects the governor to interrupt the film and declare the theater a disaster area!"
MGM Home Entertainment released American Rabbit on DVD in February 2005. It was presented full screen (as opposed to its original widescreen version) and contained no extras.
Characters
- American Rabbit
- Teddy,
- Bunny O'Hare
- Walt/Vultor
- Ping pong
Technical data
Original title The Adventures of the American Rabbit
Language original English
Country of Production : United States, United Kingdom
Year 1986
Duration 82 min
Gender comedy, adventure
Regia Fred Wolf, Nobutaka Nishizawa
Film script Norman Lenzer
Production house Fred Wolf Films, Toei Animation
Original voice actors
Barry Gordon: American Rabbit
Bob ArbogastTeddy
Laurie O'Brien: Bunny O'Hare
Kenneth Mars: Walt / Vultor
Lorenzo Music: Ping Pong
Italian voice actors
Roberto Del Giudice, Renato Cortesi: American Rabbit
Renato CecchettoTeddy
Francesca Rossiello: Bunny O'Hare
Giancarlo Padoan: Walt / Vultor
Giorgio Locuratolo, Silvio Anselmo: Ping Pong
Source; https://en.wikipedia.org/
