Gorilla My Dreams (1948) User Reviews

Artwork, Puns Best Part Of This 'Toon

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 19 April 2007]

Bugs, floating in a barrel in the ocean but unperturbed by it all, washes ashore on "Bingzi- Bangzi - Land of the Ferocious Apes."

After some beautiful artwork showing the jungle, we come across some apes lying around reading books with titles such as "Apes Of Wrath" and "Our Vines Have Tender Apes." That's one feature I love with these Looney Tunes cartoons: the writers loved puns, as I do.

Like Moses in the brush, Bugs is picked up by a woman (in this case, gorilla) who is thrilled at the prospect of caring for a new "baby."

This cartoon, which is part of the Golden Collection Volume Two, shows Bugs' "soft spot," as he puts it: dames crying, so if the female thinks he's hers, well, to keep her from crying any more, Bugs "goes along with the gag." What ensues is mostly funny, from the sight gags - Bugs in a pink baby outfit, and then pretending to be an ape - to his battles with the father ape "Gruesome."

The only lame part was the ending. Actually, I enjoyed the fabulous artwork in here with amazing jungle drawings, best of all, along with the puns in the beginning.

"Cut it out, Gargantua. I'm not an ape. I'm a rabbit. Long ears...fluffy tail...technically known as a rodentus rabbitus"

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 8 July 2010]

While not the best of the Looney Tunes canon, Gorilla My Dreams is still a very entertaining cartoon I think. I agree the ending is rather abrupt and lame, and I cannot say I was a fan of the female gorilla, she doesn't do that much that is interesting.

However, the animation is solid and colourful, I especially loved how the jungle was animated. The music is lovely and has a lot of energy, Bugs's song at the beginning as he is sitting eating a carrot and reading a book in the boat is very amusing, especially for the lyrics. The dialogue is witty and funny, Bugs of course gets the best lines and does a lot with them, while the sight gags are good. Bugs of course is great fun, while the male gorilla was a decent foil, gruff he was but I think he was meant to be. Mel Blanc does a wonderful job yet again with the voices.

Overall, an entertaining cartoon while not the best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Anarchistic bunnies and maternal gorillas? Next....

[danegem · 6/10 · 3 May 2011]

The looney toon shorts have always struck me as various sketches/ideas/caricatures which would often vary on whether they would cater to one's tastes or entertainment value. Like the Marx Brothers, Saturday Night Live, Steven Spielberg animated shows ("Animaniacs"/"Freakazoid"/"Tiny Toons"/"Pinky and the Brain") or any non-Disney animated Theatrical short, the Looney Toons do what they think is funny, when they think it is funny and how they feel it should be carried out. This short struck me as an intermission between two other shorts, or even as part of a feature length film tracking Bugs Bunny's adventures.

It is simple: Bugs Bunny is in a barrel in the sea, and he is picked up by a motherless gorilla who wishes to have a child of her own. Deciding to play along and indulge her, Bugs goes home and is greeted with hostility by papa gorilla. The short ends with Bugs Bunny besting the Papa Gorilla in a "battle of wits". Honestly, nothing special goes on in here. They both bang each other on the head and chase each other around, but its not very funny; its just plain boring. The opportunities one could have with such a setup are limitless, and it just seems like there was lazy planning and a lack of potential gags and setups. This is one short I will only recommend you watch once, unless of course you are a die-hard Looney Toon fan.

Another fine mess he's gotten into

[Op_Prime · 26 May 2000]

Bugs Bunny has found home with his parents both being gorillas. Crazy, isn't it? Despite being crazy, this is a classic short. Once again, Bugs has to face a villain, the Gorilla Gruesome who would rather not have Bugs around and decided to 'play' rough. What are the odds he is going to regret it in the end? Very good.

McKimson should have just stuck with Foghorn Leghorn, cause he was the bane of Bugs Bunny's existence

[movieman_kev · 6/10 · 29 October 2005]

Bugs bunny is willing to play along when a female gorilla desperately wants to have a baby. But the husband of the gorilla, Mr. Gruesome hates Bugs and wants him out of the picture. This is YET another Robert McKimson directed short that fails when compared to the Bugs Bunny cartoons of other MUCH more competent directors. His name almost makes one weep when a TRUE Looney Tunes fan sees it in the credits. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Jerry Beck that needless to say is more interesting than the actual short.

My Grade: C

in the jungle, the rabbit jungle...

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 1 June 2005]

A female gorilla is depressed that she and her husband, Gruesome, haven't had a child. When Gruesome growls at her, she runs away crying and...you guessed it! She finds Bugs Bunny. When she takes him home, Gruesome decides to take Bugs for a walk, but then it turns out that the big guy wants to torment him. Naturally, Bugs has his own plans.

I think that my favorite scene was when Bugs shakes a coconut out of a tree, and it falls on Gruesome like a football helmet. No matter what, you can always count on that "scwewy wabbit" to do something great. Maybe it was Mel Blanc's voices or maybe it was something else (I would assume that it was the former), but those old Looney Tunes cartoons were always the best.

Contemporary reference

[fmsteinberg · 7/10 · 30 August 2009]

The ending of "Gorilla My Dreams" has special meaning for me because it is one of those Bugs Bunny vignettes with allusions to the real world that took me a several years to decipher. The ones with allusions to celebrities and classic movies are fun, and this one has a twist. At the end of the cartoon Mrs Gruesome makes a plaintive telephone call, after receiving the irrevocable filial rejection from Bugs and says, "Mr Anthony… I have a problem." My mother was once walking through the room while I watched this episode (after multiple times) in the 1970s and laughed at that line, which had never made sense to me. When I asked her why she laughed she said that "Mr. Anthony was a radio adviser, an Agony Uncle, from the 1950s" and she found that it was funny that a gorilla in a cartoon would make such a call. This concept was possibly loosely copied in a Simpson's episode: After Homer suspects that the alien Kodos is the father of Maggie, the family makes an appearance on the Jerry Springer Show. During the course of trying to reconcile a possibly cuckolded Homer, Kang and Kodos appear in the studio, which they proceed to destroy, including Jerry Springer. The Simpsons family are spared, but there is no resolution to the dilemma. As they walk outside of the destroyed studio, Marge says that she is really disappointed because even Jerry Springer was not able to solve their problem. In 50 years it is likely that Jerry Springer will be as remembered as Mister Anthony was 50 years after his appearance, but the joke remains.

If gorillas lived in a patriarchal society . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 12 May 2016]

. . . which seems to be the basic premise of GORILLA MY DREAMS, then it would be the father's responsibility to kill off all of his sons until he was too old and feeble to prevent the last of them from returning the favor and inheriting his harem (comprised mostly of his sisters and aunts, of course). This is the theme of the Warner Bros. animated short, GORILLA MY DREAMS, based on the prevailing Red States Life Style of the 1940s (still pretty much in vogue there Today). Though Naturalists such as Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey have proved that gorillas actually are MATRIARCHAL since DREAMS first hit the screen, the other side of Warner's analogy still rings true Today. As BIG LOVE recently documented, harem-based living has spread to most of the Red States now. While Blue State Billionaires usually mate for life, those in the so-called "Bible Belt" often boast three to eight wives (though those who cross state lines frequently, such as John Wayne or the Honorary Dixie Darling Donald Trump, make out like they're practicing Serial Marriage). Whether Gruesome Gorilla is a Serial Killer we'll never know for sure, though it's implied that he's disposed of any previous sons prior to Bugs Bunny's "adoption" by Mrs. Gruesome in "Bingzi Bangzi."

Nicer to look at than it is to listen to

[phantom_tollbooth · 5/10 · 1 October 2008]

The best thing about Robert McKimson's 'Gorilla My Dreams' are the sumptuous jungle backgrounds against which the action is set. It's a lovely setting for a so-so cartoon. Bugs Bunny is washed ashore on a tropical island and immediately adopted against his will by a broody, childless mother gorilla. Her husband, Gruesome, is less than pleased by this development and sets out to render himself childless. It is from hereon in that the cartoon starts to falter with some clumsily timed sequences (the dance with the coconut tree being the prime example) and a less than satisfactory ending. It's a shame the script is so off during the main body of the cartoon because much of the animation is extremely nice, such as the beautiful chase sequence which culminates in a striking layout which charts the lengthiness of the pursuit by showing Bugs and Gruesome's silhouetted figures in several different places at once. Despite being serenaded by Bugs with several hit songs of the day, I still always think of 'Gorilla My Dreams' as a far nicer cartoon to look at than it is to listen to.

Fun Bugs

[Michael_Elliott · 2 May 2009]

Gorilla My Dreams (1948)

*** (out of 4)

A mama gorilla is ashamed of being the only one not to have a baby but when a shipwrecked Bugs Bunny shows up she decides to take him as her own. This doesn't sit too well with her cranky husband who wants to get rid of Bugs. This is a good entry in the series, although it's certainly not one of the best. The biggest problem I had with the movie is that it ends rather abruptly and the ending, while trying to be clever, doesn't really pull off the punch it was going for. There are still some nice moments between the mama and Bugs and the action between Bugs and the dad is fast and violent.

Deja vu?

[anxietyresister · 4/10 · 23 September 2005]

Bugs is adrift at sea in a barrel, reading a book and singing a song as though he hasn't got a care in the world. Unfortunately, he doesn't realise he's near an island in the ocean populated by ferocious gorillas, and when one of the childless female apes sees him floating by, she takes an instant shine to him being her baby.. despite the fact he has long ears and fluffy tale. How will her hubby cope with the news that he has a rabbit as a heir (ho ho)? You'll have to watch to find out.

This short has almost exactly the same plot as another BB cartoon (the name escapes me for now) but the execution is far weaker. Aside from a couple of pratfalls involving a coconut tree and a shovel there are hardly any jokes here at all, just a few aimless chases and a several uninspiring background gags (Like Tarzan crossing at the traffic lights). The question: If you're going to rework earlier material, why bother if you're just going to strip out the good stuff and replace it with dead air? I don't have a clue. But what I am sure of is, when this appears on my Looney Tunes DVD in the future.. my finger will be firmly be rested on the SKIP button. 4/10

Not great but still fun

[bob the moo · 22 November 2003]

Bugs Bunny is adrift in a barrel, content to be sailing and reading until being rescued. He drifts onto an island where a childless gorilla with a time bomb of a biological clock finds him and takes him in as her child. Bugs plays along to placate her but finds that her husband is less keen on this new arrival.

The short here opens well with some nice wit, Bugs reading and relaxing in his barrel, the apes reading such classics as `apes of wrath' however the actual plot is a little off and sees Bugs just aping it up with his mother. After this we have a chase between \the father and Bugs which, while amusing, isn't the funniest thing you'll see.

Bugs is as good as he always is and he holds the short up well. The mother ape isn't great and the father is just too gruff and ignorant to be a good foil for Bugs – he reminded me of Taz and we all know how poor the Bugs/Taz cartoons were at times.

Overall, not a great short but has enough going for it to be worth watching.

"Daddy!"

[slymusic · 8 July 2009]

Directed by Robert McKimson, "Gorilla My Dreams" is a wonderful Bugs Bunny cartoon in which the wascawwy wabbit is forced to pose as a baby gorilla for the big, burly, brutal Gruesome Gorilla and his wife. Mel Blanc supplies the voices of all three characters, and he is especially hilarious as the mother gorilla.

Highlights: When Bugs' barrel (in which he set sail) is snatched by the mama gorilla, Bugs sings "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat". Bugs and Gruesome dance to a conga beat while Bugs repeatedly kicks a coconut palm tree. Aided by Carl Stalling's music score, Bugs does his best monkey imitation when he is first introduced to Gruesome.

"Gorilla My Dreams" is a pretty good cartoon for a laugh or two. Catch it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 Disc 1, with an optional commentary by animation historian Jerry Beck.