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Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town (The)
R1 - America - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Andreas Petersen (8th March 2008). |
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The Film
 I truly feel that children’s entertainment is slowly slipping these days, hanging on by a dear thread called Pixar. These days I feel like most children’s entertainment plays to the lowest common denominator, not pushing any boundaries concerning content or animation. I truly feel the 60's and 70's were a different time. The stop-animation holiday special was extremely popular, found in the famous "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1964) Christmas special and "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town" (1970). Somewhat more obscure is "The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town". Aired originally in 1977, this special sets out to explain the origins of Easter, answering age old questions like “why do we color eggs?”, “what’s the deal with chocolate bunnies?” and ultimately “who was the Easter bunny?” All of these questions get charming answers in this hour-long film narrated by a familiar conductor (Fred Astaire). The town of Kidsville, populated only by orphaned kids, find an orphaned bunny, and name him Sunny (Skip Hinnant). Sunny grows up along the children as an equal. He proposes that for Kidsville to truly grow, they must export goods. They decide that they have the best eggs in all the land, and that they are likely to sell them elsewhere. In his travels, Sunny meets a friendly homeless man named Hallelujah Jones ( Ron Marshall), who helps him come up with ideas to hide the eggs from ill wishers such as the evil bear Gadzooks and the evil ruler of Town, Lily Longtooth (Meg Sargent). When watching this movie, I just got the feeling that so much heart was put into it. The songs, written by Maury Laws, are just fantastic. This also goes for the voice acting in general, the design, and animation, although, it could be a little jumpy sometimes, but this was the 70’s, give ‘em a break! Most of all, the film delivers a great and simple message of be yourself, believe in yourself, and if you wanted to get real analytical about the whole thing, I’m sure you could find some parables to non-violent revolutions. The film also does this without being overtly Christian. While there is a mention to worshiping the lord (specifically as the film puts it “in their own way”), and an allusion of Moses and the ark, the whole story felt secular. I’m not saying that Christian stories are bad, not at all, but by remaining mostly secular, the film becomes more universal, and something that anyone can enjoy, including this reviewer, who happens to be a 20-year-old guy whose favorite movie is "Cannibal Holocaust" (1980).
Video
The movie is presented in a 1.33:1 full screen transfer, maintaining the original aspect ratio when the movie premiered on TV thirty years ago. The picture quality is decent enough, but from time to time, you can tell you are watching an older movie. More times than once, the brightness of the picture seemed to fluctuate, although very subtly. Considering this was something on TV in the 70’s, I think I couldn’t expect better picture quality.
Audio
The movie is presented in English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono. I guess I’m a little frustrated that so much care went into remastering the picture, expecting audio to get the same treatment. But this isn’t the type of movie that needs amazing surround sound, so it’s hard to judge it for that. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired.
Extras
Warner Brothers has released this film as a "Deluxe Edition", this single-disc re-issue includes only a handful of extras such as three short films and a collection of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. The disc comes with 3 modern stop-motion short films. They are acted out by real people rather than stop-motion puppets. They play more like experiments kids would try out with a camera rather than proper short films. They are: - “Breakfast of Magicians”, which runs for 1 minute and 47 seconds. In this short, a man’s frosted mini wheats hop out of his bowl and attempt to not get eaten. - “Floating Through Daydream Garden”, which runs for 1 minute and 32 seconds. In this short, a woman travels through a park without having her feet ever touch the ground. - “The Easter Express”, which runs for 1 minute and 55 seconds. In this short a train set builds itself. The train proceeds to go around the track for about a minute, and then some jelly beans board it. The disc also includes bonus trailers for other family friendly animated features. They are: - "Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who" which runs for 1 minute and 13 seconds. - "The Smurfs Season 1 Vol. 1" which runs for 1 minute and 2 seconds - "Tom and Jerry Tales Vol. 4" which runs for 49 seconds. - "Peanuts Valentine’s and Easter Deluxe Editions" which runs for 1 minute and 46 seconds. - "A Pup Named Scoopy-Doo Season 1" which runs for 1 minute and 21 seconds.
Packaging
This "Deluxe Edition" disc is packaged in an amaray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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