In 1955, Warner Brothers followed up the wild and wildly successful 1953 Daffy Duck cartoon, "Duck Amuck," by putting Bugs Bunny through his paces in "Rabbit Rampage." As in the earlier cartoon, Chuck Jones directs.
The cartoon begins with a shot of a conventional Bugs Bunny cartoon; almost immediately after cutting to the establishing shot, the animator interferes. Cartoon conventions turn on their heads, Bugs violates the fourth wall (always tenuous in Warner Brothers cartoons), and the wabbit himself undergoes ridiculous transformations. Twice, he invokes his contract and threats of reprisals from the studio if the animator continues to violate the requirements of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Coming after "Duck Amuck," it lacks the originality of it predecessor, and Daffy's ego and temper better suit him for this treatment. "Rabbit Rampage" nevertheless remains quite funny and features a better twist ending. Daffy remains unaware of the animator's identity, and the final revelation is probably the most conventional aspect of that extraordinary cartoon. Bugs, on the other hand, knows from the outset who is supposedly drawing the cartoon, though he does not name his tormentor for the audience. The final revelation, for those familiar with the Looney Tunes, proves both amusing and strangely satisfying.
In 1993, the cartoon gave its name to a Looney Tune-inspired Nintendo videogame, in which Bugs Bunny must escape the torments of a crazed animator who puts him in various difficult situations.