. . . Bugs Bunny says to scimitar-wielding Caliph Pheffer, in Warner Bros.' prophetic warning to Saddam Hussein not to mess with the Bushes (aka, shrubs) during this 1948 release from their Animated Shorts Seers division (aka, The Looney Tuners), A-LAD-IN HIS LAMP. Robin Williams might have said G'Day to Vietnam, but 89% of Millennial Animation experts agree that his performance in Disney's over-rated feature cartoon ALADDIN is totally derived from Jim Backus' "Genii with the light brown hair" here, to the level of extreme (if second-rate) plagiarism. Of course, the lame-brained folks forming the Pack of the Rat at Disney seldom if ever provide clairvoyant touches with their moving pictures, while Warner Bros. often if not always can be counted upon to be Warning the World of its upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti. If a young Saddam Hussein had only seen A-LAD-IN HIS LAMP, surely he'd refrained from harassing the Bushes with a ten-foot pole (or even a Seven-Incher). But no, he had to insult them at some backyard Texas BBQ in honor of the Bin Laden Family, suffering the penalty of being strung up and Lynched (not to mention getting more than ONE MILLION of his constituents killed, along with 5,000 U.S. troops, at a cost of THREE BILLION BUCKS to America, 10 billion plus to the world economy, and counting, of course)!

Bugs stumbles upon a magic lamp and finds a somewhat annoying genie, voiced by Jim Backus. While the genie is able to grant wishes, he's also a bit snippy and after a while tells Bugs to leave him alone OR ELSE--even though through the genie's own ineptitude he's put Bugs into harms way with the dangerous Hasan, who is intent on killing Bugs. Again and again Bugs tries to get help but the genie tells him to go away (he's taking a shower or on a hot date, etc.). Finally, after receiving his last warning, Hasan inadvertently bothers the genie--who responds by pulverizing him! A cute cartoon with very high production values and a lot of laughs.

Robert McKimson is an often overlooked Warner Brothers Cartoon director, but he created some of their funniest hits, such as "Ham in a Role", "A Fractured Leghorn" (easily the best of the Foghorn Leghorn series), "It's Hummer Time", and "Early to Bet". McKimson's use of Bugs Bunny was sometimes disappointing ("Rabbit's Kin") but he more often used Bugs to good effect. Instead of the too-clever Bugs who is smarter than anyone else in the room, McKimson's Bugs got into real jams. "Hillbilly Hare" (where Bugs finds himself caught in the midst of a feud); "Hot Cross Bunny", where a doctor tries to change Bugs' brain with that of a chicken; and "Easter Yeggs", where Bugs is conned by his good heart to help out the Easter Bunny, are three of Bugs' greatest hits. Another McKimson gem is "A-Lad-in-His-Lamp", where Bugs Bunny happens across the famous lamp of Aladdin and finds himself caught between a ruthless potentate who wants the lamp (an early Saddam) and an increasingly unhelpful genie. Another plus to this nearly-perfect cartoon with non-stop action and laughs is Jim Backus doing an uncredited turn as the voice of the genie.

This lackluster Bugs Bunny vehicle is most notable for being the first (uncredited) appearance of Jim Backus anywhere, a year before he became the voice of Mr. Magoo. It certainly was not the first cartoon to have a pun on a-lad-in in it's title. While building a home (digging a tunnel with a shuffle), Bugs stumbles upon Aladdin's lamp. `Smoky' the Genie, who seems to have been a great inspiration to Johnny Carson, talks Bugs into visiting his estate in Baghdad and sends him off flying. He failed to inform Bugs the estate is now owned by the violent Galiph Hassen Pheffer.Is this really the Bugs Bunny we know and love? Instead of outsmarting everybody else, he spends this cartoon being duped by the genie and delivers some of the worst puns ever (hare-plane, hare-em). The genie himself is too busy taking a bath or having diner to offer any help, so Bugs has to fend for himself trying to keep the lamp out of Galiph's hands. The most original jokes are to be found during the establishing shots when we first get to Baghdad. Apparently this cartoon has come under fire for the depiction of Iraqi, but then again is there any forties Warner effort left that has not offended anybody?4 out of 10