He's rude, crude,
and stuffed with attitude! Tired of being treated like
a lowly puppet - he prefers the term "Fabricated American"
- Greg The Bunny persuades his human roommate Jimmy (Seth Green)
to get him a job
interview with the
director (Eugene
Levy) on the "Sweetknuckle Junction" TV show. But instead of
interviewing for the office job, Greg inadvertently lands the
show's starring role! Although he's never acted a day in his life,
an ecstatic Greg soon realizes, "This place is full of freaks. I'm
gonna fit right in!"
CRITIQUE
I tuned into Greg
the Bunny when it first aired on TV, and I stayed with it for
about four or five episodes, but then it went away for a while and
I lost track of it. The show creates a world where puppets and
people co-exist; they work together, some hate each other, one has
feelings for another (specifically, one show character, a female
monster, has a crush on Jimmy), and the list of interaction goes
on. In this world, real actors Jimmy, Dottie (Dina Waters), and
Jack (Bob Gunton) work with a team of professional puppet actors,
newcomer Greg, Shakespearean thespian Warren Demontague, and Count
Blah, on a kids TV show called. Running the show is Alison (Sarah
Silverman), and directing it is Gil Bender (Levy).
Greg the Bunny
is a funny show overall. The concept is interesting, it's based on
an IFC series starring Greg the Bunny and various other puppet
characters, and lends itself to some neat comedy, but in between
the stories that make up the series' thirteen episodes is some dry
humor. Some of the dialogue can be tired and a few scenes just
don't add up to much. These minor issues do not detract from the
enjoyment of the show, but they tend to stick around from here to
there.
The puppet
characters are pretty funny and original, especially Warren and
Count Blah, who, I must confess, is my favorite. Greg gets most of
the attention on the show as he is the title character, and he's
likeable too. The guys putting their voices on these puppets do a
fine job, namely Drew Massey and Dan Milano. Of the actors, Seth
Green, Eugene Levy, Sarah Silverman, and Dina Waters do a good
job, but it's Bob Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption) who
surprises.
THE VIDEO
Fox presents Greg the
Bunny in 1.33:1 fullscreen format. Picture quality is good,
no major issues persist.
THE AUDIO
Fox presents Greg the
Bunny in English 2.0 Dolby Surround. Perfectly decent
presentation with clear dialogue.
THE EXTRAS
Fox put together a
nice set of bonus material for a show that got cancelled, but
the studio is known for giving its shows, no matter the fate,
the right DVD treatment.
First up are
audio commentaries on six select episodes with various cast
and crew, specifically on Welcome to Sweetknuckle Junction,
Sock Like Me, Piddler on the Roof, Rabbit Redux,
Jimmy Drives Gil Crazy, and The Singing Mailman.
These tracks range from decent to good, some interesting
information is present among various insider talk, jokes, and
such.
The first disc
shows The Humans Behind the Fabricated Americans (32:05),
a neat and informative featurette that covers the show's
origins, puppets, actors, filming, etc. Creators, voice actors,
and actors Green and Levy are interviewed for this piece.
Another featurette, called Puppet Auditions (6:22), is
basically that.
Other features on
disc one include Conceptual Artwork, comprised of
twenty-one stills of puppets and sets, and the Easter Egg:
Warren's Play - Dailies. There are also deleted scenes
(16:51) on both discs with commentary by Dan Milano; some scenes
are nice, others aren't.
The second disc
offers Storyboards - "Jimmy Drives Gil Crazy", comprised
of 83 storyboards, Tardy Delivery (8:51), a short film
with optional commentary, the "Reality" episode of the
IFC: The Greg the Bunny Show (6:57), twenty-two
behind-the-scenes stills, a publicity gallery that
includes TV spots, the Wrap Reel (6:47) that was shown at
the show's wrap party, and no less than nine Easter eggs
hidden throughout the menus.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Greg the Bunny is
oftentimes a show with a good supply of laughs even if not every joke
or storyline works like the rest. Fans of the show will definitely
want to pick up this DVD set, and for everyone else I'm recommending
it.
