The Adventures of the American Rabbit

The Adventures of the American Rabbit is a 1986 American\Japanese animated film.

Plot
The film is about a rabbit named Rob who has the ability to turn into a star-spangled superhero called American Rabbit. After moving to the city where he works as a piano player in a nightclub, he encounters a gang of harassing jackals and it's up to American Rabbit to save the town from them.

Voice Cast

 * Barry Gordon as American Rabbit / Rob
 * Laurie O'Brien as Bunny O'Hare
 * Ken Mars as Walt / Vultor the Buzzard
 * Pat Fraley as Tini Meeny
 * Bob Holt as Rodney
 * Lorenzo Music as Ping Pong
 * Hal Smith as Mentor, Marvin and Too Loose
 * Bob Arbogast as Teddy\Additional Voices
 * Lew Horn, Norm Lenzer, John Mayer, Mitzi Morgan, Russi Taylor &Fred Wolf as Additional Voices

Production
An American/Japanese co-production between Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (now Fred Wolf Films Dublin) and Toei Animation, the movie was based upon the poster character of the same name created by pop artist Stewart Moskowitz.

The artist's characters were adopted as the mascots for many major Japanese companies, hence the film's backing by Japanese investors and the participation of the aforementioned Toei Animation.

Legendary animator Shingo Araki was among the animation staff working on the film. The screenplay was written by Norman Lenzer, from the ABC television movie "The Point!" It was co-directed by Fred Wolf, and longtime Toei Animation director Nobutaka Nishizawa.

Box Office
"The Adventures of the American Rabbit" received a limited release in theaters, opening at only 242 theaters for 2 months & grossed $291,126 during its opening weekend. Domestically, it made $1,268,443.

Critical Reception
The movie received poor reception from critics & audiences.

Charles Solomon from The Los Angeles Times said, "Both the writing and the animation in The Adventures of the American Rabbit are so inept that the viewer expects the governor to interrupt the film and declare the theater a disaster area!"

In Vincent Canby's review from the New York Times, he said, "If you close your eyes and imagine Chuck Norris in rabbit ears, you've got the American Rabbit."

TV Guide said, "The story peters out towards the end and, running at nearly an hour and a half, may not hold the attention of its intended younger audience".