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This article is about the character from Winnie the Pooh. For the character from Timon and Pumbaa, see Rabbit (Timon and Pumbaa).
Rabbit is a major character in the Winnie the Pooh franchise, making his first Disney appearance in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.
Personality
Rabbit is a complex character. He is shown to value organization and order. However, he is easily frustrated, often due to the chaos caused (unintentionally) by his friends, mainly Tigger. Rabbit's greatest concern is his garden, which he works on constantly, and he is easily annoyed when it is tampered with.
When faced with the annoying actions of another (often Tigger), Rabbit often resorts to harsh measures and plans to punish the offender; such measures usually backfire on Rabbit. Rabbit is often shown to be the one to take charge of a situation, but he can often be a control freak, needing every last detail to be to his liking.
However, Rabbit does have a softer side and will do anything to help another when he is needed. This was shown when he adopted Kessie as his own daughter and vowed to raise her and nurse her. However, he was scared to let her go. Like most characters in the franchise, Rabbit is named after his own species.
Film appearances
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.
Rabbit first appears in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Pooh invites himself over for lunch after he fails to get honey from a honey tree. Rabbit's horrified reaction implies that this happens often, but though Rabbit pretends he isn't home, Pooh comes in the back door. Resignedly, Rabbit offers his honey to Pooh, which results in Pooh eating so much that he becomes stuck in Rabbit's front door. After getting Christopher Robin's assistance, they realize that the only solution is to wait for Pooh to get thin again so that he can be removed.
Rabbit attempts to make the most of it, by decorating Pooh's lower half. Later, he stops Gopher from giving Pooh honey, as he worries it would delay Pooh's removal. When Pooh budges one day, he excitedly tells Christopher Robin. During the tug of war, Rabbit tries to push Pooh out and is removed from the doorway, much to Rabbit's relief.
In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Rabbit is seen harvesting his garden. Though he is initially worried when Pooh is dragged, though, he changes his attitude when he realizes that Pooh has essentially harvested all his carrots for him and wonders if he can do the same to his rutabaga patch. That night, he is forced to go to Christopher Robin's home as a result of the flood.
During Pooh's hero party, Eeyore announces that he has found a new home for Owl. But everybody, unfortunately, learns that the one Eeyore found is Piglet's house. When Piglet decides to reluctantly give his home to Owl, Rabbit immediately asks Piglet where he will live, to which a touched Pooh offers to let Piglet live with him. Afterward, Rabbit and the gang celebrate both Pooh’s and Piglet's good deeds that day.
Rabbit with Tigger in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.
In the third segment, Rabbit has grown annoyed by Tigger's constant bouncing, especially after he ruins his garden. He holds a meeting consisting of himself, Pooh and Piglet. His intent is to take the vain feline into the mists and lose him there, which would supposedly humble Tigger. However, the plan fails. Rabbit himself gets hopelessly lost, and Tigger retrieves him, announcing happily that Tigger's never get lost. Later on, when Tigger is stuck in a tree, Rabbit forces a promise that Tigger would never bounce again. He quickly comes to regret it, after everyone expresses their love of the old bouncy Tigger. He allows Tigger to bounce again, which Tigger does joyfully. Tigger later encourages Rabbit to bounce, insisting that Rabbit has the feet for it. Rabbit surprisingly enjoys it himself and tells the others to join them.
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore
Rabbit is first seen with Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit and Roo playing Poohsticks. They all see Eeyore floating in the river below. After a somewhat successful attempt to get him to shore, he tells them that he fell in due to being bounced from behind. When Tigger arrives on the scene, Rabbit immediately accuses him of bouncing Eeyore, to which Tigger claims that his bounce was actually a cough, but with some outside help from narrator Laurie Main, the animals find out that Tigger has indeed deliberately bounced Eeyore.
Rabbit appears again during Eeyore's birthday party, where Tigger arrives and welcomes himself to the festivities. This angers Rabbit, who opines that Tigger should leave because of the way he treated Eeyore before. Roo wants Tigger to stay, and Christopher Robin's solution is for everyone to go to the bridge and play Poohsticks.
Pooh's Grand Adventure
In this film, Rabbit joins Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore as they go on a quest to find Christopher Robin, whom they mistakenly believe is in trouble. Annoyed with Pooh's leadership, Rabbit takes over. Later on, Rabbit panics under pressure, realizing that he is not as smart as he believes himself to be. But later, he claims he was smart in the end after all. When Christopher Robin tells them that he was only at school and not skull and the noise they heard was only Pooh's stomach and Rabbit then realizes that Owl was only joking. At the end, Rabbit returns home with Christopher Robin.
The Tigger Movie
Rabbit in The Tigger Movie.
Rabbit is first seen attempting to use a pulley system to remove a rock from Eeyore's home. However, the machine is ruined by Tigger. Rabbit's temper reaches his peak and wonders why all Tigger cares about is bouncing. This saddens Tigger and he leaves and it shows Rabbit could care less.
From this point, Rabbit is absent through most of the second half of the story, busy preparing for the oncoming winter as opposed to entertaining Tigger's longing for a family. When he realizes the others are doing just that, he scolds them, bashing their attempts and neglect towards the raging blizzard upon them before returning home for his own preparations.
After Tigger runs away, however, Rabbit is convinced to lead the expedition to find him. He does so reluctantly at first but acquiesces after seeing his saddened friends. When they find Tigger, Rabbit tells him to forget about his family tree, accidentally offending Tigger, Tigger screams "No!" and scolds him, which causes a large and dangerous avalanche. Rabbit is the last to be saved by Tigger, but along with the others survives the storm. Rabbit later becomes a part of Tigger's true family. At the end of the film, Tigger promises Rabbit that he would watch where he is bouncing in the future, which Rabbit accepts gratefully.
Piglet's Big Movie
Rabbit in Piglet's Big Movie.
Rabbit appears working on a plan to extract honey from a hive. His job is to "soothe" the bees by playing music on his violin. Piglet is able to carry out the task, but no one realizes what he has done. Later on, when Piglet goes missing, Rabbit is the first to notice and takes part in a search party to find him, using Piglet's scrapbook as an aid.
On the way to Kanga's house, they reminisce about when Kanga and Roo first arrived in the Hundred Acre Wood. Everyone was afraid of the newcomers and Rabbit devised a plan to use Piglet as a decoy so they could kidnap Roo. Eventually, Rabbit had become good friends with Roo and everyone agreed that they should both stay.
Back in the present, Rabbit gets into an argument with Tigger, causing them to lose the sketchbook to the river. He and the others proceed to make a new one, detailing Piglet's adventures. The new book gives Rabbit and the friends a warm feeling centering Piglet which encourages them to return to the woods to find him.
The scrapbook is seen over a waterfall and while, Pooh attempts to retrieve it, Rabbit, being the most worried, begins to panic. Eventually, Piglet rescues Pooh and the friends return home. During a party, the most carefree side of Rabbit is exposed even laughing at his own misfortune when cupcakes splat in his eyes.
Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo
Rabbit in Springtime with Roo.
In the film, Rabbit's role is akin to that of the character Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. Roo is shown to be puzzled when Rabbit seems to prefer to work and clean for Spring rather than enjoy Easter. Rabbit even goes as far as to ban the holiday. Eventually, both the Narrator and Tigger take Rabbit out of the story in an attempt to remind him how much he had loved the holiday.
In the flashback, which takes place the prior year, Rabbit is shown to be in charge of Easter celebrations, being the Easter bunny. However, he attempted to make Easter orderly and organized rather than fun and enjoyable, treating it more like a business than a holiday. Tigger would later steal the Easter Eggs and hide them himself. Rabbit would be deeply hurt when he realized that the group was enjoying Easter without him. Upon seeing this, Rabbit agrees that he used to enjoy Easter, but refuses to renew the holiday, due to continued hurts as to Tigger's usurpation of the Easter Bunny role.
Rabbit returns home, however, the narrator intervenes again, taking Rabbit to Roo's home to show him how his friends care for him. Rabbit again refuses, so that night, the narrator takes Rabbit to the future. Everything is neat and organized, but Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Roo, Kanga, and Eeyore have long since left the Hundred Acre Wood. Christopher Robin, Owl, and Gopher have also left as well (although it is unknown if that is true, seeing how neither of them appears in the movie), making Rabbit the last person in the Hundred Acre Wood.
Rabbit comes to realize the error of his ways; he had been focusing on himself rather than his friends and was wrong to try to control an event everyone enjoyed and because of that, they left him alone and miserable. Rabbit tries to renew Easter but realizes that his friends took the decorations when they moved.
However, Rabbit awakens at his home and realizes that it is Easter morning. Rabbit finds the Easter supplies and happily plans an enjoyable Easter for his friends. The Easter celebration is shown to proceed as planned.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Shocked Rabbit in Pooh's Heffalump Movie.
Rabbit is awakened by his friends who claim to hear a terrifying noise. Rabbit is the first to know there is a creature in their forest, a Heffalump. He proceeds to organize an expedition to go try to catch it. Roo wants to come along, but Rabbit tells him he is too young and small to go. During the expedition, Rabbit is just as terrified but tries to keep cool in front of his friends.
When the gang returns home to find Rabbit's garden a mess, they conclude that the heffalump has invaded. When Lumpy and Roo are discovered, Rabbit thinks that Lumpy has captured Roo. He and the others chase Lumpy through the heffalump traps they set up earlier in the film. Lumpy evades the traps, but Roo gets caught in the last one as Lumpy escapes into the woods. Roo frees himself from the trap and runs to free Lumpy stuck in a giant cage.
Then Rabbit and the gang come running around the corner, still thinking that Lumpy has captured Roo, and lasso Lumpy. Roo yells at them to stop and explains that Heffalumps aren't scary or mean. While Roo is explaining this, Lumpy stumbles and accidentally knocks Roo into a pile of giant, heavy logs.
Lumpy and Roo's other friends try to rescue Roo, but the logs are too heavy. Lumpy gets an idea and calls to his mother. Lumpy's mother comes and tosses the logs aside, freeing Roo. Everyone realizes that the "monster" they were all afraid of was just a mother looking for her baby. Rabbit then apologizes to Lumpy for his prejudice and the way treated him, to which Lumpy forgives him, jokingly calling him by Tigger's given nickname ("Long Ears").
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
Rabbit in Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie.
Rabbit joins his friends in a Halloween night and the decides to organize the year's Halloween by pairing the friends up and limiting their candy. Soon enough, Rabbit is the only friend to oppose Tigger's ghost story being that it frightens Lumpy who has never experienced Halloween before. When Pooh eats Rabbit's entire stock of candy for trick-or-treating, Roo and Lumpy set out to capture the Gobloon to wish for more candy.
While the gang waits, Rabbit, dressed as a scarecrow, offers to use vegetables as a substitute. Later, Roo separated from Lumpy, arrives and recruits the gang to help him capture the Gobloon and save Lumpy. They arrive at the trap and, hearing Lumpy trying to break out of the trap, assume the Gobloon was trapped already. The group is unsure what to wish for, but Roo wishes to have his friend back. Hearing Roo's voice, Lumpy is inspired to finally break his way out of the trap, much to the joy of his friends. The group finally goes trick-or-treating, throws a Halloween party for the friends, complete with Jack-o-lanterns carved in everyone's likeness.
The Lion King 1½
Rabbit has a silhouetted cameo appearance sitting next to the Mad Hatter as Stitch was making way to his seat. Because of where he's sitting, some viewers think it's really the March Hare.
Winnie the Pooh
Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh.
Rabbit returns in the new traditionally animated Pooh film. Rabbit is voiced by Tom Kenny and animated by Eric Goldberg. To further the film's comedy, Rabbit was given a more delicate temper that is far easier to set off.
While Rabbit is picking carrots out of his garden, Pooh stops by and leaves an excessive amount of signs informing Rabbit of a very important meeting that is to take place. Rabbit and the others attend and become excited to hear that a contest is to be held for the recovery, or replacement, of Eeyore's lost tail. Later at Owl's house, Rabbit was seen rewarding Owl the honey pot prize as Pooh walks in to show everyone a message left by Christopher Robin. Owl reads that Christopher has been kidnapped by a creature called the Backson. Rabbit and the others then go on a search for the monster to save Christopher.
Rabbit acts as the ringleader of the expedition, telling everyone where to plant bait and traps for the Backson's planned incarceration. Pooh, however, falls for the honey trap and falls into a deep pit. Rabbit plans on using the chain on Eeyore's anchor tail to pull Pooh out. Instead, the anchor pulls the rest of the group in. Piglet is the only member left above, and Rabbit attempts to guide Piglet in a rescue mission. As Piglet's cowardliness gets the better of him, Rabbit begins to lose his temper more and more.
After Piglet and Tigger get trapped as well, Rabbit loses all hope. Pooh then notices a honey pot at the top of the pit and creates a latter using the text from to the book to reach it. Rabbit then becomes hysterically ecstatic when he realizes the opportunity to escape. Once they're freed, Christopher Robin arrives with the gang's "friend" balloon. Rabbit then awards the honey pot to balloon. At the end, Pooh recovers Eeyore's real tail and receives a massive jar of honey from Rabbit and the others. as gratitude for the recovery.
Television appearances
Welcome to Pooh Corner
In this TV series, Rabbit is portrayed by a live actor in a puppet suit and voiced by Will Ryan. Besides being a gardener, he is portrayed as a talented magician.
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Rabbit combing his ears in "Party Poopher".
Rabbit is portrayed similarly to his earlier film appearances and has greener fur than in the films. He is often faced with fighting threats to his garden, with include crows, bugs, and Gopher's destructive plans. He is sometimes presented in an antagonistic role, though he usually repents. Though normally he is portrayed as a living animal, the episode "How Much is that Rabbit in the Window?", presents him as a toy. The episode has an unappreciated Rabbit run away from home not feeling special by thinking that the others were taking advantage of him, only to be picked up by the owner of a store, who puts him up for sale.
Two episodes depict Rabbit's softer side. In "Find Her, Keep Her", Rabbit rescues a baby blue bird named Kessie, and raises her. He is shown to be overprotective of her, even forbidding her from flying, though in the end, he reluctantly allows her to migrate South for the winter. Kessie returns in "A Bird in the Hand", and Rabbit still treats her as a child, despite her being grown up. After a run in with heffalumps and woozles, however, he comes to realize that though she is grown up he can still be Kessie's good friend.
In the episode "Party Poohper", Rabbit is shown to have over 500 baby bunny relatives who he tried to throw a party for but continued to suffer numerous problems due to his hectic schedule.
The Book of Pooh
Rabbit in The Book of Pooh.
Rabbit is a major character in the series and has a role similar to The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Like the previous series, Rabbit is a master gardener and is often seen trying to find new ways to avoid the annoyance of Tigger.
House of Mouse
Rabbit made several cameos in House of Mouse with Winnie the Pooh and friends. In Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, He is seen at the end with Pooh, Tigger, Christopher Robin and all their friends singing "The Best Christmas of All".
My Friends Tigger & Pooh
Rabbit is a supporting character and much like prior appearances, his garden is usually on the verge of destruction in some way. Here, Pooh, Tigger, and their new friend Darby, go around the Hundred Acre Woods, solving various problems. Rabbit was one a substitute member of the Super Sleuths team, whenever the originals were unavailable.
Video games
Rabbit has made numerous video game appearances within the Winnie the Pooh franchise as well as several crossover games alongside other iconic Disney characters such as Disney Magical World and Kingdom Hearts.
Tigger's Honey Hunt
Rabbit plays a supporting role in this game, appearing in cutscenes and assisting Tigger in collecting honey pots for a special occasion in Pooh's honor.
Kingdom Hearts series
Rabbit is a friend in the Hundred Acre Wood that facilitates many mini-games throughout the series. In the original game, echoing the events of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Pooh is rendered trapped within Rabbit's back door, though Sora (the protagonist of the game) and the others help free him.
In Birth by Sleep, he is briefly shown running away from a large pumpkin rolling down a hill. In Kingdom Hearts, he attempts to pretend to not be home as he didn't want to share his hunny with Pooh. Tigger bounces on his garden, initiating a mini-game where Sora has to stop him.
A recreation of him appears in Chain of Memories, forged from Sora's memories.
In Kingdom Hearts II, he reappears in a few more mini-games. As the story goes, Pooh has lost his memories as a result of the recklessness of the Heartless. To help him recover, Rabbit uses his impressive stash of honey, hoping Pooh's love for the treat will help spark the memories they've shared. Though it seemed futile at first, the plan works.
He is voiced by Ken Sansom (English) and Naoki Tatsuta (Japanese).
Disney Parks
Rabbit at Walt Disney World.
In Disneyland, Rabbit is a rare meetable character and is seen on special occasions. Rabbit usually appears at Christmas time and a small amount of shows. Due to Rabbit being rare, Rabbit has become a popular character in the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The first Rabbit costume from 1966 originally carried Piglet.
Mickey Mouse Revue
Rabbit was one of the characters that played as part of Mickey's band, playing a slide whistle.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Rabbit appears as an Audio-Animatronic in the dark ride themed after the original film. Rabbit can be seen several times.
Pooh's Hunny Hunt
Like the attraction at both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, Rabbit is seen in a park version of the original film and plays virtually the same role.
Magic Kingdom
At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom park, Pooh and his friends are regularly seen at Disney's Crystal Palace restaurant. Rabbit makes appearances in the restaurant on Easter holidays.
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade
Rabbit appears in the Christmas parade on Pooh Bear's float wearing only a winter scarf.
Happiness is Here Parade
At Tokyo Disneyland, Rabbit rides a horse that is like a carousel horse, as he leads the dream float in the parade.
Gallery
Trivia
- Although Rabbit's official color is yellow, in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, his fur is green. This might be due to coloring errors, though.
- He is one of the few Hundred Acre Wood characters to have fingers.
- Rabbit is sometimes named the smartest resident in the Hundred Acre Wood, but the title also goes to Owl at times.
- He used to have a rabbit burrow, but now has a tree house like Pooh, Piglet, and the others.
- In The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode "Three Little Piglets", Rabbit is the Big Bad Bunny, and he is wearing a suit that looks like a bunny version of the Big Bad Wolf.
- Rabbit is the first, and so far the only, recurring Disney character voice role for Tom Kenny.
- Out of all Christopher Robin's friends Rabbit, Owl and Gopher are the only one's that look like real animals rather than stuffed. The others, of course, look stuffed.
- Maybe it is because Rabbit and Owl are not based on real-life Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals but are created by A.A.Milne, and that Gopher is not even a character in the book but one created by Disney.
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