Lola Bunny

Lola Bunny is a cartoon character from Warner Bros. Animation. She is an anthropomorphic rabbit and has been established as having a romantic involvement with Bugs Bunny, as well as being his main love interest and girlfriend. She has tan fur, blonde bangs, and wears a purple rubber band on both ears like a ponytail. She has black pupils and she is 4'5 tall. Lola debuted in the film Space Jam, in which she is voiced by Kath Soucie and by Britt McKillip in the animated series Baby Looney Tunes. In her most recent and common appearance in The Looney Tunes Show, she is voiced by Kristen Wiig. Lola's basketball skills get her a spot on the Toon Squad, in which the Looney Tunes characters battle the villainous Monstars for their freedom, with help from Michael Jordan.

Debut
Lola's first appearance and only major role was in the movie Space Jam, in which she was voiced by Kath Soucie. Lola's impressive basketball skills got her a spot on the Tune Squad, in which the Looney Tunes characters battle the villainous Monstars for their freedom, with help from basketball legend Michael Jordan. Lola is very strong willed, tough and independant. She strongly dislikes the term "doll" which she finds highly offensive and derogatory. Lola is very athletic and easily one of the best players, after Jordan himself. The Tune Squad is victorious, and Lola starts a romance with Bugs. Although she had turned down his earlier advances, she saw him in a new light after he heroically saved her from injury by shoving her out of the path of a belly-flopping Monstar, getting himself very painfully squashed in the process.

Bad reviews
Lola's appearance in Space Jam created a considerable amount of bad reviews amongst Looney Tunes fans.

Many argued that the entire movie was a failed attempt to "update" the classic characters to the tastes of modern audiences.

Another argument is that Lola's character is a "strong, independent female" who was, at the same time excessively seductive, and has no place among the fallible human characteristics of the rest of the Looney Tunes (Throughout the entire movie, Lola suffers no injury, reverse or misfortune of any kind on the court or off, though she came close to danger twice while playing against the Monstars towards the end of the game, one time saved by Bugs.)

Another controversy was the fact that she was very sexy and seductive and one of the biggest controversies was that the people working on Space Jam.

On an interesting note though, towards the film's end when Bugs kisses Lola after the Toon Squad won, Lola's previous persona seems to vanish and she whoops in a fashion that makes her seem more "looney tuney" and that was after being kissed by Bugs.



Also, some argue that Bugs already has an established sweetheart in Honey Bunny, and that Bugs' boorish and competitive behavior towards Lola are against his character (However, as stated once in a past cartoon of Bugs, it was said that Bugs was INDEED a bachelor before Lola came into the picture). However, some early sketches of Bugs' female counterpart (one of them you see at the right) suggest that it was Honey Bunny who was planned to be put in Space Jam - they presented a female bunny with a bow on her head, dressed with clothes that resembled flag of the U. S. One of artists working on Space Jam said that she looks too much like Bugs in drag and that's why they decided to change or update this character for the aims of film. For some reasons, her name was also changed. For more information, see Honey Bunny's Biography - part 5.

The controversy surrounding Lola is indirectly addressed in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, which was touted by director Joe Dante as repairing the damage done to the characters' personalities in Space Jam: Bugs pointedly asserts that he has no need for a female co-star, as he is fully capable of playing both male and female roles himself.

However this would involve cross-dressing at which Bugs’ personal assistant, Kate Houghton, informed him that cross-dressing is seen as disturbing by today’s audience.

Furthermore, both movies are set in two different worlds.

Space Jam was set in the actual cartoon world of the Looney Tunes, while Back in Action was set in the real world as if Bugs and Daffy had worked for Warner Brothers their whole life and filmed their cartoons there.

Despite negative reaction to her, Lola is still favored among some fans.

Other Appearances
Lola is now 4'5 tall in the Looney Tunes Show  Despite rumors at the time of Space Jam's release that she would take a place among the other major Looney Toones stars, Lola had been all but invisible to the public eye.

However, she has made several appearances in video games (in fact, she even replaced Honey Bunny as the damsel in distress of the Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle series), and she regularly appears in solo stories in the monthly Looney Tunes Comic published by DC Comics).

She made a cameo appearance as the reporter in Tweety's High Flying Adventure, in which she was voiced by an uncredited Kath Soucie.

An infant version of Lola,is among the regular characters of Baby Looney Tunes.

She has appeared in a LT web cartoon, Dating Dos and Don'ts and she was also seen in a artwork image of her and Bugs, appearing dressed up for a movie premiere, during the "Bugs Bunny: Ain't He A Stinker?" special feature on "Looney Tunes: The Essential Bugs Bunny" DVD which also featured a short clip from Space Jam where Bugs kissed Lola.

Lola is now a major prominent character in Cartoon Network's series ''The Looney Tunes Show. Although her character design in the show is based on her appearance in Space Jam, ''her personality is different. The modern Lola is a tennis player, likes to talk non-stop, is a bit eccentric, and almost married Bugs when she took the wrong impression from some of his actions. She is voiced by comedienne Kristen Wiig.

Her debut in the series was in the episode "Members Only", where she and Bugs met at a country club. While they had their first date, Bugs felt that Lola was crazy and wanted to break up. But Lola was in love with Bugs and continued to mistake his impressions and almost married him before dumping him for Pepe Le Pew.

Lola returned in the episode "Eligible Bachelors", where she auctioned for and won Bugs for $100,000 at a bachelor's charity auction (what happened between her and Pepe since her debut episode is unknown, but she never mentioned him and tells Bugs that she's "back in his life now").

She took Bugs to Paris in hopes that he would fall in love with her. After comical moments where Lola mistakes the Eiffel Tower for Stonehenge and the Louvre for a mall, Bugs manages to convince Lola to just take in the surroundings of the city, without talking, and the two successfully seem to rekindle their boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. This is shown towards the episode end when Bugs tapes a picture of him and Lola by the Eiffel Tower to the kitchen fridge.

Lola performs her first Merrie Melodie with Bugs Bunny during the episode Peel of Fortune entitled "We Are In Love," singing about how her and Bugs' relationship has grown and how she's in love with him (even if Bugs is trying to keep away from her during the song).

Her next appearence was in the episode "Double Date" in which ended up falling in love with Daffy Duck While Giving him dating advice and became a stalker attempting to make Daffy break up with Tina Russo Duck (An updated version of Melissa Duck). Lola set up a fake date with Bugs to spy on Daffy. Bugs later told her Daffy was not her boyfriend and that he was her boyfriend. After this, she fell in love with Bugs again and became friends with Tina. She suggests a double date to Daffy and Tina and they walk off talking, leaving Bugs conused and wondering "What just happened?"

She also appered in the episode The D.M.V..

Lola also makes appearances along with other Looney Tunes characters at Six Flags parks.

Stage Show
Lola and the other Looney Tunes characters are featured in VEE Corporation's Jariel Live In Concert, voiced by Lisa Ortiz.