The Easter Bunny's Assistant (review)

It's understandable that the Easter Bunny could use a helping hand, but it looks like choosing a skunk as an assistant may prove a bad move. As E. B. carefully explains each of the simple steps in creating colored Easter eggs ("Step 1: Hard-boil the eggs"), the skunky assistant, giddy with anticipation, finds the excitement overwhelming and lets loose ("Uh . . . Skunk, what is that smell?"). After several foul emanations, E. B. finally exiles Skunk from the room, finishing the eggs unmolested; when it comes time to bring Skunk back in to help hide the eggs, E. B. is ready—with a clothespin on his nose. The skunk reaction isn't the real-world kind, seeming instead to be a proxy for stinky human gases (it's depicted as a funky green miasma that rises through the room), but that makes the events all the more guffaw-worthy for youngsters. The earthy humor toughens up the egg-decorating guide (the steps are outlined in full in a closing set of directions) into a comedy suitable for even the craft-averse who wouldn't be caught dead with fluffy bunny tales. Thomson's art has its familiar simplified manic vigor, with even the comparatively restrained rabbit mugging for the audience, while the ebullient skunk has all the overdramatic posing of a stage farceur. It's going to be hard to curb participation on this one, so you might want to save it for a day when you can open the windows.