Olé, Torero!

"Bully for Bugs" is a very good Bugs Bunny cartoon--which is no surprise since the franchise was going very strong at the time. Receiving a score lower than 8 actually would have been a surprise--these films were that consistently good. However, in one way this isn't exactly the typical sort of Bugs Bunny cartoon--as his nemesis is a lot more successful against him than normal.

The film begins in a bull ring in Mexico. After dispatching the matador, the bull is ready for another fight when, suddenly, up pops Bugs. He naturally made a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up in the ring. As I mentioned above, however, the bull often gets the best of Bugs...that is, until the end. Overall, it's a high quality cartoon--with nice animation and plenty of laughs. Worth seeing.

This is a masterpiece, a veritable classic! Bugs is cast in the perfect situation with the bull as a perfect foil. Sight gags galore, including a bit with a rifle that is absolutely priceless! The ending is gloriously funny! Catch the look on the bulls' face in the last part of the closing bit, it's wonderful! Good to see it's available. You have to see this. Most highly recommended!

I could watch this one a hundred times over and still laugh myself to tears. It is incredibly funny, perfectly timed and just when you expect it to become formulaic, the Jones crew start to throw in some comical curveballs (which I refuse to spoil here) My personal favorite Bugs Bunny short and one of the jewels of the WB catalog.

It has been reported by Chuck Jones that Edward Selzer (then Warner Bros. cartoon producer) saw his drawing of a bull and immediately said, "no bullfighting pictures!" Lucky for us that Jones and his crew ignored these hasty words, because what resulted was one of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons ever made.

We are fortunate that Bugs never learned how to read a map, because this time out, his "wrong turn at Albuquerque" brought him into a Spanish bullfighting arena with the bull chasing the matador around the ring. We are also indebted to Jones and Michael Maltese's other famous words they put into the rabbit's mouth, "Of course you know this means war!" And with those words, Jones and co. build around this situation as no one ever has before or since.

The bull is noteworthy as being only a one-shot character, but one of the many Looney Tunes "character actors" that we do not soon forget.

Bugs, arriving underground, discovers this isn't the destination he was looking for - the big Carrot Festival at "Coachella Valley." Instead, it's the inside of a bull ring. It's also where a gigantic, terrifying black bull is chasing a scared matador around the ring. Bugs figures he must have taken the wrong turn around Albuquerque. The big bully of a beast winds up belting Bugs out of the area across town. "Of course, you know this means war," the airborne Bugs informs us viewers.

Moments later, another matador is ready to take on the huge bull. Of course, that matador is Bugs, who teaches the animal a few lessons, and gloats "What a nin-cow-poop!" His cockiness comes back to haunt him as the bull blasts him again.

This "war" goes back and forth, back and forth, with many funny gags. Lots of laughs.