Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears

I have a very hard understanding why this cartoon short only has an IMDb score of 7.1, as it's an amazingly funny cartoon--one of the best Bugs Bunny appearances you can find. In this installment, Bugs' foes are the Three Bears--and these hilarious (and totally politically incorrect) characters are wonderful. Junyer Bear is a complete idiot and Papa Bear is a very short-tempered and ill-tempered father who spends most of the cartoon slapping his son around and trying to catch the bunny. Sure, child abuse isn't really funny--but here is is. I especially loved when the bears were recreating the Goldilocks story and Junyer kept saying "Duh....who's been sleeping in my porridge"--at which point, Papa goes ballistic. As for Momma Bear, she says and does very little...until Bugs woos her! All in all, a very funny and creative short. Well-animated and just plain fun.

I started re-watching this for the first time in a long time, and realized about 30 seconds in how unique this short is. I had to rewind it 2 minutes in and time the first shot - EIGHTY SECONDS. The first three shots are almost 4 full minutes long. In all, there are only 10 shots in this entire cartoon - brilliantly paced, inspirational for anyone who wants to learn how to better tell a story.

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944)

**** (out of 4)

A masterpiece in the animation field has Papa, Mama and Baby bears hungry so they decide to try and lure Goldilocks in with carrot soup but instead they get Bugs Bunny. This take on the classic story is one of the greatest animated movies ever made. While there's nothing too ground breaking or special here, I think the story works so well that it's impossible not to fall for all the charm and laughs. Bugs is his classic, smart self as he's always one step ahead of the bears who are wanting to eat him. He brings plenty of laughs to the screen including a great sequence when he's eating where he tricks the baby bear into getting him some ketchup. What really makes this short memorable are the three bears and their personalities. This short runs just 7-minutes but it's amazing how much personality Jones can get into the film. I love how Mama bear overacts for the camera, how Papa bear is embarrassed to be acting the story out and then there's Baby bear and his dumbness. Some might object to the father beating the son but hey, it's all good fun.

Three bears are hungry; nothing to eat in the entire house except a few old carrots. Papa Bear comes up with an idea: "Let's pretend this is Goldilocks and The Bears." When "Goldilocks" comes, I guess the plan is for the bears to eat their prey.

Mama Bear makes carrot soup. The aroma travels down into Bugs' hole where he literally floats to the house and slurps up all the porridge, er soup. The rest of the animated short involves the bears trying to get Bugs. However, our hero compliments Mama Bear about her eyes and looks....and she's easily taken in with the compliments.

However, that leads to an unsatisfactory end of this story for Bugs!

Overall, a fast-moving story but so-so at best in the humor department.

These Three Bears cartoons, of which "Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears" is the first, barely squeak past modern-day TV censors, and couldn't get made today. They feature a domineering patriarch who beats his child and browbeats his wife. Never mind that the cartoon hardly approves of his behavior. These are deadly serious subjects that must ... not ... be ... mocked!

This point of view has two errors. One, deadly serious subjects are the meat of comedy; certainly in Warner Brothers cartoons where the barely hidden themes are death, dismemberment, mayhem, sexual perversion, greed, humiliation, lust, abuse of power and so forth. As Steve Allen often said, comedy is tragedy plus time. Two, Papa Bear is not beating a helpless child or berating a gentle-spirited lady. Baby Bear is enormous, and he's stupid enough to blunt our sympathy. Mama Bear is a drip - and not even a nice drip. She's happy to go along with Papa Bear's cruel scheme to pulverize Bugs Bunny.

That scheme is odd, by the way. Baby Bear assumes they're doing it for food. But there's a strong suggestion that Papa Bear is just looking for some cruel fun. After all, they're not after a rabbit. They re-enact the "Three Bears" story to attract Goldilocks!

They get Bugs Bunny, who handily outwits them. But is Bugs a sexist, as modern scolds would have it? Bugs compliments the alleged beauty of Mama Bear in order to distract her from killing him. Later, when she lustily pursues him, he backs off in terror.

First, Bugs had every right to do what he could to save his life. He certainly didn't owe his would-be murderess an honest appraisal, i.e. that she's repulsive. Second, despite modern-day cant about inner beauty and unconventional beauty, Mama Bear has nothing to offer anyone. She's a homicidal drip.

Then again, audiences never hate her. You have to admire the spirit of a woman who gets one compliment, then immediately blocks every doorway against her admirer, while she wears various would-be attractive garments, or even wears nothing (!), and then shows up at his home to smother the unwilling suitor with kisses. Mama Bear, you're a multifaceted woman.

The animation in this cartoon is oddly crude for Warner Brothers and its director Chuck Jones. Otherwise, this is a top-notch, very funny short and highly recommended to all but prudes, scolds and P.C.-thinkers of all varieties.

This short is available on DVD on "Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Three," Disc 3.