Three Little Bops

This is a jazzy little cartoon, taking the Three Little Pigs and making them a Jazz combo, consisting of a guitar, drums and piano. The Big Bad Wolf wants to join in on a jam session. He's really bad and a square, so the Pigs tell him to scram. The cartoon focuses on his attempts to join in. The music is great, the narration is sung (by Stan Freberg) and the ending is excellent. The crowd goes wild and the land saw much rejoicing! They just don't make 'em like this anymore! Great cartoon and more than worth your time. Highly Recommended.

It is always interesting to see Warner Brothers cartoons featuring characters that are not the classic ones we know and love and are iconic in animation history.

'Three Little Bops' is one of the finest examples of an animated masterpiece. It is so well made, so fun, so energetic and so cool with phenomenal music and impeccable timing that that the story is a slight one, and basically a gags matched to music experience, is completely forgotten while watching. Proof that when it comes to Warner Brothers animation, one does not need the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck present to make it a good cartoon, with 'Three Little Bops' being on par with the best of their cartoons (high praise indeed and to me warranted).

As to be expected, the animation is great with beautiful colours and meticulous detail. The characters are drawn well with smooth movement. The music is phenomenal (being a music/gag-oriented cartoon, this component being good was essential to as whether the cartoon would work), making one sing along, tap their feet and get up and dance and it is just so infectious as well.

Furthermore, there is just so much energy and the gags are impeccably timed and often extremely funny and always clever.

Here, the characters are a joy. Especially the wolf, the funniest and most interesting character. Stan Freberg does a wonderful job here, some of the best work he ever did.

In conclusion, so much fun and so cool, a masterpiece (not a word often thrown around lately for me). 10/10 Bethany Cox

A variation on the Three Little Pigs fable set to toe tapping jazz swinging music. Has the pigs playing different clubs which the Wolf blows down when no one likes his trumpet playing and call him a square. This was an amusing short and the music was good so I enjoyed it. Not the best of the music-centric Looney Tunes shorts, but it's still a fun time to be had be all. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It features a commentary by Jerry beck, as well as an optional music only track, and a vocals only track.

My Grade: B

Friz Freleng's 'The Three Little Bops' is a longtime favourite of mine. From the first time I saw it at a very early age, I was always on the lookout for a chance to see it again. While I was growing up during the 80s and 90s, Warner Bros. cartoons were frequently on TV and every so often this one came around. I was absolutely delighted when it finally became available for me to own on the essential Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. A jazz parody of Disney's famous 'Three Little Pigs' cartoon, 'The Three Little Bops' is entirely set to music with a great vocal by the underrated Stan Freberg (who finally gets screen credit in this cartoon). It tells the story of the Big Bad Wolf's unsuccessful attempts to be accepted into the Three Little Pigs nightclub act and each time he is rejected, he blows the nightclub down! The visuals are beautifully stylised, fitting perfectly with the modern theme of the cartoon, and Warren Foster's lyrics are often priceless ("Dew Drop Inn did drop down"!). It's not quite a perfect cartoon, since there are a couple of slightly mistimed moments and the section in which the Wolf adopts a series of disguises slows things down and unnecessarily breaks from the musical narration for a conspicuously long time. Nevertheless, if asked to list my favourite cartoons, 'The Three Little Bops' would always be one of the first to pop into my head. It's a toe-tapping delight of which I never tire.

The three little pigs are a city jazz combo who play to adoring crowds. When they are joined by a trumpet player by the name of `big bag wolf'. However the wolf is not a very good player and he threatens to spoil the career of the pigs. However when they kick the wolf out of the band, he blows down their gig at the Straw House. Despite their insistence that he is rubbish, he follows them to the Wood Club to try and get in again.

I have seen other Warner twists on the Three Little Pigs story, some of which have also been set to music but this one is a lot different as it totally changes the story. Sadly it is interesting enough to only watch once and then it will have lost it's novelty value and will expose it's many flaws too readily. The film is set to a constant jazzy/bebop style song and basically sees the wolf trying to play with the pigs and then taking revenge in the time honoured fashion when he is rebuffed. The material is not very funny and relies too much on the juxtaposition of the music and action. In this regard it is worth seeing once as it is a clever idea, albeit it one that needed better delivery.

The singer is not all that he could have been and doesn't sound like he is someone who sung that type of music for a living - I may be wrong but it sounded like the emphasis was on clear pronunciation of the words rather than an authentic feel to the music. On top of that the animation was too broad and colourful for me - lacking it's own feel. The characters also struggle over this and they feel too basic and blocky. Once the basic humour of the music and the action has gone the film has nothing left and didn't endear itself to me after this point.

For all it's flaws it is worth seeing once for it is a clever idea and is cool and jazzy enough to keep you happy for several minutes. However repeat viewings will not have this novelty value and you'll be left with nothing much else to replace it. Clever idea but needed better delivery.