Big Top Bunny

It is Colonel Korny's World Famous Circus. Bruno is the star Slobokian Acrobatic Bear. The Colonel is offered a performing rabbit and decides to combine the rabbit with Bruno's act. Bruno is not happy. The rabbit is Bugs Bunny. During their act, Bruno starts playing tricks on Bugs, but Bugs smells the rat right away.

I really like this battle under the big top. I would like a bigger name for the Colonel Korny role. The best gag is the high dive platform. I love that they have to ratchet up the platform in such a hilariously non-sensical way. It is great in so many ways especially visually. This is great.

Bruno, a Slobokian bear (whatever that is) and a circus acrobat, does not take kindly to having Bugs Bunny join his previously solo act at Colonel Korny's World Famous Circus. Somehow, during a performance, an anvil ends up where Bugs's head should go. Fool him once, shame on the Slobokian bear. But Bugs won't be fooled twice. He's ready for Bruno's dirty tricks throughout the rest of the act and has a few tricks of his own. Somehow Bruno ends up taking several falls into a bass drum before finding himself competing with Bugs in a high diving act. Will Bugs or Bruno take the dip?

Robert McKimson, a flaccid director, does a better-than-average job here. Bruno is a funny creation, thanks in large part to Mel Blanc doing the Russian-accented voice. The character animation is particularly strong; the gags are reasonably funny; and we're made particularly eager to see Bugs triumph over this bullying jerk. This is a good cartoon: no more, no less.

This cartoon is available on the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume One," Disc 1.

Sorry if I find it a little hokey when they make Eastern Europeans the antagonists in movies; they do that in "Big Top Bunny", as Bugs Bunny ends up in the circus and gets paired with a jealous Slovak bear. Bugs plays some funny tricks on the big guy - hell, with this big doofus, it's a cinch - but I would like to see a movie or cartoon in which Eastern Europeans are not the antagonists. I know that this cartoon was produced only a few years into the Cold War, when we were supposed to view the Soviet bloc as the evilest place of all time, but it just seems dated (particularly to someone like me, a student of Russian). Otherwise, it's a pretty funny cartoon, especially the diving scene.

Bugs Bunny always works best when he has a suitably obnoxious opponent and he has one here in Bruno the Magnificent, a vain and egotistical bear who most definitely wants the spotlight all to himself. Enter our hero, stage left, and a series of standard sight gags and some good lines. I loved this cartoon growing up and I'm glad it's in print. Cute short that's worth looking for. Recommended.

Big Top Bunny (1951)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Minor Looney Tunes has Bugs Bunny becoming partners with Bruno, the Slobokian Bear who isn't happy about having to share the spotlight. During their carnival act Bruno tries to destroy Bugs but things end up working out the opposite. This isn't a classic short or even a very good one but it does manage to get a few laughs, which make it worth watching. The best joke is during the finale where the two argue as to which one will jump hundreds of feet into some cement. One of the biggest problems with this short is the bear, which just comes off as a rather weak character. I really didn't care too much for his look, talk or any of his actions. Bugs is his typical classic self though.