This may well be one of the funniest Chuck Jones cartoons ever. Big overgrown morons like Junyer, Baby Huey and Tex Avery's "Lenny types" always crack me up. Junior steals the show, but Mama Bear's dance routine is pretty great too. I believe Ken Harris animated that scene. I posted this model sheet before but I don't think I mentioned that it was drawn by the super awesome Art Heinemann.
I'm not a fan of Chuck Jones, he is grossly overrated, and way too artsy in his most popular cartoons, but the Three Bears cartoons, especially this one and The Bee-deviled Bruin are amongst the funniest cartoons I've seen so far. Other big favourites are "Pest in the House", "Fast and Furry-ous" and "The Dover Boys".
ReplyDeleteThis cartoon is so great! I always loved Jones' Three Bears cartoons. So much chemistry between the disgruntled father, the hapless wife, & the "special" child. Kinda puts everything in perspective, don't it?
ReplyDeleteSadly enough, I have met families exactly like the Three Bears. Saddening, right down to the core.
The 3 bear cartoons are some of the best Jones cartoons. I love the design of these characters. The cartoons are funny as hell. Chuck at his absolute best! Really great gags with super character dynamics. The relationship between the Dad and the stupid son kill me.
ReplyDelete3 bears are the best. Chuck at his peak!
ReplyDeleteanon- I used to think Jones was overrated. Then I stopped watching his cartoons for awhile. When I started watching them again I realized just how great they really are. Especially the ones from the late 40's and early 50s. The ones you mentioned are among my favorite of his.
ReplyDeleteSweet, Bob Camp stopped by. The Three Bears shorts have it all, great characters,gags, animation, designs, and backgrounds. Henry and Junyer are hilarious. I love Ma's deadpan expression while she's hoofin' it.
Do you have anymore Three Bear cartoons besides this one? They're some of Jones' funniest cartoons.
ReplyDeleteIn response to anon and Kevin...
ReplyDeleteI used to be the same way as well. As you could tell from some of my older blog posts, I was'nt fond of Jones. But, after watching some of his truly great cartoons like these, I got over my "grudge". :)
They way I feel about Jones is this, his best work is underrated while his weaker work is overrated.I loved the Hubie and Bertie, Three Bears, and Claude Cat shorts. I also love his eraly 40's work, his pace and sense of timing was terrific. Unfortunetly, Jones is best remembered by his most formulaic and boring shorts like Pe Pe Le Pew and The Road Runner and Coyote. I also think "What's Opera Doc ?" is the most overrated cartoon ever made. No way in hell it's the greatest cartoon ever made.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you a lot here. The Three Bears shorts, Hubie and Bertie, those are really great cartoons. Among his absolute best. "What's Opera Doc" and "One Froggy Evening" are truly great shorts but they just don't hit me like this one or "Rabbit Hood".
ReplyDeleteHis early 40s shorts are a lot of fun too. There's some nice experiments here and there. Some of his cartoons are overrated but there's no way his work overall is.
Yeah, Jones' forties cartoons are overlooked, and I much prefer them to the fifties stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteLove this one, along with all of Jones' output from roughly The Dover Boys to Robin Hood Daffy (with one or two exceptions).
ReplyDeleteWow, you can really tell that the drawing at the top of this post was drawn by Chuck!
ReplyDeleteWhere'd you get that image?
I scanned that from Chuck's book, "Chuck Amuck".
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