Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears 1944 (dir Chuck Jones)

The majority of the cartoons on Vol 1, Disc 3 consists of a good number of monumental shorts so despite the fact that Bugs Bunny features a lot, there is some historical reason.

This cartoon marks the first appearance of Chuck Jones' three bears series. The minisicule bad tempered father, the passive and whiney mother and the huge and blissfully stupid Junyer ( or in this cartoon Junior)

It's quite a simple cartoon as it echoes the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Basically Pa Bear decides that if they follow the footsteps of the original story, then they'll find some food ready for them. Although they don't have porridge, they use carrot soup and then they go off for a walk in the woods.

Instead of goldilocks along comes Bugs Bunny, who is lured in by the smell of carrot soup. He eats a portion and then goes upstairs in order to take a nap. Yes he does try out all beds and then falls asleep.

When the bears return they are gleeful that their plan is working out and they rush upstairs and overjoyed to find a rabbit in their bed. Once Bugs wakes up the three bears start to chase him. After a couple of gags Bigs tries to flirt with Ma Bear and this works as she becomes smitten with him. From now onwards it is ma bear who is chasing Bugs.

Finally he escapes to his warren and finds Ma Bear there, who smothers him with kisses ( we dont see this) Bugs then emerges and runs away covered in lipstick marks.

As a cartoon it's nothing on the levels of greatness that would occur in Jones' later shorts but it works and it does entertain plus the character of Junyor bear has a lot of potential, something Jones exploited in later films, especially the brilliant 'A Bear for Punishment' (1950)

*edit*

A couple of hours later and after re watching 'A Bear for Punishment' I have come to the conclusion that the Three Bears are a proto type of American cartoon families such as The Simpsons or *shudder* Family guy. Think of it. Although this isn't that prominent in ...three Bears it comes to the forefront in later films.