“There’s nothing funny about bullfights.” This single negative statement from then Producer Edward Selzer enticed Jones and Maltese to go on a research trip to Mexico to see what all the fuss was about, to see if Ed’s outburst held water. Jones went with the intention of making the short from the bull’s point of view, yet after being in a bull ring found himself emoting more with the skinning little matador who had to fight the enormous beast with nothing more than a red cape for protection. Chuck Jones decided to make the bull into a heavy-type character, a foil for Bugs.

This short’s strongest feature come at the very start and end of it running length, Bugs mulling over his map, wondering where he is, oblivious to the nearby danger until it is too late and the finale gag. What happens in-between is not the greatest or worse mix of black-out gags that Jones and Maltese ever came up with… basically Bugs really isn’t given enough to do that is really strong enough for him; some of this made be because of the fact that he can’t trade verbal insults to his ‘victim’ indeed when does so, the best he can do is some rather bad puns.

Another unavoidable problem is that of comparisons with Disney’s ‘Special’ short Ferdinand the Bull; which the Mouse House had made over twenty years before. Okay at the time maybe people/audiences may have forgotten about it, but here in the Twenty-First Century, we can say no such thing. Disney made their version while in an artistic high and with better budgets, as a result of this it is a wonderfully realized work, Bully for Bugs is a fairly enjoyable but rather standard Bugs Bunny short. Ironically, Disney’s version took the point of view of the bull and got a lot of the humor out of the fact that he was a pacifist that had a, shall we say unfortunate incident.

Bully for Bugs is enjoyable, there is no dispute about that, but Bugs has starred in better and more worthy shorts than this one. Shorts that suit his character better and don't invite comparisons with Disney's work; indeed he has also met many better realized heavies to go up against, many of them by the same Jones/Maltese team.

I just thought I'd have a peak at imdb before I wrote this. I don't normally do that, but I was just curious for some reason. The featured (10 star) review proclaims "a masterpiece, a veritable classic!" and "One of the best of all time." And the cartoon rates as highly as The Godfather.

Ye Gods.

This is a good cartoon, but a classic? A veritable masterpiece? No, it's just an entertaining WB cartoon, and there are plenty that are better, and that's just within Warner.

Once again, I think my complaint is with the writing. I assume Chuck Jones came up with the idea, Maltese wrote the script, and then it went back to Jones. Well, no complaints about Jones' timing or characterisation. It's as impeccable as you would expect of a 1952 Jones cartoon. There are even some nice touches with the writing. Bugs' intended destination (a carrot festival) as opposed to a bullfighting arena, his puzzling over a map while the bull prepares to go ballistic. And the matador is good value, too. Actually, he reminds me of someone from.... where? An Asterix cartoon? Or does he have Roger's nose from '101 Dalmatians'?

In any case we soon dissolve into a familiar premise which sets the stage for a procession of sight gags, which highlight Jones' mastery of animation and comic timing, but are ultimately predictable, in the 'powerful brute versus clever little guy' vein, which Warner mined for all it was worth. And so did MGM, come to think of it.

Look, it's a very accomplished Warner short, which has much to recommend it, and in certain respects it's at the pinnacle of its medium. But overall, it's nowhere near a classic.