So much average

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

On YouTube, I got to see three versions of this unique Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon. One was the original with the voices of Stan Freberg and the music of Shorty Rogers. That one is pure classic. Another one had an Italian-dubbed soundtrack that was another nice twist on the cartoon. And then there was one I saw linked from the Misce-Looney-ous blog. That one had a live version of the music and the other voices as performed at the Blackstump Festival at Australia in 1993 by the Belvedere Blues Band. That was fine too except for the slightly changed ending when it's mentioned that the wolf went to the pearly gates when he's still seen playing in "the other place" and one of the pigs says, "You've got to be SAVED to play it cool" instead of saying HOT. While this cartoon was not hilarious, there was one line that I was highly amused by when, after Freberg mentions Liberace, one of those pigs says, "I wish my brother George was here." On that note, I highly recommend all three versions of Three Little Bops that are uploaded on YouTube still as I'm writing this... Original version:**********, Italian-dubbed version: **********, Belvedere Blues version: *********.

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.

Why this absolutely brilliant 1957 "Looney Tunes" entry was not nominated for an Academy Award, I'll never know. In a 1992 television viewers' poll, it was deservedly voted one of the best twenty cartoons in the whole Warner Brothers' repertoire.For once, the UPA cartoon style isn't employed by the Warner artists simply because it's flavor of the month, but because it's highly suited to the subject matter. The backgrounds and the character animation all perfectly compliment the up-beat vocal.No matter how many times you watch and listen to "The Three Little Bops", repeated viewing does little to lessen the impact of its cleverly off-beat visual and verbal humor.

Every muso you speak to knows this cartoon. When I was in year 10 my school music teacher showed us this video. I'm now a high school music teacher myself and I want to share it with my students too. Unfortunately my old teacher has lost it and I can't find a copy of it anywhere. I've described it to my students and they have named their jazz band "House of Bricks". I may sound slightly obsessed but to me watching this cartoon was a defining moment in my musical career.