Buddy’s Circus Review

Buddy’s Circus is a 1934 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. It is a typical circus entry.

Buddy is in the circus and one baby leaves his mother and eventually the two reunite. That is basically the plot here and it is the most obvious and typical setup of the time as there have been a lot of these baby-oriented shorts in the thirties, most notably in Popeye the Sailor cartoons. This one adds nothing new to the table.

But admittedly the score is good and I really liked the animation. I watched it in high quality and it was excellent and filled with great attention to detail. The best part was the ending with the hippo, no matter how ludicrously unrealistic it is as hippos are actually rather violent. This short is fine and charming, but the circus setting definitely should have been utilized more and the gags are sorely lacking here.

Buddy’s Circus looks great, but it needed more gags and a better utilization of its premise and setting.