Baby Buggy Bunny (1954) User Reviews

Now That's Some Baby!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 2 May 2007]

I liked the dramatic opening in here, with a huge, nasty-looking guy robbing a bank but then disrobing afterward and turning out to be a two-foot midget on stilts. He then disguises himself as a baby, laying innocently in his carriage as police race by to the scene (nobody cared if a baby was left all alone?). Anyway, the crook pops out of the carriage and the latter starts rolling down a steep hill, banging up against something and the bag of money goes flying. It's lands far away in Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole. Soon, Bugs is singing "We're In The Money!"

"Finster," the name the cigar-chomping midget adopts for himself, soon parks outside the rabbit hole and puts on his abandoned baby act, complete with a note to "the kind bunny."

I liked Finster's second quick note; Finster bouncing around in the high chair; Bugs getting shot with the "toy pistol" and Bugs discovering a tattooed Finster shaving.

The ending was so-so, not as funny as the other material but overall it was fun. This was part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two DVD.

Love this one

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 30 September 2015]

Ah now this one's a classic! Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, it's the story of Babyface Finster (aka Ant Hill Harry), a bank robber who evades capture by pretending to be a baby. Because he's so tiny, you see. It's a great gag that's made all the funnier when you see a shirtless tattooed 'baby' smoking a cigar and shaving. Babyface loses his loot, which promptly falls into Bugs' rabbit hole. Bugs thinks he's rich but Babyface has a plan to get it back. Wonderfully stylish animation with great colors and nicely-drawn action. Mel Blanc's voice work is flawless as ever. Whimsical music from Milt Franklyn. It's just a fun cartoon from start to finish with some particularly nice animation. One of my favorite Bugs shorts from Chuck Jones.

Funny and cute with a great teaming of Bugs and Finster

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 16 June 2010]

Baby Buggy Bunny does start off a little dull but once Bugs and Finster are together, it is quite a different kettle of fish. It is well animated, the characters are well drawn and there are some colourful backgrounds, and the music is great as always. The pacing isn't as secure as it is in other Looney Tunes cartoons, but it moves quite briskly, and the dialogue is witty and furiously delivered, likewise with the very amusing sight gags. Bugs is still the very likable character I fell in love with when I was little, and Finster is a cute, dangerous and funny adversary. The ending also was satisfying, with a very funny last line from Bugs, and Mel Blanc is superb with his vocals. Overall, very funny and cute, starts off dull but it picks up considerably. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Had a big influence on me.

[Tresix · 10/10 · 23 May 2003]

This is one of my all-time favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons, if not cartoons period. BABY BUGGY BUNNY opens with a bank being robbed by a tall man in a long coat and snap-brim hat. As he's making his getaway, he reveals that he is actually "Anthill" Harry, a midget(dwarf, little person, whatever the short are calling themselves these days) who disguises himself as a baby to make his escape. He fools the police, but his loot ends up falling down the whole of Bugs. Harry gets into a bastinette and puts a note on himself saying that he is a baby named "Finster" and that Bugs should take him in and give him a good home. As anyone who knows me can attest, I always refer to little babies as "Finster" (especially bad ones). NOW you know where I got it from. Anyway, the bulk of the cartoon consists of "Finster" trying to get to the money (that "Daddy" Bugs has warned him not to play with because it's dirty). BABY BUGGY BUNNY is fun because, at least for a little while, it shows Bugs on the receiving end of torture for once before becoming the wise-ass Bugs that we all know and love when he learns the truth about "Finster". The fate of "Baby-faced Finster" is sure to bring a smile, if not an outright laugh, to anyone who watches it. And you DEFINITELY should be one to do that.

Baby Buggy Bunny

[bigredkc2002 · 10/10 · 8 December 2006]

Ilove this cartoon, but the last time I saw it on BOOMERANG, the part where Baby Faced Finster pulls out a gun at Bugs was edited out. It says that Finster is going to shoot Bugs with his toy gun. BLAM! And Bugs, after Finster shoots him with his "toy gun," says, "Some toy!" I wonder why this was edited out, just like Daffy Duck's final act in 1957's "Show Biz Bunny?" Or where Bugs and Yosemite Sam put the gun to their heads when both of them lose the mayoral race in another cartoon, and Yosemite Sam comments, "I HATE that rabbit!" My sister claims that these scenes were too violent for kids. And I was told that these cartoons were not really made for kids, and yet I've seen them on kiddie shows in the 1960's and 1970's. I guess that BOOMERANG and Warner Brothers claim that kids will imitate these things. But I never did, and here I am, at 46, and I still enjoy watching them, and I never did these things when I was a little kid.

Bugs versus Baby-Face Finster

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 14 June 2006]

This is a cute cartoon where Bugs Bunny becomes the foster dad to a baby--not realizing that the baby left at his hole is not really a baby but the evil gangster, Baby-Face Finster. Finster arrives because Bugs had found Finster's loot from a recent bank job and he wants to sneak in and grab the look and then scram. Well, Bugs is taken in by the ruse and believes this really is a cute baby. However, this is repeatedly shaken when he catches Finster trying to grab the loot and when the lights go out--at which point Finster beats the stuffing out of Bugs. At the end, Bugs sees a report about the robbery and the robber--at which point he exacts revenge on the little jerk! While not the best Bugs Bunny cartoon, it is very good and well worth your time.

"Ninety-nine years isn't forever."

[slymusic · 11 January 2006]

"Baby Buggy Bunny" is a fairly good Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. Around the midfifties, Bugs was becoming a more refined rabbit, particularly in the Jones-directed cartoons. In this episode, Bugs adopts what he thinks is a sweet, innocent baby named Finster. "Finster," it turns out, is a two-foot cigar-chomping mobster named Ant Hill Harry, who inflicts all kinds of physical abuse on Bugs.

This film offers only a couple of memorable sequences. In the beginning, when Bugs gets bonked on the head with Finster's satchel of stolen money, he becomes overjoyed with his discovery. And in the end, when Bugs finally learns who "Finster" really is, it's nice to see Bugs get revenge on him; spanking him on the bottom reveals a pistol, a blackjack, a machine gun, a hand grenade, and several bullets.

"Baby Buggy Bunny" does not compare with the Bugs Bunny cartoons of the 1940s, but no matter. In spite of the fact that Bugs is much more refined in this short, he still manages to get his laughs.

I laughed through this 7 minute long short more than the entire 98 minute runtime of Little Man.

[AhmedDaReviewer · 9/10 · 2 October 2021]

This was a pretty hilarious Bugs Bunny short, The premise is very creative and unique and there's a lot of funny gags and jokes here, and the baby criminal character is very funny, I'm kinda sad there isn't more Looney Tunes shorts with him, and when Bugs realize that the "baby" isn't actually a baby, It gets funnier, Love this one a lot.

that wacky midget

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 30 October 2005]

Finster, a bank robbing midget, masquerades as a baby to alludes the cops. Bugs Bunny finds said fake baby when Finster shows up in his rabbit hole. At first Bugs is suitably duped regardless of the violent streak of this 'baby', but he soon catches on and he pays Finster's aggressions back in spades. This cartoon is not among the best of Bugs Bunny's shorts, but it is nice enough to watch on occasion. And it's STILL head and shoulders above ANY Bunny cartoon that Robert McKimson ever directed. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional music and effects only track.

My Grade: B

Loved it as a child, merely like it as an adult

[phantom_tollbooth · 6/10 · 1 October 2008]

Chuck Jones' 'Baby Buggy Bunny' is a funny cartoon with a nice concept which never quite reaches the levels of hilarity you feel it should. Bank robber Baby Face Finster disguises himself as a real baby in order to retrieve his stolen money from Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole. Adopted by an unwitting Bugs, he goes to violent lengths to liberate his cash from the rabbit. The best part of 'Baby Buggy Bunny' is the first section in which a surprisingly easily duped Bugs is brutalised by Finster who reverts back to baby mode whenever Bugs questions it. However, the sequence where Bugs turns the tables after catching Finster shaving is far too short and unfunny. By the time Bugs catches Finster shaving, it's already too late in the cartoon for him to do much in retaliation. His revenge really needed to be as brutal as Finster's treatment of him had been to achieve a satisfactory laugh level. Instead, he quickly turns him over to the police and the cartoon simply peters out with a below par wisecrack. 'Baby Buggy Bunny' was one of my favourite cartoons as a child and I still enjoy it today, only now it also leaves me with a sense of dissatisfaction.

Average short with some hilarious moments

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 12 August 2006]

In order to discuss this short, I have to give some details, so there will be spoilers below:

This time out, Bugs goes toe-to-toe with a "baby" with a five o'clock shadow and tattoos. Ant-Hill Harry, alias "Baby-faced Finster", has lost the proceeds of his latest heist down a rabbit-hole. Enter our hero, who believes that this is a real baby at first. The judges' scorecards give the early rounds to "Finster", with a knock out saved by the bell in Round Five ("Finster" swings a mean bat). Bugs discovers the truth and wins the later rounds and the fight. "Finster" was fighting out of his weight-class.

There are some very good moments in this-the transition from "Finster" wildly swinging a bat to wide-eyed innocence and calling Bugs "Daddy" is beautifully done. Bugs's revenge against "Finster" ("I do believe I forgot my fudge") and his note to the police when he leaves them a "baby" trussed up in a basket is priceless. It almost makes the ending superfluous.

This short is on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 2. the Collection and this short are both recommended.

Bugs

[Michael_Elliott · 2 May 2009]

Baby Buggy Bunny (1954)

*** (out of 4)

Cute, if not exceptionally funny short, has Bugs Bunny becoming a father but what he doesn't know is that his new "kid" is actually a gangster who just got done robbing a bank. I know many cartoon buffs considering this a masterpiece but to me it's only a good film that just doesn't have enough laughs to be considered a classic. The biggest problem for me is the kid, Finster. I just don't find him cute, tough or even funny. The early stuff with his acting the part of the child was incredibly dull to me and the short doesn't really pick up until Bugs realizes who he is and makes him pay for it. The sit of Bugs shaking the baby is somewhat deranged to watch but that's what makes it funny.

In these Dark Days when we're all being Terrorized . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 16 May 2016]

. . . by a Pandemic of Political Correctness, Classic Looney Tunes such as BABY BUGGY BUNNY always serve to illuminate a Path to RE-ENLIGHTENED Times. Back in Grandpa's Day, there was a song about "Short People," such as Bugs Bunny's antagonist here, bank robber Ant Hill Harry (a.k.a., Baby Face Finster), 35. "Short people got no reason--short people got no reason--to live," I believe that lyric goes. (It's amazing what you can hear on a tiny turntable from a .45 vinyl record collection gathering dust in the attic these past few decades.) From THE WIZARD OF OZ to THE GAME OF THRONES, normal people usually find themselves drawing the short straw in any contest with the vertically-challenged. Warner exposed nearly all of Today's Sacred Cows for the threats that they actually represent to the Common Man during the Looney Tunes Golden Days. At last count, 14,263 adjectives used to describe people by Shakespeare, Twain, and Steinbeck have been Black-Listed by the Thought Police. American Schools used to teach Great Thoughts. Today that's been shortened to Grey Thoughts, as in the drab gray stale society of the baby-killers in the recent release, THE GIVER.

baby dollars

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 30 March 2008]

To the pantheon of gangster flicks we can add Chuck Jones's "Baby Buggy Bunny". It portrays a bank robber named Ant Hill Harry, whose diminutive stature enables him to masquerade as an infant. And when he drops his loot into Bugs Bunny's home, the baby charade goes into full gear.

I get the feeling that this cartoon was basically a place holder in between the really famous ones. In my view, Ant Hill Harry - who also calls himself Baby-Face Finster - wasn't as much of a bad-ass as the little guy baby-sat by Porky Pig in "Brother Brat". But for a connection to a more famous movie, I thought that the rolling stroller resembled a scene in Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin". Of course, I'm sure that Chuck Jones didn't intend for it to look like that; he probably intended the cartoon as entertainment. It certainly entertained me. Worth seeing.

Ninety-nine years. We'll have to see how things turn out in 2107.

A lot of action and plot twists in here for such a short film

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 26 August 2017]

"Baby Buggy Bunny" is as you certainly guessed correctly already from the title another Warner Bros. cartoon. This one's from 1954, so over 60 years old already. It runs for seven minutes and on board are Jones, Maltese and Blanc, so everything as usual you could say. But the plot twists and action in here are a bit more than usual when it comes to these cartoons for sure. Also Bugs getting his ass handed to him is not something, you will see too often really, even if it is only the case in the first half. Other than in here, the character of baby lookalike bank robber Finster (actually the German word for gloomy that may describe the man's character nicely) was not used anymore I think, but for a character stupid enough to shave while Bunny could see him more films would also have been fairly undeserving. And of course, he kinda looks a lot like a second Elmer Fudd too. Still this one here is far from forgotten and among the more known Warner Bros cartoons from the Golden Age of Animation. I personally felt it was a solid little watch and despite moments of greatness and really funny scenes missing, I give it a thumbs-up. Go check it out.