The Lion's Busy (1950)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The third of four Beaky Buzzard cartoons, the previous two being 'Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid' (the best one) and 'The Bashful Buzzard' and being followed by 'Strife with Father', 'The Lion's Busy' is a pretty good cartoon.Friz Freleng, responsible for some of my favourites and in his prime period, has done better before, during and since 'The Lion's Busy' (as well as worse). The story is slight and fairly predictable, also slightly repetitive on occasions. The humour, while still executed fine, generally doesn't come close to the best gags in 'Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid', nor is there dialogue quite as memorable as the shoe leather insult in 'The Bashful Buzzard'.Beaky however is still a cute and amusing character, while never being too cloying, overly-dumb or annoying. Leo the Lion is a fun foil and the best generally of Beaky's non-Bugs supporting characters.The animation is bright in colour, fluid and rich in detail and smooth in movement and design. Ever demonstrating why he has always been my personal favourite of the Looney Tunes composers, Carl Stalling provides yet another energetically characterful, beautifully orchestrated and cleverly action-enhancing music score.Even though, as said, never hilarious, there is some very amusing dialogue. Same with the gags, fun and well animated but there are more hilarious and more inventive around. Mel Blanc's voice work is terrific as always.Overall, quite good but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

. . . it all amounts to the same thing: Warner Bros.' Looney Tune THE LION'S BUSY stars Leo the Brave Lion as Barack Obama and Beaky the Clownish Buzzard as Donald J. Rump. The latter was the last to admit that Barack's Pop was NOT an African-American, or even a Kenyan-American, but actually a Kenyan-Kenyan; that is, a citizen of a nation whose Animal of State is the Noble Lion. However, Barack could be elected U.S. President TWICE (both times with an Honest majority of the votes, to boot) because his Ma was English! Naturally, Warner's Kenyan Lion speaks with an English accent! Throughout THE LION'S BUSY, Beaky the Rump Buzzard is trying to eat Leo ALIVE. First, Beaky drives away all the members of Leo's BIRTHDAY Party with his "Birther" nonsense (0:57). Next, Beaky crams Leo into a skillet (2:47), signifying Rump's offer to buy Barack's 2012 Electoral College Voters if they'd just switch to his Rich People's Party. At 3:49 Beaky greases Barack's Legacy Staff, denoting Rump's Plot to steal the vacant U.S. Supreme Court Seat. Finally, Beaky chops down Barack's Totem Pole of American Greatness (4:51), which Warner Editorializes upon by portraying a dazed Leo with Patriotic Red, White, and Blue eyeballs. In a final Act of Heroism, Leo the Barack Lion lures Beaky the America-Killing Buzzard to the Moon in his final appearance ever in the Looney Tunes Universe. Clearly, Warner is suggesting that Barack is the only American strong enough to take Rump down.

"The Lion's Busy" is only the second Beaky Buzzard cartoon that I've seen after "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid". This time, an Irish-accented lion named Leo is celebrating his tenth birthday when Beaky decides to turn the guy into a meal, given that members of the species Felis leo apparently don't usually live longer than ten years. So, Beaky spends the whole cartoon trying to subdue Leo, while Leo keeps trying to get away. The whole end scene on the moon was sort of a shocker, sort of not.I got the feeling that this was one of the cartoons that the Termite Terrace crowd made to fill the time between the really famous ones (1950 also saw the release of "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" and "The Rabbit of Seville"), but it's an OK way to pass time. Available on YouTube.

I have long loved Beaky Buzzard, one of Warner Brother's seldom-seen cartoon characters. Usually, he is seen chasing and trying to eat Bugs Bunny, but in this one he is paired with Leo the Lion. Leo is celebrating his 10th birthday when along comes Beaky to the party along with a present. The present happens to be a book that says that lions rarely live past 10 years, and so Beaky reasons it's about time for Leo's demise. Well, he is an impatient buzzard and tries a wide variety of ways to kill the poor lion. Finally, the lion flies to the moon to avoid being eaten. But, once on the moon, you-know-who is there waiting. The lion ducks into a cave and stays there many years--at which point Beaky is STILL there, but no longer able to chew anything but marshmallows.While not nearly as good as other Beaky cartoons, he's still cute and worth seeing. And, the story is a bit new and creative.