Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Brilliant and touching

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

. . . a live-action release playing in theaters during Spring, 2016, but Papa Henry Bear gets top billing as the title character of this Warner Bros.' animated short, A BEAR FOR PUNISHMENT, perhaps the best Father's Day film ever made. About 3 minutes, 40 seconds into BEAR, Henry dons a Shriners' hat, giving away the fact that this Ode to Dads also is intended to expose all the Masonic Secrets to normal Americans. In the 1900s, most affluent (or Fat Cat) male White U.S. adults either belonged to the Masons or the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK were prevalent in the American South, while the Masons ruled the North. For instance, when I was looking for a parking spot in downtown Detroit the night the Orioles eliminated the Tigers from the 2014 MLB Playoffs, I remember that the towering but semi-abandoned Masonic Temple was the biggest building there. As Henry's wife (that is, Mama bear) trots out past her stripper's pole and bumps and grinds out her Happy Father's Day Promises around five and a half minutes into BEAR, viewers will realize that Warner is warning America that the Masons are a perversely wild sex club out to contaminate U.S. Culture with decadent Eurotrash notions. Average Americans took this caution to heart, and Today the Masons as a cult are about where the Shakers were in the late 1900s (that is, their youngest members have been drawing Social Security for two or three decades).

The lesser discussed by largely hilarious Three Bears series directed by Chuck Jones drew to a close in monumentally funny style with 'A Bear for Punishment'. A very simple premise makes for an hysterical cartoon. It's Father's Day and a reluctant Papa Bear must sit through his family's attempts to honour him in more and more violent or humiliating ways. This culminates in a ridiculous variety show which climaxes with a bizarre tableau in which the Three Bears assume the roles of Washington, Lincoln and the Statue of Liberty. As well as the ample laughs, 'A Bear for Punishment' also offers a slightly tragic angle as we witness the Baby Bear's unconditional love for his Pop contrasting with Papa Bear's genuine violent contempt for his son. As well as being a triumph of timing and an ability to draw riotous comedy out of an essentially plot less cartoon, 'A Bear for Punishment' is especially notable as a performance piece, with voice artists Billy Bletcher, Bea Benederet and Stan Freberg giving the most remarkable performances they ever gave as these characters. 'A Bear for Punishment' is a fittingly uproarious finale to an under appreciated series.

The three bears' cartoons from the Looney Tunes crowd aren't in my vocabulary as much as Bugs Bunny and his ilk are, but the two that I've seen ("Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears" and this one) I really like. "A Bear for Punishment" portrays Father's Day, and so Ma and Junyer try to make Pa happy...all the while irking him due to arch-incompetence and excessive affection. They should have just left the guy in peace! So, Chuck Jones had every reason to be proud of this cartoon. One can imagine how much fun voice artist Stan Freberg must have had turning Junyer into his dopey self. Really funny.I wonder why Junyer is twice his father's size.

The last of the cartoons featuring the three bears features Junyer celebrating Father's day much to the chagrin and broken bones of Pa. I have to say that the three bear characters were far from my favorites, but this last one was the best that they ever got. Which granted was a little above average, but that should count for something, right? This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier that is pretty informative, as well as a music and effect only track.My Grade: B