Watching these Krazy Kat cartoons makes one think that the artists and animators were simply banking on their audiences enjoying the movement in and of itself. When Ignatz Mouse sneaks under the circus tent, all we see moving is Krazy's tail. It goes on for some time. While the principal characters are pretty static, they seem to have some part of them that moves. Ignatz is practically a stick drawing and he gets to move around a great deal more than others. I'm sure drawing him in a series of stills would be quite easy to accomplish. At some point we will begin to see movement on several fronts. And, perhaps, there will be a bit of plot development to go with it.

Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the Circus (1916) *** (out of 4) Krazy Kat and Ignatz are at the circus when a dog friend of the cat shows up wanting to eat a mouse. The mouse hides in fear so Krazy Kat makes him prove he's not a coward by harassing a woman. This is a rather strange but very funny cartoon and I'd say it's the best out of the three I've watched from the series. I found the ironic twist of the dog and cat being friends a nice touch and I found the dialogue written for the dog to be rather hilarious. Hearing the dog explain what type of mouse he's looking for was very funny as was the bravery test at the end when Krazy Kat gets more than he expected. The animation is quite cute for its time even though the title is pretty much a fake one since the circus doesn't play much of a part.

Once again, I'm in agreement with the previous reviewer so I'm not sure what I can add except to say while this short is primitive, it does have some charm to me. I liked seeing a close-up of the cat's tail from behind with the mouse looking up as the tail swings back and forth as well as spin around once in awhile. This is also one of the few cartoons I know of in which a DOG wants to eat a mouse while the CAT is not only friends with the little rodent, in this case he (or she) is in love with him. It's too bad, though, that the short doesn't live up to the title since while we see the leading characters GO to the circus, we don't see anything HAPPEN at the circus. Still, it's worth a look for animation buffs once.

Krazy Kat and Ignatz the mouse go to the circus. Soon, a dog friend of Krazy comes by and Ignatz hides. The dog apparently likes to eat mice and asks the cat if he's seen any. When the dog leaves, Krazy asks Ignatz why he isn't brave. Ignatz replies that he IS and proceeds to scare a lady half to death to prove how tough he is. Krazy Kat tries the same but gets hit over the head with a broom instead.While the violence level of the cartoon is high enough and the movie is short enough that it will keep your interest, this isn't all that exciting an early cartoon. Compared to its contemporaries, it's a bit weak, though the animation quality is adequate. If you are interested in early animation, I suggest you try some other cartoons--this is far from the best.