It is always great to see the circus setting in film, television and cartoons, and it is an exciting and nostalgic setting if also dangerous. Some films, television and cartoons handle the setting and its atmosphere better than others, with the atmosphere and spectacle often nailed but very variable in the story and writing departments. Another reason for seeing 'The Merry Circus' was for completest sake, seeing the work of stop motion/puppet animation master Jiri Trnka.'The Merry Circus' is far from being one of his best and personally consider it one of his weaker short films. It is still good and charming and when saying that it is a lesser effort it is only because much of his output was very high quality and fascinating when it comes to how stop motion/puppet animation looked in his day. 'The Merry Circus' nails the atmosphere and the visuals, but it is one of the Trnka efforts where the story is pretty wanting.Elaborating more on this, the story is paper thin at best and often non-existent.As a result 'The Merry Circus' did tend to drag, it is only just a little over 10 minutes and could easily have been 5 or 6.However, what really makes 'The Merry Circus' is the way it looks in the visuals. The visuals here are superb in all senses, at its best visual poetry, while the short may not be one of Trnka's best overall it's one of his best looking. It's fun and atmospheric to listen to as well.Furthermore, the circus atmosphere is very vivid, the excitement and danger of the setting perfectly captured. Really loved seeing the circus acts, which fascinated and enthralled, a major standout being the slack roping fish. The inhabitants look great and while the story may be little the personalities of the inhabitants and circus acts are big and colourful.In conclusion, not great but definitely worth watching. 7/10.