Was very fond of Woody Woodpecker and his cartoons as a child. Still get much enjoyment out of them now as a young adult, even if there are more interesting in personality cartoon characters and better overall cartoons.
That is in no way knocking Woody, because many of his cartoons are a lot of fun to watch (almost all of them being in his prime era of the 1940s through to the mid-50s) and more and also still like him a lot as a character. For a 60s Woody Woodpecker cartoon, especially from the late 60s and directed with Paul J. Smith, 'Practical Yolk' turned out to be better than expected. There are far better Woody Woodpecker cartoons certainly, but to have a halfway decent mid-late-60s Smith-directed Woody Woodpecker cartoon was really refreshing seeing as many at this point were less than average and mostly actually very weak.
It's not a perfect cartoon by all means. The animation is not great at all, or even good. Time and budget constraints shows in a lot of the animation, which is very rushed looking in the drawing and detail wise it's on the simplistic and careless side like many of Woody's cartoons from this period continuing through to the 60s. The Egyptian setting is suitably exotic though, and one does feel for Mrs Meany at the beginning in the desert, especially if you suffer when the heat is excessive.
Gags-wise, mostly they are funnier and better timed than most of the cartoons from this period but there is a lack of variety and a few are not as well-timed. The story is very thin and contains few surprises, with the whole conflict with the eggs being too heavy in repetition.
However, Woody is portrayed with a lot of energy and charisma and he is not as toned down as he tended to be from the late 50s onward. With this being said, he has had much more manic energy, especially in his glory days when there was far more risk-taking, and his material is still a bit too safe. Mrs Meany doesn't really live up to her name, she never has been mean enough, but she is not as bland as she tends to be and has some amusing chemistry with Woody.
'Practical Yolk' for a late 60s Smith-directed cartoon actually has some amusing if never hilarious moments and the havoc is entertaining to watch. The pace is surprisingly lively.
Further standouts are the music and the voice acting. The music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The voice acting is typically solid.
In conclusion, not great by any stretch, with a fairly serious lack of bite, but decent considering the period and director it comes from. 6/10 Bethany Cox
