Buddy the Woodsman

Another Leon Schlesinger/Looney Tunes cartoon starring the blandest Warner Bros. character: Buddy. This time, he's the foreman of the woodsmen in the forest as we're treated to various chopping gags of them all chopping trees. Then there's dinner in the cabin as Buddy plays the piano and Cookie (blonde this time) dances. The song featured is "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" which is sung to the tune of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" as a bear causes havoc over the entire celebration. As you can read by my synopsis, there isn't really a plot in this six-minute filler, just a bunch of gags before calling it a short. But since the animation flows smoothly and there is some amusements, I'd recommend Buddy the Woodsman for a one-time viewing.

Now a fairly obscure character, Buddy was the second Warner Brothers Looney Tunes character, after Bosko and followed by Beans the Cat. Buddy didn't last long, being retired in 1935 after 23 cartoons starting in 1933.

This is going to be somewhat of a reiteration of some of my previous reviews for the Buddy cartoons, only because most of them have similar strengths and faults. The filmography of Buddy is a mixed bag, some decent ones (none of the cartoons up to 'Buddy the Woodsman' were great, even the best ones), some average ones and the odd mediocre one (before this cartoons, this applied to 'Buddy's Show Boat' and 'Buddy's Bearcats'. 'Buddy the Woodsman' is one of the average ones. As has been reiterated a few times before, the Buddy cartoons are intriguing to see how very early Looney Tunes characters, before the iconic ones with far more interesting and funnier personalities were introduced, fared.

'Buddy the Woodsman' of course has things that are good. The animation is nicely drawn and detailed with the black and white looking crisp. Even better is the music score. Music played a big part in the Buddy cartoons and it was essential for it to work.

Although the pacing is inconsistent in 'Buddy the Woodsman', there is some energy and there are some mildly amusing gags, though never hilarious and not particularly inventive or crisply timed. The voice acting is good and a different-looking Cookie is charming. The most interesting character is the bear.

However, there are some draggy moments amidst the moments of energy, which does hurt some of the timing of the gags. The ending is predictable and all too convenient, not to mention a little rushed. The story is very thin and formulaic, basically stringing along music and gags, and there is an over-familiarity and repetitiveness at times.

Once again, Buddy is a large part of the problem too. He just isn't a particularly interesting or compelling in personality character, pretty bland actually, and his comic timing is barely there.

In conclusion, another one of those watchable but average Buddy cartoons that one watches once for historical interest but without the desire to give it repeat viewings. 5/10 Bethany Cox