Ozark Lark

Woody in the Ozark mountains. Not to be confused with the 1965 short "canned dog feud", this short is from five years earlier. Admittedly, while not the best among the roster of Woody's shorts, this is still a solid one. To begin with, animation from Ray Abrams is good, even Les Klines' is solid, alongside the colors which are nice and vibrant. Some of the gags here are also pretty solid, such as the opening bit with the gun, and the part where woody dresses up as a lady only to be shot at by the hillbilly. That part was delightfully funny. Other parts here include the part where woody acts like a gun, and especially the ending gag with the army. This one's also got a consistent rhythm and pace to it. However, some parts could've definitely been tightened up. The scene where woody is shot against a wall doesn't really have much of a punch line to it, and the animation from Les Kline, particularly on the military general, can be pretty ugly. The ending also didn't feel right, like the conflict continuing instead of just ending off on a funny punch line. Despite this, just the idea of woody continuously fighting against a hillbilly with a shotgun is funny enough to make the ending serviceable. I wish this one had been better because it this had slightly better gags and a funnier ending, it could've easily been another solid early 60's short for woody, but as it stands I still enjoyed it and found it more than entertaining enough. Worthy of a solid recommendation.

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 and more and also still like him a lot as a character. He's fun and is a pest without being too obnoxious, but, like a lot of his later cartoons, compared to his original manic personality he is too toned down and subdued. This undermines the conflict, and while Martin has his moments he is a crudely drawn and depicted stereotype and is too much of an idiot to be one of Woody's best foils.

Paul J. Smith directs here and there are the same strengths and flaws of most of his output (let alone his Woody Woodpecker outings) here in 'Ozark Lark'. Starting with the strengths, the music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. There is some energy, the cartoon starts off well, the odd part is amusing and there are a few nice colours.

Voice acting is solid. Grace Stafford continues to prove why she was the best voice actor for the character and the one that understood him the most. Dal McKennon is every bit as impressive.

'Ozark Lark', however, is once again let down like a lot of the 1960s Woody Woodpecker cartoons by the lack of energy, the conflict not being strong enough, Woody being too subdued and also that it is not very funny, with lacklustre timing, not enough laughs and less than witty gags. Plus the story is very over-familiar, very few surprises here. The whole antics with the gun get very repetitive and the addition of the Army, while pepping the pace up marginally, didn't really gel, making the cartoon feel unfocused.

Just as problematic is the animation quality. 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.

In conclusion, watchable but average. 5/10 Bethany Cox