The Beach Nut

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. It is very hard to live up to a masterpiece like 'The Barber of Seville', but 'The Beach Nut' almost does but not quite. Plus, while the previous Woody Woodpecker cartoons had a different design for Woody and were still evolving his personality, here he is closer to the Woody Woodpecker we're familiar with and his personality seems more fully formed.

'The Beach Nut' is a good introduction to Wally Walrus and the two play off each other very well.

While there may be cartoon characters with slightly more interesting personalities, Woody is still at his best incredibly funny, never obnoxious and very lovable self, summing him up in one word it would be wonderfully nuts. His increasingly manic energy is a delight to see.

As ever, the animation is great. Woody's character design and physicality have changed/evolved for the better. Even more impressive are the rich and vibrant colours, the meticulously detailed backgrounds and the quite smooth drawing.

Can't praise the music enough either, characterful energy, dynamic, action enhancing and lushly orchestrated if not comic or musical genius like the music in 'The Barber of Seville'. The writing is suitably witty and raises a number of chuckles, Wally has the best lines here, not Woody though which was nice as it meant a new character could shine more.

Voice acting is solid.

All in all, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In my comments about the Woody Woodpecker cartoon THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, released the same year as this one, I commented on the redesigned Woody. What I did not mention at the time -- and which was brought forcibly to my attention by viewing earlier WW shorts and these two on the newly released WOODY WOODPECKER AND FRIENDS DVD -- highly recommended -- is that veteran cartoon director Seamus Culhane took advantage of the redesigned Woody to produce visually more sophisticated cartoons, beautiful work that is a pleasure to look at as well as funny. All is not simple energy and violence, driven simply by the plot requirements that Woody must do something violent and funny to his foe, which opponent is never completely motivated. Here, instead, he is opposed by Wally the Walrus -- with a Swedish accent voiced by the delightful Hans Conried -- who wants a pleasant, simple afternoon at the beach.

In short, this is a wonderful cartoon, well directed, well written, well drawn and highly recommended for your attention. See it on the DVD if you must, but if you can find a theater that shows in in real Technicolor on a screen -- well, that would be cartoon heaven, wouldn't it?

I didn't find a lot of humor in this Woody Woodpecker cartoon. The only thing I enjoyed was the Norwegian accent on the big walrus. The talented Hans Conreid voiced that part.

The story is told in flashback as we first see the Walrus ready to strangle the woodpecker We see why when the story unfolds on how Woody ruined the big guy's day at the beach. The jokes were weak and the sight gags even weaker.

Overall, I have never found Woody Woodpecker cartoons in the class, humor-wise, of Looney Tunes or Tom And Jerry, but they aren't bad, either. Woody Woodpecker cartoons are an acquired taste; you either like them or you don't, generally speaking. The same goes for his laugh, which I always found annoying.

This is your classic tormentor going after someone who is just trying to himself. Woody launches the first salvo and Wally responds. Each time the big guy thinks it's over, Woody attacks again in a cruel fashion. Of course, that's the nature of these cartoons, and things always come back to neutral, only to be disrupted again.