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. While fun and a suitably annoying pest to the characters without being obnoxious to the viewer, Woody around this period was rather toned down and subdued in personality, apart from a few manic energy moments, this is true of 'Phantom of the Horse Opera'. The outlaw character was fairly uninspired as well, Woody has had similar opponents before and all of them much funnier and more antagonistic, the outlaw's antics are somewhat goofy and veer on the obvious.
Furthermore, the story has little surprises and there isn't much of one. Some of Woody's antics are predictable and like the outlaw's are severely lacking in variety. The gags are too limp in timing and over-familiar for most of them to work, a few do in the first bit of the cartoon but most don't. Spooky atmosphere is sometimes there, the set up is pretty creepy but this gets lost when it starts getting silly and repetitive.
Most problematic is the animation. Time and budget constraints shows in some of the animation, which is a little 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.
However, the music is very nicely done. It is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. There are amusing moments here, the beginning set things up nicely with a creepy atmosphere and the ending is mildly amusing if not the wild one that one expects (mainly because the outcome can be seen from the start).
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. There are occasions where the pace is lively, but too often it's a little limp.
Overall, not particularly spooky or fun. 5/10 Bethany Cox
