I'm not a fan of Woody the Woodpecker, although I do remember watching a couple of cartoons revolving around the character when I was a kid. But I do understand how certain people are fond of that lovable woodpecker. So, wouldn't you know it, Hollywood decided to make a live action/cgi adaptation of said character and so far it falls I the same category of movie adaptations of classic cartoon characters not being very good. But that's not why I decided to watch it on Netflix a few days ago. The only reason is because I was expecting something that would at least have some effort. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very mediocre. It's marginally better than the terrible live action Death Note film back in 2017, but its still not very good.
The story is juvenile and above all predictable with several cliches we've seen before which I'm not going to spoil, the writing is complete garbage with only one or two moments that are funny but the rest of the film is flat out mediocre so that doesn't matter, the characters are really generic despite the actors themselves trying hard, and the pacing is really uneven despite being only an hour and a half longer.
It's a shame because there are some good things that came out of it. The CGI is ok and is accurately detailed on the design of Woody and the voice actor Eric Bauza did a good job imitating the actual character. Also the music score is pleasant and the scenery is very pretty.
Is Woody Woodpecker as terrible as the critics and audiences made it out to be? Nope, I wouldn't go too far to say I hated it, it sadly, its still not a good film. My recommendation: just watch the cartoon and give this one a skip unless you have kids. Otherwise, I'd stick to Speed Racer (2008).
