pembertonmichaelconner

Ah yes, another review of a later era Woody cartoon. Oh, Woody how much I love your shorts. But, I can't let my nostalgia get in the way of what is, ostensively, a no great than average-ish short. "Freeway Fracas" isn't all bad, so let me explain. Animation is fine, not great by any means but it is serviceable at least. This short also seems to be trying to add better gags and more spark to Woody's character, trying to hark back to the days of the 40's-50's. While I'd say it only succeeds marginally, the effort in this short doesn't go completely unnoticed. The cement gag with the statues was a pretty decent gag, and the roller running over the worker was also pretty fine. The ending of the toad going over the tree was, additionally, a pretty unexpected bit. However, the timing in this short isn't that great, with many parts that go from being calm to immediately somewhat, trying to seem crazy. There's also the fair share of gags that either aren't funny or just bot amusing. These are to be expected for a later era Woody short, but there's still a small amount of dun you can get out of this short . Not great, but it could've been much worse.

Woody's cartoons really began to drop in quality by early-mid 1960's, with very few from this era being of even decent quality. But, you've got to give it to Lantz and Smith, as you can tell they tried their hardest to work within the budget constraints placed on them. Considering this, "Calling Dr. Woodpecker" is a surprisingly fun, refreshing short. To start, the inconsistent animation quality returns, though this time both Al Coe and Les Kline do a good job punctuating the timing and the gags. As a result, the gags in this short are a lot punchier and far stronger in their impact, making the cartoon more entertaining and all above enjoyable. Dr. StroddleDunkee is a silly, albeit amusing character for the little screen time he gets in here, and Ms. Meany's actions, tone, and interactions help emphasize the meanness intended in her character. It's not all perfect, animation still isn't great by any means, only being serviceable ay best, and at worst it's only marginally better than Paramount's animation at the time. Alongside this, there are a couple gags here and there that didn't hit as much as they could pr should have, and overall the timing was a little inconsistent. But again, considering the era, and even on its own merits, this is still a sort of hidden gem in the rubble of terrible Woody cartoons from this era, and if nothing else, it's very easy yo feel the pain and suffering in this one. Overall, definitely not perfect, but still a good short that's fun to watch even with its limitations.

Alex Lovy is a difficult director to grasp. In my opinion, moat of his work lacks humor of any kind, and is mostly just character interactions. Despite this, during the waning of the golden age of animation in the late 50's-early 60's, his works were always watchable and interesting at least. "BallyHooey" is a relatively boring, but decent short. First off, the colors and animation, for the time, are perfectly fine. Colors are nice, and characters are drawn well. Not much detail, but as long as the animation itself moves smoothly, it's a win in my books. Concept itself is also refreshing, reminds a bit of "Little Televillian", which Lovy also directed. The overall pace and flow of the short in the second half is consistent and timed fine too. Unfortunately, the positives end there for me. The tv gags in the beginning half are really unfunny , only really fine for what they are. Also, the first half of the short is dedicated to these tv gags, which is honestly pretty a let down. Also, the chase between Woody and the guard doesn't have a proper resolution, and the ending is also unfunny and pretty unsatisfactory. It is still watchable, with nothing making the viewing experience absolutely torturous or anything like that, but honestly, even somebody like Paul J. Smith could've done more with the plot here. A real pity...