Have you ever been so starving that you just felt like punching someone in the head? Well this particular Woody Woodpecker short may remind you a little of that! It's about Woody being a bit of a jerk and thinking that he doesn't need to bother heading south for the winter along with all the other more rational birds because he already has plenty of food stored up, but the icy weather has a few things in store for the cocky Woodpecker, and after he goes a little crazier than usual due to a little cabin fever and hunger pains after losing all his food, an equally hungry and crazed cat shows up and the show turns into a mad battle to see who gets to eat who! Woody sure was asking for trouble in this one though, he mocks his retreating neighbours, he dares the cold weather to try and take his food, he even laughs in the cigar smoking face of Death, which is such an unbelievably hilarious and bizarre image! "Starvation" my foot, that's totally the grim reaper with a palette swap! I suppose having the word death floating there may have been a bit much in an animated short aimed at forties children, even though the elderly bird clearly says it out loud at the beginning.. As with most of the retro cartoon shorts that I've watched in one way or another over the years, I love the colourful smaller details like the adorable tiny tree houses of the birds and the very impressive animation of when the blizzard sweeps on and instantly turns the sunny landscape into a winter wonderland, and when Woody's battered around in the snowy clouds by the figures like a tennis racket and briefly turns into one! The whole short is a beautiful one, everything is richly detailed and the action is very fluid, nothing looks poorly done or clunky, it's fun to watch and very easy on the eyes. This earlier version of Woody is much more fun and interesting than what they later made of him, not to mention downright psychotic once he gets going! It's a very fun short but it does have some rather dark themes in it, like Woody and the ugly Popeye-voiced cat's fight to cook and eat each other, which is slapstick but violent, and it's so macabre how they eat the poor hapless moose and all that's left of it is a pile of bones and its head stuck on a tree! And what an odd mistake neglecting to speed up Woody's voice like that at the end.. Just a neat little old cartoon that is very fun and satisfying to watch, this is a good example of am old animation studio at the top of their game. Great stuff, interesting funny inventive and pretty crazy! X
Review of Pantry Panic
