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 (almost all of them being in his prime era of the 1940s through to the mid-50s) and more and also still like him a lot as a character. For a very late-period Woody Woodpecker cartoon, one of his last, 'Woody's Magic Touch' was a very pleasant surprise. It may not be magical, but it is to me one of the better Woody Woodpecker cartoons of the 70s and one of the better ones of the late-60s onward period (which mostly saw cartoons that were decent at best and often much worse than that).
It's not a perfect cartoon by all means. The animation is not great at all, or even good, a recurring problem in the late 50s onward Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Time and budget constraints shows in a lot of the animation, which is very 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.
Story-wise it's pretty formulaic and occasionally variety-lacking and a couple of the gags could have been sharper.
However, Woody is portrayed with a lot of energy, with shades of his manic one, and charisma and he is not as toned down as he tended to be from the late 50s onward. The supporting characters are fun for a late period Woody Woodpecker cartoon if not exceptional.
'Woody's Magic Touch' for a late Smith-directed Woody Woodpecker cartoon actually has some very amusing moments, the dialogue particularly. The pace is surprisingly lively and has more of the frenetic energy one expects from Woody Woodpecker that was generally missing in this particular period.
Further standouts are the music and the voice acting. The music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The voice acting is typically solid.
In conclusion, a pretty good late effort and one of the best ones of the 70s. 7/10 Bethany Cox
That is in no way knocking Woody, because many of his cartoons are a lot of fun to watch (almost all of them being in his prime era of the 1940s through to the mid-50s) and more and also still like him a lot as a character. For a very late-period Woody Woodpecker cartoon, one of his last, 'Woody's Magic Touch' was a very pleasant surprise. It may not be magical, but it is to me one of the better Woody Woodpecker cartoons of the 70s and one of the better ones of the late-60s onward period (which mostly saw cartoons that were decent at best and often much worse than that).
It's not a perfect cartoon by all means. The animation is not great at all, or even good, a recurring problem in the late 50s onward Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Time and budget constraints shows in a lot of the animation, which is very 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.
Story-wise it's pretty formulaic and occasionally variety-lacking and a couple of the gags could have been sharper.
However, Woody is portrayed with a lot of energy, with shades of his manic one, and charisma and he is not as toned down as he tended to be from the late 50s onward. The supporting characters are fun for a late period Woody Woodpecker cartoon if not exceptional.
'Woody's Magic Touch' for a late Smith-directed Woody Woodpecker cartoon actually has some very amusing moments, the dialogue particularly. The pace is surprisingly lively and has more of the frenetic energy one expects from Woody Woodpecker that was generally missing in this particular period.
Further standouts are the music and the voice acting. The music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The voice acting is typically solid.
In conclusion, a pretty good late effort and one of the best ones of the 70s. 7/10 Bethany Cox
