TheLittleSongbird
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 not quite the original manic Woody Woodpecker, he is far less toned down or subdued than he tended to be from mid-50s onwards, is always fun and never obnoxious, one roots for him too. The characters forming the quiz and commercials are fun to watch and fuel Woody's frustration and temper really well.'Ballyhooey's' story is pretty slight at best and basically an excuse to string along the gags.It is the animation that is the weak point. 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.On the other hand, the music however is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The whole cartoon goes at a lively pace, especially in the second half.The gags are very funny and different to what was seen before with Woody Woodpecker, some of the better-timed ones in a while too and perfect for showing off Woody's temperament. The commercials with all the silly remedies and what they did were good fun, but it was the finding out that Woody's answer was the wrong one that amused me most in some way. The ending was surprising.The voice work is solid, with Grace Stafford continuing to prove why she was the best voice actor for the character and the one that understood him the most.Summing up, a lot of fun and one of the better late-50s Woody Woodpecker cartoons to me. 8/10 Bethany Cox
