A wretchedly lumbering journey for the insane fowl. Woody Woodpecker first appeared in a series of animated short films which were released between 1940 and 1972. The crazy bird, known for his irritating laughter and slapstick acts, became popular among kids as well as adults with youthful minds. That’s probably why they decided to reboot him again years later for an animated children’s show that aired during the late 90s. we are talking about Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp.
In the year 2017 though, Woody made it to the big screen through Woody Woodpecker. You may not have heard about this one since it didn’t reach the cinemas; rather it was streamed without much publicity.
That film was just terrible – it wasn’t funny at all and had some weird mix-up between a drawn cartoon Woody and real human beings. It was awful; a disgrace to its creator Walter Lantz; maybe even the worst family movie of last year apart from those who watched The Emoji Movie.
After that horrible redo for Woody, nobody expected another part two. But lo! Netflix has blessed us with yet another series: Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp.
This is from Jonathan A Rosenbaum whose previous works include Cop and a Half: A New Recruit, .and Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Blues too. This should tell you something about his latest installment in case those earlier ones struck you as less than thrilling. But is it worse than the first flick? Yes!
But when comparing this sequel to other better live-action/animation hybrids such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit -animated by Disney- or Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers- also by Disney-, we can hardly put them in one group of movies. These movies have more jokes per minute and good scripts. However, like its predecessor went before it woody’s last outing doesn’t either! So don’t expect any amusement out of this one.
In this one, Woody is thrown out of the woods by his latest misadventures that result in havoc and chaos. His ranger tells him he can return if he will learn how to work with others. Even though Woody finds the suggestion irritating, on stumbling upon Camp Woo Hoo where team building is given priority, he pounces at the chance to be trained.
Woody quickly bonds with some of the youngsters at the camp such as Maggie (Chloe De Los Santos), Mikey (Kershawn Theodore) and Gus (Evan Stanhope). He also meets Angie (Mary-Louise Parker), who runs the camp and happens to be Maggie’s mother too.
Thereon, the plot unfolds exactly as was anticipated; a contest between kids from Camp Woo Hoo and bullies from rival Camp Hoo Rah, including scenes showing us their own selves as they learn how to develop teamwork.
So what about Woody? How does he fit within the overarching narrative? Well! Although there are multiple instances of this crazy bird getting into trouble and wreaking havoc as usual, some moments fail to revolve around him quite significantly. Instead, most part of this movie focuses on children as they grow up in it. As a result, this movie is essentially a worse version of other summer camp films you may have seen before.
As for Woody’s animation, he definitely appears as the character we are used to seeing in cartoons, except that this time it is in 3D rather than 2D. Nevertheless, it is seldom that we believe he is really present within the world of the film he occupies. This happens partly because there are human beings in the movie who do not always respond realistically to a cartoon bird sharing imaginary screen space with them.
However, Woody is not alone as an animated character because there is also an evil Buzz Buzzard who doesn’t have enough reason for joining Camp Hoo Rah. In addition, there is Wally Walrus – a park inspector who appears in cartoon form too. Just like with Woody, they are well animated but their presence on screen can be jarring as well just like when Wacky Woodpecker shows up.
Kids who aren’t too demanding might find poop jokes and food fights amusing, not to mention video game references. People could be forgiven if they looked forward to at least one easter egg from those early cartoons. However, these people will still miss out on finding what they seek since this isn’t a slapstick comedy imitating the style of Disney Silly Symphonies.
It’s good for you and your children deserve better; thus we suggest you skip Woody’s latest film and go watch another better Netflix flick during next family night such as The Magician’s Elephant , Leo or Orion and the Dark .
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