The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.
'Woodland' is another one of those 1932 Terrytoons that is worth a one time watch but doesn't have enough to make one want to see it over and over. It is not an awful cartoon, neither is it a particularly good one and its main reason to see it is, as has said a number of times by me already, if you are on a quest to watch every Terrytoon available (most are but not all).
Its best asset is the music, which is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
Some neat synchronisation, some amusement and charm and a few nice details can also be found.
The animation, while still not particularly good, is significantly less cheaper than in 'Bull-ero' for instance. It's still crude and simplistic mostly (especially the character designs) apart from some nice ambitious background detail here and there, but there is less repetition or cheating which one can guess is an improvement if only just.
Story is non-existent and doesn't have much lively pacing, mostly very choppy which affects the coherence, or memorable and interesting characters, all bland and without much personality, to make that forgivable. As said, 'Woodland' starts off reasonably well but starts to drag badly in the middle and never recovers. Farmer Al Falfa is more a supporting character with little to do.
Gags are not as recycled, but there are too few here and amusement and memorability comes only in tiny spurts (overall the cartoon is lacking in both).
Overall, okay for a one time watch but lacking in far too many areas to be considered good or worthy of being watched over and over (speaking as a big fan of animation with a high appreciation and interest in early cartoons). 4/10 Bethany Cox
'Woodland' is another one of those 1932 Terrytoons that is worth a one time watch but doesn't have enough to make one want to see it over and over. It is not an awful cartoon, neither is it a particularly good one and its main reason to see it is, as has said a number of times by me already, if you are on a quest to watch every Terrytoon available (most are but not all).
Its best asset is the music, which is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
Some neat synchronisation, some amusement and charm and a few nice details can also be found.
The animation, while still not particularly good, is significantly less cheaper than in 'Bull-ero' for instance. It's still crude and simplistic mostly (especially the character designs) apart from some nice ambitious background detail here and there, but there is less repetition or cheating which one can guess is an improvement if only just.
Story is non-existent and doesn't have much lively pacing, mostly very choppy which affects the coherence, or memorable and interesting characters, all bland and without much personality, to make that forgivable. As said, 'Woodland' starts off reasonably well but starts to drag badly in the middle and never recovers. Farmer Al Falfa is more a supporting character with little to do.
Gags are not as recycled, but there are too few here and amusement and memorability comes only in tiny spurts (overall the cartoon is lacking in both).
Overall, okay for a one time watch but lacking in far too many areas to be considered good or worthy of being watched over and over (speaking as a big fan of animation with a high appreciation and interest in early cartoons). 4/10 Bethany Cox
