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 it is perhaps one of the better 1963 Sid Marcus-directed Woody Woodpecker cartoons, 'Science Friction' is a long way from being a classic (it's not even good), and if it is somewhat of a reiteration of previous reviews for Marcus-directed Woody cartoons it's simply because of it having the same strengths and faults. It does prove to me that Woody at this point was well past his glory days and that Walter Lantz Studios had run out of ideas long before, evidenced in tired and repetitive situations, toning Woody's personality down, animation limitations, very variable opponents and even more hit and miss humour. The music and voice work were pretty much the only things that were near-consistently good.Starting with the good things, the music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. There is the occasional bout of energy, and there is one surprise which is the ending, which could easily have been a formula ending but wasn't.Voice acting is solid. Grace Stafford in particular continues to prove why she was the best voice actor for the character and the one that understood him the most. Of the characters, the best character is the ape, a large part of why the ending works and is the highlight of the cartoon.On the other hand, the mad scientist is the sort of character we've seen in animation many times before and since and there is nothing to them that makes him stand out, very instantly forgettable and more bumbling than mad. Woody's personality once again is dulled down and nothing like when he was in his prime in the 40s all the way through to the mid-50s, his material isn't fun enough being too derivative and he doesn't even have enough to him to be a pest let alone manic.Generally there is a lack of energy once again, this is fairly routine as far as Woody Woodpecker cartoons go rather than the original manic energy and it all feels very safe when early and prime Woody Woodpecker took risks.Chemistry in 'Science Friction' is bland, thanks to the under-characterising of the characters (apart from the ape), and not much is particularly funny, with lacklustre timing, not enough laughs and less than witty gags. Very little is done to give freshness to a very formulaic story heavy in repetition and it's all derivative of better stuff.Just as problematic is the animation quality. 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.In conclusion, very lacklustre. 4/10 Bethany Cox
