Starring: Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Grace Stafford
Directed By: Walter Lantz, Alex Lovy
Studio: Universal Studios
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Woody Woodpecker and Friends are back with 25 remastered classic shorts on Blu-ray from director Walter Lantz. It’s been a long time since I last watched Woody Woodpecker (and Friends) cartoons, and I don’t remember many of the shorts in this collection, so it was nice to revisit them.

This collection features Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and several other characters who only received an episode or two. Woody appears in about eight of the shorts here. His look in these cartoons feels different from the earlier versions, and I found myself trying to remember which years gave him his most definitive design. I remember coming home from elementary school to watch Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy while doing homework, or sometimes just napping. They used to bundle the cartoons into a TV show, either The Chilly Willy Show or The Woody Woodpecker Show. I honestly can’t remember which one it was.

I’m a big fan of animated shorts and cartoons from the golden era, like Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Hanna-Barbera, Tex Avery, and Pink Panther, and Woody Woodpecker belongs in that conversation as well. That said, I don’t think he ranks quite as high as some of the others for me. I actually prefer Chilly Willy. The Woody Woodpecker shorts are solid, but once you get into the Andy Panda cartoons, you start to see more “sign of the times” material, including some blatant racism. There are a few stereotypes in the Woody shorts too, but I felt Andy Panda leaned into that more, likely because those cartoons are older. Chilly Willy was easily my favorite part of this set. I also liked that the collection includes some random one-off characters, which you do not usually get in Looney Tunes or Tex Avery sets. The Talking Dog is one I remember seeing before and it stood out as a notable inclusion.

This set is perfect for collectors and fans of these characters. Having the shorts remastered and looking great on Blu-ray is a big selling point. There are also some very old technical featurettes included, covering things like how to draw the characters, timing, storyboards, and other behind-the-scenes elements.

This is a worthy set to add to your collection!

(Sent by AV Entertainment for review)

Features:
Cartoonland Mysteries
Spook-A-Nanny
Drawing Woody and Andy
Directing Animated Cartoons
Timing a Cartoon
Character Movement
The Animator’s Job
Using Backgrounds
Drawing with Walther Lantz
Storyboarding Woody Woodpecker

Video:
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Audio:
English: DTS 2.0 Mono

Subtitles:
English SDH

Bottom Line: Cartoons look great remastered on Blu-Ray!
Running Time: 168 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: