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 (almost all of them being in his prime era of the 1940s through to the mid-50s) and more and also still like him a lot as a character. This is going to be a reiteration of a lot of my reviews for the later Woody Woodpecker cartoons, but mainly because the later Paul J. Smith-directed cartoons have pretty much the same strengths and faults. Not all Smith's efforts are average or less, 'Niagara Fools' is one of the not many very good and more Woody Woodpecker cartoons of his (excellent in that cartoon's case despite the lacking animation).'Hassle in a Castle' is not THE worst Woody Woodpecker cartoon, but it is towards the bottom and really not worth the hassle. Most of the Woody Woodpeckers in the 60s, especially the mid to late ones were average or less with a few exceptions and 'Hassle in a Castle' is another one of the weak ones.As with many of the 60s Woody Woodpecker cartoons, the music and the voice acting are the best assets. The music score is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it.Voice acting is solid. Grace Stafford continues to prove why she was the best voice actor for the character and the one that understood him the most. There are a couple of decent amusing moments but too far and between.However, Woody compared to his original manic personality is just too subdued and his material is too obvious and safe, one misses the manic energy and the risk taking. The characters providing the conflict lack the humour factor and personality for it to work.Most of 'Hassle in a Castle' is not funny, being sloppy in timing and most of the gags being too obvious and dumb. The pace is dull and the story completely lacks freshness, is heavy in repetition and has a who cares vibe that makes it impossible to root for anybody here, including Woody.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. The ending is a rather strange one and didn't gel with the rest of the cartoon.All in all, one of Smith's worst and one of the worst Woody Woodpecker cartoons. 3/10 Bethany Cox
