The Beach Nut

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. It is very hard to live up to a masterpiece like 'The Barber of Seville', but 'The Beach Nut' almost does but not quite. Plus, while the previous Woody Woodpecker cartoons had a different design for Woody and were still evolving his personality, here he is closer to the Woody Woodpecker we're familiar with and his personality seems more fully formed.

'The Beach Nut' is a good introduction to Wally Walrus and the two play off each other very well.

While there may be cartoon characters with slightly more interesting personalities, Woody is still at his best incredibly funny, never obnoxious and very lovable self, summing him up in one word it would be wonderfully nuts. His increasingly manic energy is a delight to see.

As ever, the animation is great. Woody's character design and physicality have changed/evolved for the better. Even more impressive are the rich and vibrant colours, the meticulously detailed backgrounds and the quite smooth drawing.

Can't praise the music enough either, characterful energy, dynamic, action enhancing and lushly orchestrated if not comic or musical genius like the music in 'The Barber of Seville'. The writing is suitably witty and raises a number of chuckles, Wally has the best lines here, not Woody though which was nice as it meant a new character could shine more.

Voice acting is solid.

All in all, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox