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. 'Bye, Bye, Blackboard' is Woody Woodpecker's final theatrical cartoon and, while it is much better than the previous cartoon 'The Genie with the Light Touch', considering Woody had such a strong start he deserved a much better final cartoon and the decline is so glaringly obvious.
'Bye, Bye, Blackboard' has good things, even the worst Woody Woodpecker cartoons even when disappointing had redeeming qualities. The music score is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it.
Mrs Meany has amusing moments and lives up to her name, and the dog Alfie steals the cartoon and the conflict between him and Mrs Meany is more interesting that between her and Woody. There are some amusing moments here.
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. He has his moments but compared to his prime era it's just not the same.
Likewise with the humour, which although with some amusing moments just feels tired and lacking in variety, timing also could have been sharper and the laughs could have been more consistent and more in quantity. The story also lacks freshness and the viewer is a couple of steps at least ahead of the cartoon the whole time.
Certainly, the story was rarely a strong suit in even the good-and-more Woody Woodpecker cartoons but they had much more energy and variety and Woody had a far more interesting personality. That 'Bye, Bye, Blackboard' and many other 60s onward Woody Woodpecker cartoons generally lack those things makes it far less easier to forgive.
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.
Overall, watchable but disappointing final cartoon for Woody Woodpecker. 5/10 Bethany Cox
