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 prime-era (the 1940s-mid-50s) cartoons are a lot of fun to watch and more and also still like him a lot as a character. As far as Sid Marcus-directed Woody Woodpecker efforts go, 'Rough Riding Hood' is one of the better ones by quite some way (his 1963 efforts were particularly underwhelming). It's a bit rough around the edges and there are far better Woody Woodpecker cartoons certainly, as well as far worse (a few of the worst even being from this year, like 'Canned Dog Feud' and 'What Peckin' both directed by Paul J. Smith). The 'Little Red Riding Hood' story is one of the most frequently used in animation, but here there is just enough freshness to stop repetition from being too prominent.It's not a perfect cartoon by all means. The animation continues to not be great. 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.Some of the story is slight and predictable and Red is rather bland as a character.As for Woody, he has much more entertainment value and energy than most of his cartoons from this period. A lot of his material at this point was too safe and obvious, here his material is closer to the manic energy and lively wit of prime Woody Woodpecker if not taking as many risks. He also has good intentions here too. Woody was generally well past his glory days but this is evidence of that when he had material worthy of him that he had not entirely lost it.Granny and the wolf are funnier and more interesting characters though, Granny is hilariously feisty and the wolf is both formidably fiendish and his stupidity is funny. The chemistry is great.'Rough Riding Hood' is one of the funniest late-60s cartoons with some genuinely funny gags and dialogue, the best moments being unexpectedly hilarious. The timing is significantly less sloppy or routine as most Woody Woodpecker cartoons from this period. The ending is a very clever atypical surprise and Granny's end line is a scream.Further standouts are the music and the voice acting. The music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The voice acting is typically solid.In summary, surprisingly not that rough. 7/10 Bethany Cox
