Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2

The red headed bird, the black and white panda, and the clever little penguin are back.

After the success of the first Woody Woodpecker collection last year, Universal tops it off with a second volume. It was an improvement over the previous set, and I mean that remastering wise. Let's get started on the cartoons in this set.

This collection contains:
45 Woody cartoons
5 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoons
10 Cartune Classics
5 Andy Panda shorts
5 Chilly Willy shorsts
5 Musical Miniatures

The run down on the cartoons:
By the fifties, Woody began to loose some of the energy he had a decade before. Also, he was under new direction. Most of his shorts in this set are directed by Don Patterson, Paul J. Smith and Alex Lovy. Don Patterson's cartoons are very well put together. Lovy's are missing something. And Paul Smith was using most of the same gags in his cartoons over and over again. However, Smith's cartoons aren't as bad as most people say. The Oswald cartoons and Cartune Classics are good aswell.

The Andy Panda cartoons are some of his best cartoons ever. My favorites are "Mousie Come Home" and "The Pointer and The Painter." And the Musical Miniatures are good if your looking for an animated music video.

The Chilly Willy shorts are great aswell. Most of these cartoons were originally drafted by Tex Avery before he left Walter Lantz studios, but they weren't made until after he left. But, Alex Lovy, Jack Hannah and Sid Marcus do great jobs on these shorts.

Special features for this set include:
12 Behind the Scenes featurrettes with Walter Lantz himself
A TV Pilot featuring Space Mouse and Sam and Simian
An entire episode of The Woody Woodpecker Show

Well, that's a quick rundown. If you like classic animations and you're a Woody Woodpecker fan looking for some more Woody, pick this set up. You'll love it.

Ha-ha-ha-ha! November 29, 2008

My 4 year old loves it!

I loved Woody Woodpecker as a child and since my 4 year old loves Tom & Jerry & Bugs Bunny, I fugured she might like this too. I was so right! She loves this DVD set. I was not worried it might look grainy or have bad sound but it is great. I had doubts at first because of the price but you get three DVD's and since she loves it, it's so worth the money. I'm also happy we can watch it together and equally enjoy it. October 17, 2008

Damaris

I enjoyed this product very much. Good especially for kids. The cartoons from the old days are much much better than now. July 7, 2008

Fans should check this out

Others have been very efficient at noting which cartoons are included, and several have mentioned the important information that "Digitally re-mastered" doesn't mean the same thing as "restored". I've always been a fan of the later "Woody's" so for me this collection was an essential buy. But what I thought was most intriguing was the additional bonus features, extensive and informative tutorials about the inner workings of the studio, hosted by Walter Lantz. These were a terrific exploration of old-fashioned cartoon production, and were a great instructional guide to those who have an interest. Some of the early Fleischer compilations have fascinating documentaries, but the special features here are worth the price of the set, and the cartoons "Alley to Bali" and "Under the Counter Spy" are wonderful shorts to own for collectors. June 3, 2008

Woody the Woodpecker returns, for the 2nd Time

What's not to like about Woody Woodpecker?

Even though volume 2 contains the Paul J Smith efforts who came in on budget, but short on comedy,these toons are a hoot. My kids, who have only seen a few Woodpeckerss, loved this set. Watching some of the episodes, I remembered these played at lunch-time during summers. Ahh, what memories.

The set includes 75 cartoons starring Woody, Oswald, chilly Willy, Andy Panda, Buzz Buzzard, and Lucky rabbit. We can't forget Knothead and Splinter either. Walter Lantz is remembered for many things, and Woddy is just one of them. If you don't like one cartoon, just skip ahead, you're sure to find one that keeps you laughing. Tex Avery isn't too bad either!

The special features include TV pilots, a TV show episode, and 'behind the scenes'.

All worth the money.

Tim Lasiuta

[...] May 3, 2008

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