Though this movie was released on Friday, I did not watch it on that day as I was finishing other series. I only saw it last night after hanging out with my wife the whole day. All right then, let's get to it.

Brief Story Line

Woody Woodpecker (voiced by Eric Bauza - Looney Tunes Cartoons etc) tried to prove that he could be a team player by joining a kids summer camp called Camp Woo Hoo. There he befriended Maggie (Chloe de los Santos), the daughter of the camp's owner Angie (Mary-Louise Parker - Red and its sequel, Weeds TV series etc). Maggie and her friends were always bullied by their neighboring camp Hoo Rah, owned by Angie's cousin Zane (Josh Lawson - Mortal Kombat 2021 version, Bombshell etc). 

Woody's plan to stay in the camp was disturbed as it was under heavy scrutiny by health inspector Wally Walrus (Tom Kenny - voice actor of Spongebob Squarepants etc) and on the brink of closing. Things got further complicated with the appearance of Buzz Buzzard (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson - The Matrix Revolution etc) who had hidden agenda.

So what would happen to Woody and would he be able to save the camp? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I was not aware about this movie till I read a brief article in the local news website that there would be a live action film of Woody Woodpecker. Though I never completely watched the cartoon that appeared on TV when I was a child, I could never forget Woody's special laughter. It was a memorable kind which was annoyingly funny and I even learnt how to mimick back then. After my wife had watched this on its release day with her laughing hard many times, I was obviously looking forward to see it.

And it was exactly what I had pictured. The movie was funny in its own way with Woody's naughty behavior without any remorse of his action as the highlight. Combined with his fight against Buzz, making it a classic fued between two enemies on old cartoons plus the appearance of Wally, the object of Woody's practical joke. Personally though, I think this movie was more suitable for children with pre-teen as main character and having only two adults whom I happened to be familiar with. The rest of the support cast though, were unknown to me. The best performers for me were definitely the voice actors who had many experience and even won plenty of awards in the past.

For a hybrid movie of live action with the cartoon characters using CGI, I thought the special effects were pretty good and did not disappoint. It was fun watching them came to life and always made me respect the actors/actresses who were able to act as though they were interacting with real characters. Btw, I just found out after reading more about the film that it was actually a sequel of 2017 movie simply titled Woody Woodpecker, which was heavily critized (and this one might be as well). But since it was exactly as per my expectation which was to have few laughs without thinking, I had no complaints. 

So if you are looking for a fun slapstick movie based on a very famous cartoon character (created by Walter Lantz and storyboard artist Ben Hardaway) with his iconic laughter, then I think you would have no problem with this. In fact you might enjoy it as well. However, do no expect this to be a high quality film and as long as you are only in it for nostalgic reason or do not mind slapstick comedy, then likely you would have fun like my wife and I did. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars