His Better Elf (1958) Poster

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7/10
Woody and the leprechaun woodpecker
TheLittleSongbird29 August 2017
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. He is a lot of fun here and is never obnoxious or a jerk. While it is a little toned down, there are shades of his original personality as a manic pest, yet one can sympathise with his situation. The leprechaun woodpecker character is fun support and gives a little more variety than most Woody Woodpecker cartoons from this period.

Sure, the story when it comes to the Woody Woodpecker action has its typical moments and the main premise with the insurance is executed a little repetitiously occasionally.

Time and budget constraints shows in some of the animation, which is a little 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.

Music however is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The whole cartoon goes at a lively pace, especially in the second half.

Gags are always very amusing and never less than that, some of it is actually very funny and timed very well. The voice work is solid, with Grace Stafford continuing to prove why she was the best voice actor for the character.

In summary, decent but there are better Woody Woodpecker cartoons including from this weaker (prime Woody Woodpecker was long gone by this point), hit-and-miss period (especially 'Niagara Fools'). 7/10 Bethany Cox
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7/10
The spectral nomenclature is rather jumbled for . . .
pixrox130 July 2023
. . . HIS BETTER ELF. O'Toole, the title character, actually is presented as a green leprechaun woodpecker, who introduces himself to Woody as a "mythical gnome." So what is Woody's visitor--an elf, leprechaun or gnome? As a specialist in the occult, I'm well situated to solve this conundrum. First of all, gnomes tend to hang out in gardens. O'Toole is seldom, if ever, seen among the veggies here. Furthermore, gnomes are partial to guzzling ginger ale, but the green woodpecker downs not a drop of that pop during HIS BETTER ELF. That makes him an elf, some might say. Not so fast. Elves' main pastime is fashioning toys for good girls and boys. How many squirt guns and dolls does O'Toole manufacture in this picture? Zilch. On the other hand, cinematic leprechauns are predominately Evil. O'Toole winds up in the Underworld. Enough said.
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