The film named “Woody Woodpecker”, which came out in 2017, was a bid to bring the cartoon character out of the animated world and into reality where he intermingles with people. On one hand, it did not receive much theatrical distribution; on the other hand, the film was awful because Alex Zamm. Who co-wrote and directed it really struggled to make an unsophisticated family film that tends to misconstrue the joy of animation in Walter Lantz’s original work. “Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp” also has potty humor but Woody never busts out his own theme song by farting like in the movie it is drawn from. This is progress; as a result, “Goes to Camp” is actually very different and more engaging than its predecessor that often felt more like an imitation of Lantz-type entertainment.
Jon Rosenbaum, director of films such as Cop and a Half: New Recruit (2017) and Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls (2019), does not change these new stories too much but he does get some slapstick violence down good enough for a joke or two. The reason may be that he is little bit closer to the comedy of pratfalls and stories delivered through these images than any other director he can think about creating something more comfortable for kids’ humor tastes.
Eric Bauza voices Woody Woodpecker whose urge for food makes him beat up all his forest friends. Ranger Walters thinks that Woody does not want to cooperate with nature’s team spirit hence orders him either to change or leave. That is how he finds himself somewhere in Camp Woo Hoo where Angie(Mary-Louise Parker) is owner , Maggie(Chloe De Los Santos) her daughter . Meanwhile at rival camp Hoo Rah there are only STEM girls while Zane(Josh Lawson),her cousin manages military program that adjoins and shares the estate. The annual Wilderness Games are on the brink of starting, when Buzz Buzzard(Kevin Michael Richardson), another bird with a plan to find gold buried by Angie’s and Zane’s ancestor who set up these camps. Then Woody has to win the competition for Maggie’s sake, as this bird has always been more concerned with others.
Right in “Goes to Camp”, we get the hint of Woody’s comic violence because he wants his lunch without being disturbed by some YouTubers who are out glamping just nearby. Manic energy is maintained throughout the series as well as in the previous movie by Rosenbaum although he now receives a little extra money and manages to make cartoon slapstick action look much funnier than last time. Thus, “Goes to Camp” soon matches Woody with Maggie who feels inferior compared to her fellow campers excelling in something or other.
There is also J.J.(Savannah La Rain) addicted to computer games, mechanically gifted Gus (Evan Standhope), human calculator Orson (George Holahan-Cantwell), Mikey(Kershawn Theodore)the nature lover and a horror writer Rose (Esther Son). These supporting characters will be challenged during wilderness games thereby worsening Maggie’s self-esteem.
Interestingly, “Goes to Camp” is a movie with a deep plot holding a family feud that made it’s camps literally separate. Buzz buzzard comes in wanting to take the treasure and Zane cannot stand on his way. Angie also sweated blood defending Camp Woo Hoo from being closed by inspector Wally Walrus (Tom Kenny) though Woody’s acts of vandalism are no help whatsoever. Wilderness Games isn’t saved for the finale, introduced early in the movie, delivering competitive elements as the organized army of bullies at Camp Hoo Rah take on their easily overwhelmed rivals. The film continues with Wally Walrus promoted as a referee while “Goes to camp” tests skills where Buzz Buzzard brought along various weapons for ruining it, among them was raw sewage power blower. Just like in any other cartoon; everything goes wrong for the bad bird.
Rosenbaum does not hold back on crude humor but also seeks to enhance fun aspects within the film such as an 80s-style training montage for Maggie and friends, allusions to Chilly Willy in visuals; and finally homage popularized by Die Hard 2 when Woody rides down fire extinguisher releasing air like airplane ejection scene Weirdness helps and younger viewers are kept in mind throughout production using food fight and outdoor gaming glory to add mischief into it. “Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp” is not great (a running gag featuring a delivery man looking to showcase his command of magic is screen death), even getting too wrapped up in plots especially towards its final act. Yet, this one does better than its predecessor which is remarkable since it means that something had to be done about restoring things back to normalcy or rather make the cartoon sit well with its audience enough to pass its test.
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