Pantry Panic (1941)

Best movie of this year hands down!

A Disappointing Continuation

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Have you ever been so starving that you just felt like punching someone in the head? Well this particular Woody Woodpecker short may remind you a little of that! It's about Woody being a bit of a jerk and thinking that he doesn't need to bother heading south for the winter along with all the other more rational birds because he already has plenty of food stored up, but the icy weather has a few things in store for the cocky Woodpecker, and after he goes a little crazier than usual due to a little cabin fever and hunger pains after losing all his food, an equally hungry and crazed cat shows up and the show turns into a mad battle to see who gets to eat who! Woody sure was asking for trouble in this one though, he mocks his retreating neighbours, he dares the cold weather to try and take his food, he even laughs in the cigar smoking face of Death, which is such an unbelievably hilarious and bizarre image! "Starvation" my foot, that's totally the grim reaper with a palette swap! I suppose having the word death floating there may have been a bit much in an animated short aimed at forties children, even though the elderly bird clearly says it out loud at the beginning.. As with most of the retro cartoon shorts that I've watched in one way or another over the years, I love the colourful smaller details like the adorable tiny tree houses of the birds and the very impressive animation of when the blizzard sweeps on and instantly turns the sunny landscape into a winter wonderland, and when Woody's battered around in the snowy clouds by the figures like a tennis racket and briefly turns into one! The whole short is a beautiful one, everything is richly detailed and the action is very fluid, nothing looks poorly done or clunky, it's fun to watch and very easy on the eyes. This earlier version of Woody is much more fun and interesting than what they later made of him, not to mention downright psychotic once he gets going! It's a very fun short but it does have some rather dark themes in it, like Woody and the ugly Popeye-voiced cat's fight to cook and eat each other, which is slapstick but violent, and it's so macabre how they eat the poor hapless moose and all that's left of it is a pile of bones and its head stuck on a tree! And what an odd mistake neglecting to speed up Woody's voice like that at the end.. Just a neat little old cartoon that is very fun and satisfying to watch, this is a good example of am old animation studio at the top of their game. Great stuff, interesting funny inventive and pretty crazy! X

Pantry Panic (1941) *** (out of 4) Being his typical, reckless self, Woody Woodpecker refuses to take a warning and fly South for the winter. Sure enough a major storm hits, which puts him near starvation but thankfully a hungry cat shows up and the two are soon trying to each one another. This is yet another winning cartoon in the series and one with several big laughs. The highlight would have to be an early scene where Woody is swimming and goes to jump in the water just as the winter storm hits and turns him into an ice cube. Another great sequences comes towards the end when a moose shows up as Woody and the cat are fighting. The way it ends is something that could only happen in a cartoon of this era. Fans of Woody Woodpecker will find this to be a very entertaining little gem that's well worth watching.

I saw some Woody Woodpecker cartoons when I was really young, but never took to them like I did the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons. Now that I've seen "Pantry Panic" and am old enough to offer an analysis, I'll say that what it portrays doesn't look far off. Yes, it was probably intended as nothing more than a silly cartoon, as Woody and an unidentified cat try to devour each other. But the idea of being all cooped up during the winter? "The Shining" portrayed that (just imagine Woody doing what Jack Nicholson did). And because of the declining precipitation in the southwestern US, not only will there likely be water wars, but maybe food wars.But that's merely my interpretation. It's a pretty funny cartoon. Not clever in the sense of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies genre, but worth seeing.I never knew that Mel Blanc also did Woody's voice. And is it just me, or does the name "Woody Woodpecker" sound a little pornographic?

This short, also available on a great many public domain tapes under the alternate title of Pantry Panic, is proof that the difference between predator and prey is a matter of who is the hungriest. Entertaining but unexceptional. Fairly easy to find. Worth watching. Recommended if you like Woody.