Canned Dog Feud

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. This is going to be a reiteration of a lot of my reviews for the later Woody Woodpecker cartoons, but mainly because the later Paul J. Smith-directed cartoons have pretty much the same strengths and faults. Not all Smith's efforts are average or less, 'Niagara Fools' is one of the not many very good and more Woody Woodpecker cartoons of his (excellent in that cartoon's case despite the lacking animation). 'Canned Dog Feud' is one of the worst Woody Woodpecker cartoons to me (not just of the early-mid-60s but overall too, with a few exceptions such as 'Skin Folks' and especially 'Three Little Woodpeckers' Woody was well past his best at this best and 'Canned Dog Feud' does nothing to change my mind.

If there was a best asset, it would have to be the music score. It is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it.

Voice acting is solid. Grace Stafford continues to prove why she was the best voice actor for the character and the one that understood him the most.

Otherwise, there is nothing else to recommend about 'Canned Dog Feud'. Woody compared to his original manic personality is just too subdued and his material is too obvious and safe, one misses the manic energy and the risk taking. The supporting characters fare worse, the hillbillies are not-for-the-faint-hearted stereotypes that just irritate the viewer and are merely reduced to spouting dialogue so bad and unfunny even the most witless of comedians would reject it. The dogs have very little personality and their contribution is basically hackneyed and repetitive chases that have no creativity, fun or tension whatsoever.

'Canned Dog Feud' has nothing that's funny, all the gags are sloppily timed and derivative, the chases are flabby and the dialogue sorely lacking in wit. The pace is dull and the story completely lacks freshness, is heavy in repetition and has a who cares vibe that makes it impossible to root for anybody here, including Woody.

Just as problematic is the animation quality. Time and budget constraints shows in a lot of the animation, which is very 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.

Overall, very weak and close to being a dog's dinner outside of the music and voice acting. 3/10 Bethany Cox

A strange pattern ive noticed among the early-mid 60's Woody shorts are that they either dont have enough punch or are paced rather poorly. "Canned dog feud" falls into the latter category. It literally takes almost half that short, the first half being mostly filler with "eh" gags, yo even get to the chase between Woody and the dogs. Also, the dogs are meant to be competing to get Woody first, right? So, why do they all of a sudden begin working together?! Despite these setbacks, once the chase DOES start, its actually pretty fun. The music os bouncy in the second half, coupled with the fast pacing, better timing, and great animation from Al Coe, the second half of the short really should've been what the whole cartoon was about. Ending is also fun, with the idea of Woody beating up two dogs being both funny and cruel at the same time, but in the best way. Also, the stand out gag has to be when Woody uses a car jack to pugs the two dogs off of a cliff, and theb have the boulder hit them. Sound effects here help with the impacts hitting harder, thats for sure. I cant say that this is anywhere near being good from start to finish, but the second half is quite well done. Honestly, I can only recommend watching the second half, and the first half only if you're curious.