Decades of co-starring human actors with CGI animated ones in kiddie comedies haven’t exactly produced a new golden age for children’s entertainment. A hit here and there, but nothing you can imagine kids embracing, generation after generation, has been the result.
Efforts starring Scooby-Doo and Marmaduke and Sonic the Hedgehog are joined by “Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp,” a lackluster revival of the 1940s vintage intellectual property cartoon character.
The title tells you everything that’s important about this picture. The rascal Woody is in it. He needs to go to “camp” to learn “teamwork” instead of being the self-serving, pileated and pecking menace he’s always been.
Struggling “STEAM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Camp Woo-hoo is where Woody seeks a “teamwork” badge to get back into the national forest he was expelled from. It’s run by Mary-Louise Parker, and the funniest thing about the film must have been the conversation between the “Weeds” star and the agent who talked her into this.
There’s a rival Camp Hoo-Rah, all dressed in camo and run by and for bullies (Josh Lawson plays the camp chief). An ex-con buzzard helps the bad guys (not all that bad) compete with Camp Woo-hoo in The Wilderness Games, which are officiated by a park ranger, played by a CGI walrus.
It’s childish and slapshticky, with Woody commenting on everything and anything, including a flashback to the old prospector who bought the land that it was founded on.
“Too bad this flashback wasn’t in color,” Woody quips. “It could’ve popped.”
The jokes are feeble, even the puns. Toss Woody in the camp kitchen freezer to “chill out.” He’ll “be the coolest kid in camp! NAILED it!”
“You KNOW those weren’t funny!”
No, Woody’s trademark laugh isn’t as amusing as it once once. And no, Woody’s promise back in the first act is never fulfilled.
“Never mind. Come back to me. I’ll think of something funnier.”
It’s all harmless enough, with its diverse cast of nerd “types” and “mean girls” and the like.
The messaging is Kid Comedy Screenwriting 101 worthy.
“You can’t hide from the bullies of this world your whole life.”
But there’s barely enough going on here to distract children into sticking with Woody all the way to the finish. The anarchy is mild-mannered, the sight gags limp and the human interactions produce no laughs and little in the way of charm, either.
Still, I would’ve loved to hear that agent’s call to Emmy-winner Mary-Louise P. Provided it didn’t smack of desperation on either end of the line.
Rating: TV-PG, cartoon mayhem
Cast: The voices of Eric Bauza, Tom Kenny and Kevin Michael Richardson, with Chloe De Los Santos, Savannah La Rain, Esther Son, Josh Lawson and Mary Louis Parker.
Credits: Directed by Jonathan A. Rosenbaum, scripted by Cory Edwards, Jim Martin and Stephen Mazur. A Universal release on Netflix
Running time: 1:40
