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4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Northwoods remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Alright, so if you're into the kind of cartoons where gravity is more of a suggestion than a rule, Northwoods is probably right up your alley. It’s a short, sharp blast of old-school animation energy. If you grew up on Saturday mornings with characters that could pull anvils out of thin air, you'll feel right at home. But if your idea of animation is something with, you know, a coherent plot or characters who don't explode into stars, then this might just make you scratch your head. It's a very specific flavor. 🤪
From the get-go, you know what you're in for. There's this hunter, big and blustery, trying to bag a tiny squirrel. Not just any squirrel, mind you. This one looks at the camera, *winks*, and then proceeds to absolutely dismantle the poor hunter's day. The way his rifle twists into a pretzel after the first shot? Classic.
The pacing here is just relentless. It barely gives you a second to breathe between gags. One minute, the hunter's disguised as a tree, the next he's been flattened into a pancake by his own trap. The animation itself feels… almost hurried, in the best possible way. It’s like the animators, with Tex Avery's crew probably cracking the whip, were just trying to get all the craziness onto the screen before the film ran out. The lines are a little rough sometimes, but that just adds to the raw energy.
And the sound design! Oh man. Every bonk, every slide, every ridiculous *sproing* is amplified to eleven. When the squirrel slams a door on the hunter, the sound effect is so over-the-top, it's like a small building just collapsed. It really makes the physical comedy land, even when you know it's coming. You can almost *feel* the cartoon trying to make you laugh.
There's this one bit, I remember, where the hunter paints a fake tunnel on a rock. You know, the oldest trick in the book. And of course, he runs right into it. But the squirrel? It just pulls a little lever, and the whole painted rock *rotates*, sending the hunter back the way he came, even more confused. It's not just the gag, it's the mechanics of the gag that are so absurdly perfect. Like the world itself is in on the joke. 😂
The character design for the squirrel is really quite something. Such a tiny thing, but with eyes that just sparkle with pure mischief. It’s not just fast, it’s _cunning_. You believe this little guy could outsmart anyone, anywhere. The hunter, on the other hand, is just a big bag of frustration, redder and angrier with each failed attempt. His exasperated sighs, even without dialogue, are incredibly expressive.
It's not a deep film. It’s not trying to teach you anything or make you think about the human condition. It’s a short, sharp dose of silliness. And sometimes, that's exactly what you need. A reminder that sometimes, cartoons are just meant to be *fun*. It doesn't stick with you for days, but it definitely leaves a smile.
IMDb —
1923
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