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5.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Lumber Champ remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
You should probably watch this if you have seven minutes and a soft spot for cartoons where characters don't have bones.
Animation nerds will like it because you can see the early fingerprints of guys like Tex Avery and Walter Lantz. If you can't stand scratchy audio or black and white visuals, you’ll likely hate it.
I watched this on a Tuesday morning while drinking coffee, and honestly, it’s better than most modern stuff on TV. Oswald is a lumberjack here, and the way he handles a saw is just... wrong but in a funny way.
The saw bends like a piece of licorice. The trees have faces and sometimes they look genuinely offended about being chopped down.
There is this one moment where a tree screams and I actually felt a little bad for it. It’s weirdly dark if you think about it too much, so don't.
The logic of the world is basically whatever the animator felt like drawing that morning. Oswald uses his ears as extra hands, which is a trick I wish I could do when carrying groceries.
The main bully is this huge guy who is basically just three large circles stacked on top of each other. He’s not a deep villain, he's just there to be mean and roll on some logs.
Speaking of logs, the log-rolling contest at the end is the highlight. It gets pretty fast and the music tries really hard to keep up with the feet moving.
It feels a lot more alive than Alice in Movieland, which feels like it's trying too hard to be fancy. This cartoon just wants to be silly.
I noticed a few frames where the background just... disappears for a second. It’s a bit messy, but that’s why I like these old shorts.
The sound is really crunchy. Like someone is crinkling paper right next to your ear the whole time.
It reminds me of the pacing in Felix Tries for Treasure, where things just happen because they can. 🌲
One reaction shot of a bird laughing at Oswald goes on for way too long. It becomes less of a joke and more of a strange stare-down.
I don't know why we stopped making cartoons this rubbery. Everything now is so stiff and perfectly digital.
Anyway, it’s a good palette cleanser. Just a rabbit, a big bully, and some trees that probably deserve better treatment. 🐰🪓
