Woodland Café (1937)
Woodland Café Review
Woodland Café is a 1937 Disney short film in the Silly Symphony series and an interesting, but flawed experiment.
It is basically set in a nightclub for bugs where they dance, play cards and flirt. The film is most evidently split into three acts and that is the problem. The transitions between the scenes do not feel smooth and the editing is truly to blame along with the direction. And even though the seduction scene is visually intriguing and interesting in its provocative moments, it still seemed too weird for Disney.
The first part sets it up just fine, if not in a great manner and I liked how it ended. In terms of storytelling, it could have been better, but in terms of originality, it is pretty solid as well as in world building as it creates this bug club wonderfully. I liked the score, but I didn’t love it. And the animation is most certainly the highlight as it is astonishing to behold at times with some pretty artistic scenery.
Woodland Café could have been better edited and scripted, but is wonderfully animated and unique in a way.
