Woodpecker from Mars (1956)

Woodpecker from Mars Review

Woodpecker from Mars is a 1956 animated short film from the Woody Woodpecker series. It is a pretty strange flick.

Woody Woodpecker is a guest at a television show and walks off with a space helmet and a space gun as souvenirs. He pretends to be a man from Mars. He is caught and sent to an atomic laboratory for testing, which convinces the scientists he does belong on Mars. This is one of the weirder shorts in the series due to its SF bent that didn’t quite work, but was at least a fresh idea.

I liked the animation here. The designs of the aliens were also quite interesting and pleasantly cartoony. Woody’s voice is a bit too high-pitched in this short and his role is not the greatest, but the movie features solid narration and a fine parody of television of the time. I just wished that it was funnier.

Woodpecker from Mars has solid animation and an interesting premise, but a lack of great gags hurt it in the long run.

My Rating – 3.5