Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
OllieSuave-007
A cleverly animated and fun cartoon featuring of bunch of insects and bugs out on the town one night, singing and dancing, as well as watching a live theater featuring a villainous spider and a damsel-in-distress fly. The fireflies serving as light bulbs are also a clever touch.Grade B-
patsupfan
Only in the golden age of animation would you see bugs portrayed as swingin', jivin', jazz-lovin' critters. Woodland Cafe, which was sadly among the last 10 Silly Symphony cartoons to be produced, is one of the finest cartoons I have ever seen, with it's swingin' beats, it's cool characters (they don't really need to say much to make the short fun), and the way that it's just all-around fun. Notably, if you ever somehow see it on TV (it'd take a miracle for that to happen, mind you), there is some selective editing here and there; unlike most cartoons it's hard to really pick out exactly what is edited out, except for a scene with a ladybug smoking behind a curtain. All in all, this is one of the best cartoons of the series.
Robert Reynolds
This short is an example of The Mouse at their best! There was a time when Disney was, without a doubt, the best there was. 1937 was a good year for Uncle Walt and his studio. With Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and shorts like this one, it was a banner year. This is a quintessential example of Silly Symphonies-a near seamless blend of music to animation. Good to see it in-print. Well worth getting. Most highly recommended.
Ron Oliver
A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.This cartoon portrays a typical evening at the WOODLAND CAFÉ, that popular insect hot spot. A wide assortment of ugly bugs are kept entertained by apache dancers (a spider & a fly) and dancing to Big Band music.A delightful little cartoon. The Disney animators show their versatility once again in their depiction of all things buggy. The film is also a spoof of Swing in general & Cab Calloway in particular.The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.
