Of the nine Goofy Gophers cartoons, four of them were directed by Fritz Freleng. And while the best of the Goofy Gophers will always be the first one 'The Goofy Gophers', all of Freleng's efforts are very good to great.
'Lumber Jerks' for me is the weakest of the four, but not really for any major flaws. Just that the previous three had a little more imagination and tighter pacing, this is unusually slow-moving for the series and it may be a turn off for some, for me the restraint was admirable but a couple of parts were a little too staid for my liking. 'Lumber Jerks' however is still a very good cartoon.
The animation is just lovely as always with the early and middle period Looney Tunes cartoons, with some bright vibrant colours and richly detailed backgrounds and everything is very fluidly and smoothly drawn with no obvious jarring anywhere.
While Carl Stalling for me has always been the slightly better composer, Milt Franklyn still does a fine job, it is always dynamic and beautiful to listen to with lots of energy, whimsy and lively character. More importantly, it fits beautifully, just that Stalling's music went one step further in enhancing the action more effectively.
The dialogue manages to be both sharp and restrained, clever in structure and filled with the usual fresh and zany Looney Tunes wit, never less than very funny. The gags, in laugh-a-minute mode, are imaginative and executed very well indeed, most of the humour coming from the endearingly over polite dialogue between Mac and Tosh.
The story is still entertaining, if not as lively in pace as the previous Goofy Gopher cartoons. One may miss the dark and sometimes brutal, but never over-the-top cartoonish or stomach-churningly sadistic slapstick and violence of their earlier outings with the intellectual and well-spoken dog, but the visual humour is still a lot of fun here.
Mac and Tosh work are a wonderfully entertaining duo, if a very acquired taste, being cute yet very funny in their over-politeness to one another. They are voiced adroitly by Stan Freberg and Mel Blanc.
All in all, very good though there's better in the Goofy Gophers series. 8/10 Bethany Cox