BCDB: Cartoon Reviews: Popeye The Sailor

The 1st popeye cartoon was good. The
classic animation was flawless. They
should never colorize this one.I like
how it started,with him singing the
popeye song

When I first saw this,I was angered when Oliv got tied to the tracks,now If i was a superheroine,My partner in crimefighting,guy sidekick and guy assistant would fight over who would untie her,use your magic,guys,ugh! men and their brawn! Even Kim Possible can deal with Bluto,put him in handcuffs,if I was a superheroine,I would put him in handcuffs.

just want to add some new information that history and Segar like to overlook. Segar was the 'illustrator' when Popeye entered Thimble Theater the CONTINUITY WRITER the one who thought up the popeye character and story lines was the Tom Sims who worked with Segar.

Although it is credited as a "Betty Boop" cartoon, this is "Popeye" in every sense of the word. The Sailor makes his debut to the world of animation in this all time classic. One characteristic of a Betty Boop cartoon that this film did have was that it presented a world of animals with human characteristics. This format was repeated in at least one official Popeye cartoon, but they seemed to soon realize that such a scenario just didn't suit the Popeye crew.
Although Popeye did not say much in this film and there was still a lot to develop in his personality, his tough and fearless approach to everything was a good sample that the animated Popeye would be just as invincible as his comic strip counterpart. Some of Popeye's more callous acts in this film, such as frisking Olive for money and tearing the beard off of a bearded lady, was a good preview of the rather amoral personality that he would adopt in a few of his early pictures.
Popeye does a brief dance number with Betty Boop. If anyone wonders why Popeye and Betty never got together, one only has to look at them side by side to realize that they were much too disproportionate for one another. Five Popeye heads could fit inside of one of Betty's.
The film reaches an excellent climax as Olive is tied to a railroad track and Popeye fights it out with Bluto. Unlike later Fleischer and Famous cartoons, Popeye's spinach eating did not appear to be an act of desperation, but rather the quickest and most efficient way to defeat his enemy. Bluto winds up in a coffin with a motionless head poking though. I have sometimes wondered if it was supposed to be ambiguous as to whether Popeye actually killed Bluto in this one. Yes, Bluto certainly lived to make many more cartoons, but these films were often meant to stand alone with one story having no consistency with the other, so who knows? Popeye's final feat of strength in this cartoon is a direct punch to a moving train, causing it to deflate (I wonder what was supposed to have happened to the engineer?)
A classic premier cartoon for a classic character. (All color copies should be destroyed on sight).