Popalong Popeye

The nephews won't eat their spinach, so Popeye tells them of his early days on the ranch, being tormented by Bluto until he ate his spinach.

There's no sign of Olive Oyl in this one for Popeye and Bluto to fight over. Of course that just makes Bluto unmotivated and meaner. The usual good gags are wasted in this rote plot.

It's Popeye's ranch. Popeye and his three nephews are cowboys. Popeye recounts his start in his cowboy life. He arrived in the west as a tenderfoot getting bullied by Bluto.

I don't mind stretching out Popeye into a cowboy life. My question is when he is starting out in his origins story. Why is he dressed like a tax collector? Shouldn't he be a sailor at the start? Famous Studios often gets these little details wrong. It's a little annoying.

Reading the synopsis of 'Popalong Popeye' on first watch, a large part of me was very conflicted. Despite really liking both Popeye and Bluto as characters and having nearly always been entertained by the chemistry between them, the nephews were more variable depending on how strong or weak their material was. The setting is a good one but there was conceptually nothing special about the story whatsoever. Decided to rewatch 'Popalong Popeye' on rewatch as someone who likes the series on the whole.

'Popalong Popeye' didn't do much for me on first watch and still didn't on rewatch. It is far from a terrible cartoon and has its moments and good things, but there is next to nothing new or inspired here and all the characters have been a lot stronger in other cartoons. And it was a good example of how hit and miss the Popeye series and Famous Studios' output in general had become by this relatively late stage or at least was starting to, which does sadden me a good deal.

There are good things. The animation still looks like effort and care was being made, there may have been more budget and time limitations at this point but unlike the late-50s that is not as obvious here. There are rough moments in the drawing but the backgrounds have a lot of vibrant colour and meticulous detail. The music is one of the consistent high points of the 50s Famous Studios output (Popeye and overall), and it is one of the best things here. The lively character of it is just infectious and it has an energy that the rest of the cartoon lacks, while the orchestration is as beautiful as ever.

Furthermore, the voice acting is very good. Especially from the definitive voice actor for Popeye Jack Mercer. Who is an engaging character here and Bluto is a fun, formidable antagonist. Although the conflict is very seen it all before it has moments where it is fun and tense. The final third is amusing and energetic and there are nice affectionate western touches.

Which unfortunately cannot be said for the rest of 'Popalong Popeye'. The story is far too formulaic and has a very tired feel. Popeye does not have much material of note, all the best moments come from Bluto. While there are moments of amusement, they are infrequent in a cartoon that really lacks freshness and imagination. Rather by the numbers and one can tell that the series was running out of ideas.

Excepting the final third, the energy just isn't there and the fairly still primitively animated nephews are annoying and don't have much to do. The chemistry between them and Popeye is not always there.

Another Popeye cartoon that didn't do much for me on the whole. 5/10