Cartoons Ain't Human

As I am writing a review about this old Popeye cartoon, there is one comment already posted. The sole reason I am writing this review is to give the reader another point of view. How could so much venom be revealed over an old cartoon? Let me give you a little background. I'm 68 years old and spent many a happy Saturday morning when I was a kid watching movies at ten cents each. We always had cartoons between the features back then, and one of my all-time favorites was Popeye. Even as old as I am, most of the cartoons were in color, and for me to be able to see an early Popeye (yes, it is in B&W) is like seeing a bit of cartoon history. I won't spoil the story for you like the other reviewer tried to do, but, trust me, this is an engaging little cartoon and even if you only pretend to like Popeye, you owe it to yourself to give it a chance. As the title said, "Cartoons Ain't Human"……….and in my humble opinion: "Some Reviewers Ain't Human Either!"

It is interesting that the final Popeye cartoon that was not in color, Popeye himself turned cartoonist. He needed an idea, found it in a cartoon starring himself, Olive Oyl, and the villain Roger Blackleg. Popeye did a stellar job with music and sound effects, showing his creation to Olive and his nephews. Among noted pieces of music used were "Reuben and Rachel" in an opening scene; as Popeye used various means to rescue Olive from the clutches of Roger Blackleg, he played "Light Cavalry Overture"(Von Suppe), then, as his nephews speeded up the action, switched to "William Tell Overture"(Rossini), which had become the "Lone Ranger Theme", the Lone Ranger being then on radio, as there was no television in those days-- not even Muntz TV's! Interesting scenes included Popeye's riding a bull, which was crushed by the train,. after which Popeye hung a sign FRESH HAMBERGERS (though J Wellington Wimpy was not in this picture), and, at the end, when Popeye ate his spinach, the can marked SPINACH 17 POINTS (no doubt part of World War II rationing), he subdued Roger Blackleg and rescued Olive Oyl. So, Popeye came up with a first-rate idea for a cartoon within a cartoon.

Popeye draws a cartoon for a home movie to show Olive Oly and the four nephews. It's more meta than the standard Popeye cartoon. The Fresh Hamburgers joke is pretty funny. The Moana Liza is very awkward. Once the William Tell Overture gets going, the cartoon within the cartoon gets wacky fun. This is an unusual one.

Like the character of Popeye very much, have said this more than once. There was definitely the odd disappointing one, generally later on, but on the most part like to love a vast majority of his cartoons. More so Fleischer's output than Famous Studios'. Have always found that Fleischer's Popeye cartoons tended to be funnier, more imaginative and better made, so the quality was more consistent.

Famous Studios' on the most part did entertain, their second world war efforts were a mixed bag where heavy-handedness crept in in some of them, but did find myself liking the late 40s-early 50s Popeye cartoons quite a bit more generally. Their later Popeye, and overall filmography actually (so around mid-50s onward), cartoons had tighter deadlines and lower budgets evident which accounted for the animation not being as good, less surprises and the material not as imaginative, so were inferior in quality without being terrible necessarily. 'Cartoons Ain't Human', intriguing for being the final black and white Popeye cartoon, is one of the most unusual ones of the series , but in a good way. It also in its cartoon within a cartoon concept is one of the more interesting Popeye cartoons, is very imaginative for one made by Famous Studios and particularly an effort of theirs made in the second world war and definitely stands out. For me, this is one of Famous Studios' better second world war cartoons.

'Cartoons Ain't Human' is slowed down a bit by the Olive Oyl/Popeye vs. villain story not always being quite being as involving, it was a shame too that after such a unique concept for Popeye with the him as a cartoonist that it went into pretty formulaic territory story-wise.

There are a few references too, but they felt slightly out of place, though interesting from a historical perspective even if familiarity is in order.

However, the animation is fine, simple but has some nice detail in the backgrounds, the black and white shading is crisp and the character designs are far from ugly or off. The inventive shots are striking. Even better is the music (always important for me to talk about and Popeye cartoons always fared very well in this respect), again lush and cleverly orchestrated and doing so well adding to and enhancing the action, the main reason actually as to why the action has so much character. The use of sound was also extremely clever. The dialogue amuses a lot, the gags are plenty and most hit the mark thanks to crisp timing, some creative visuals and the vocal delivery, and even more so the increasingly wild action that avoids being too frenetic. While not what one would call hilarious sometimes, 'Cartoons Ain't Human' is never less than amusing, is beautifully timed and doesn't ever feel repetitive or dragged out. A good deal of it is pretty inventive.

Popeye is put to entertaining use and is as likeable as ever, again Jack Mercer does a fine job voicing him and makes his mumblings and asides very funny. He is also suitably formidable as the villain and doesn't make the nephews too annoying. Margie Hines fares a little less well as Olive, not fitting the character as well as Mae Questel.

Summarising, very enjoyable. 8/10

Cartoons Ain't Human (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This short starts off with a checklist of what is needed to make a cartoon. From here Popeye makes his own and then it comes time to show it to the family.

CARTOONS AIN'T HUMAN isn't the best film in the series but then again it's not the worst either. For the most part this here was rather clever in its own way and the story was like a silent serial but it was still a bit too uneven for me. It doesn't really look or feel like a Popeye cartoon, which I"m guessing was the point since it was Popeye making it. Still, there's plenty of fast action to keep you entertained, although I really didn't laugh too much.