Insect to Injury

A bunch of insects eating the wood house of Popeye. The war. And , after huge effort, lost of each part of house , the so useful spinach giving not only streght but a lovely ironed idea. Nice end because the victim it is the pipe itself . But not all is lost. Short, just charming.

Really like to love a good deal of Popeye cartoons and like the character of Popeye. Will admit though to preferring the Popeye cartoons from the Dave Fleischer era, the cartoons tend to be funnier and there is more originality and more risk taking in some of them.

'Insect to Injury' is a late Popeye cartoon and made in Famous Studios' roughest and most variable period where budgets were much smaller in particularly the animation and deadlines and time constraints were shorter and tighter. All things considered, while there are infinitely better Popeye cartoons (especially during the Fleischer era) and there are signs of what made this period an inferior one for Famous Studios, 'Insect to Injury' is not a bad late Popeye cartoon at all, actually really very enjoyable and one of the better cartoons in Famous Studios' late output. Agree too that it is up there with the best funny animal Popeye cartoons because the "funny animal" in question, in the insects/termites are a threat rather than potentially irritating comic relief.

As to be expected, the story is nothing special despite a different conflict and not having the usual supporting characters, two of the biggest interest points about 'Insect to Injury'.

Similarly the animation quality is uneven, never terrible but never fantastic. The colours are fine and there is smoothness and nice detail but there are many moments where the backgrounds are sparse and the drawing rough.

What is fantastic about 'Insect to Injury' is the music score, the best thing for me. It's beautifully orchestrated, rhythmically it's full of energy and there is so much character and atmosphere, it's also brilliant at adding to the action and enhancing it. The gags, ranging from very amusing to hilarious and creative for late Famous Studios/Popeye, are executed very well, the interplay between Popeye and the insects is lively and witty if in need of more variety at times and the pace is never dull.

Popeye is very likeable and amusing as the only human in 'Insect to Injury', while the insects/termites in a change of pace to Popeye's usual adversaries (namely Bluto) are fun and pose a menacing threat so strong that one can see and feels Popeye's struggle. Jack Mercer does a great job as Popeye and the Popeye voice that has always in my mind the most.

Concluding, very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The Paramount/Famous Studios' Popeye worked best as a hero when he wasn't fighting Bluto (or some other guy) over Olive Oyl. Bluto (or the other guy) often outclassed The Sailor Man and got lots of encouragement from fickle Olive, so we sometimes felt that Popeye was the interloper, horning in on someone else's romance. Not very heroic. But here, in this picture, Popeye takes on a swarm of marauding termites in a battle of wits that would do even the Warner Brothers cartoon characters proud. And we root for Popeye the whole way. A very inventive cartoon and one of the studio's best. I paricularly liked the termites forming a jack to lift the lid off of their trash can trap.

This episode of the long-running series of Popeye cartoons is a bit of a relief, as Popeye, having just built a house singlehandedly, is confronted not with Bluto fighting for the hand of Olive Oyl, but by toimites who..... excuse me. Termites, who wish to devour his wooden home.

It's a well done cartoon, with the little critters usually represented by a mass of black dots which erase all wooden objects. Certainly, Popeye's frustration is understandable, as are the appetites of the insects, and if they do the same thing in the same way, again and again, there are enough small variations on the theme to keep this going throughout the length of the cartoon.

This is the simplest of plots but it is "cute" and a lot fun to watch as Popeye battles the most destructive group of termites you've ever seen.

Popeye is singing while working on the roof of his house constructing a chimney, which he does in about two seconds! "Now me house is finished," he boasts as he does the last chore: paint his name on his mailbox, which is on a post outside. To his horror, the mailbox disappears quickly in the ground. Popeye gets out a magnifying glass and sees an army of "toimites" marching in file - hundreds with antennae and sadistic grins on their faces!

The whole cartoon is battling these monsters who can devour the entire house in seconds! Watching them work, section-by-section, is really incredible to see. How Popeye combats these "vultures" is fun to see, too. His attitude is fantastic, never seeming to lose his cool. despite some catastrophic events.

I wish they would have made more of these inventive stories. Sometimes you get tired of the same old Popeye vs. Bluto over Olive themes. This was great stuff!