Wild Elephinks

Basically, Popeye and Olive find their way to a jungle where animals from every continent attack them. A gorilla kidnaps Olive for some reason. From then on it's just a matter of time before all these creatures will meet Popeye's wrath.

Wild Elephinks (1933)

**** (out of 4)

Popeye and Olive Oyl land in the jungle and must fight off various animals including a wild elephant and a gorilla. I'm really shocked to see how much I'm enjoying these early Paramount cartoons but so far they've all been a lot of fun with this one here being one of the best. There's some great action, nice animation and a lot of funny lines including a great exchange of words between Popeye and the King of the Jungle. It seems the gorilla kidnapping Olive subplot is a homage to King Kong.

Popeye and Olive Oyl are on a wooden raft with Olive's drawers as the sail. They finally land on a tropical deserted island. Olive gets kidnapped by a gorilla while Popeye punches an elephant. He battles a moose. Popeye chases the gorilla and saves Olive. He fights off various animals. The elephant comes back for a second round.

Animal lovers beware. Popeye is getting red paint splashed on him. He's punching the fur coats off the animals. It doesn't get more irksome for the PETA crowd. This is definitely one for the old times and not for the new era. That happens a lot in these oldie cartoons.

When the cartoon starts, Popeye and Olive Oyl are on a raft. Soon they debark onto a desert island populated by lions, gorillas, snakes, moose, giraffes, and elephinks. Er, elephants. As Popeye takes on the animals in order to the tune of "The Tiger Rag", the large assortment of gags ordered by director Dave Fleischer continues to tickle the audience's fancy.

When I write that Dave Fleischer was the director, I mean he was credited as such. In actual fact, his role seems to be that of producer. The director was done b Willard Bowsky, who directed many of the Popeye cartoons for the Fleischers through 1941. He died in 1944 at the age of 37.

Aside from some INSANE geography and biology, this is a very good and enjoyable cartoon. And, fortunately, it does NOT feature Bluto--making this sixth Popeye cartoon a nice change of pace.

Popeye and Olive are on a raft out to sea. Soon they spot land and come ashore. You can only assume it's at an abandoned zoo or that the filmmakers were drunk, as EVERY sort of animal arrives--even though they are often from different continents! Popeye battles moose, elephant, tiger, bear, gorilla and MANY other species! Perhaps folks weren't that astute back in the day, but I assume many of them must have known that they come from three different parts of the world. Regardless, a gorilla kidnaps sexy Olive (??) and Popeye beats the stuffing out of him. In reaction, the rest of the animals attack Popeye and he manages to do what he usually does! A bit predictable but an otherwise very entertaining and well animated cartoon.