Alona on the Sarong Seas

Alona on the Sarong Seas (1942)

*** (out of 4)

Popeye and Bluto are resting on an island in the South Seas. All of a sudden they see the beautiful Olive Oyl going by and now it's a chase.

This here is a pretty enjoyable entry for the long-running animated short series. As you'd expect, the animation itself is quite good and there's also some wonderful laughs and a good story too. The highlight of the film comes towards the end when Popeye is about to be attacked by some alligators when his spinach comes into play. Fans of the series should enjoy the nice comic tone here as well as the action.

"How can somebody look so right in a sarong?" asks Popeye is one of the many corny - and fun - lines in this one, another episode in which Popeye and Bluto fight over the "gorgeous" (not my words) Olive Oyl.

Olive is "Princess Alona" on some South Seas island, where she appears to be alona - where is everyone else?

Sailors Popeye and Bluto race off their ship and try to be the first to greet this exotic and sexy woman (in their eyes). I think the guys have aboard ship for too long!

Anyway, you can guess the rest, meaning the two guys see who can win the beautiful Alona....with a lot of corny/funny material along(a) the way.

Am somebody who likes to love a vast majority of the Popeye cartoons and likes the character himself. A likeable character whose chemistry and animosity with Bluto one that drives the cartoons with such fun and energy, always a highlight. Do have a preference for the Fleischer era cartoons, that are generally funnier, more imaginative and of higher quality, though many of the later Famous Studio offerings entertain, just inferior in quality.

Notable for being the second Famous Studios Popeye cartoon, 'Alona on the Sarong Seas' is not one of my favourite Popeye cartoons overall. Although it has pretty much everything that was so great about the best of the Fleischer output while not being quite as imaginative in the formula and humour. The result is a very good cartoon that is nearly great.

Did not find Olive Oyl as interesting or as well used as Popeye and Bluto, or her material as good. Margie Hines voices her well and fits the character (unlike Bonnie Poe), but being so familiar with Mae Questel as her voice it is not always easy imagining somebody else do it.

There are many good things though. The animation is great , the backgrounds have lost none of the meticulous attention to detail, it's fluid, Popeye still looks good and is recognisable in design and the shading has atmosphere. Every bit as good is the lively and lushly orchestrated music score, that has character and adds a lot to the action and enhances it.

Popeye is amusing and likeable still, he is convincing as a single character taking on a much larger army, and Jack Mercer doesn't disappoint with the voice acting. Bluto is just as funny and interesting and the chemistry between the two sparkles and carries 'Alona on the Sarong Seas' with a lot of energy.

Lots of dialogue and gags that are timed beautifully and are very funny, the best absolutely hilarious, and the energy doesn't let up. It is not a dull cartoon by any stretch. The ending is one of my favourites for any Popeye cartoon and although formulaic it's not repetitive.

Overall, very good and great at its best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Alona on the Sarong Seas" is only the second Popeye short filmed by Famous Studios after the Fleischer Brothers Max and Dave, who had negotiated a deal with King Features Syndicate (who owned the rights to the Popeye character), were canned. (You're a Sap, Mr. Jap" was the first.) In "Alona", the competition that Popeye and Bluto had for Olive Oyl took a new twist. She was the Princess Alona, whose South Pacific island home Popeye and Bluto visited, being assigned there and on leave. Popeye, thanks to spinach, escaped a herd of man-eating crocodiles, and had Alona to himself at the end, but he turned out to be dreaming. Popeyes, like other cartoons of World War II, did a good job of spoofing this War, and aided in morale building. This was a different, and amusing, sidelight of the War, illustrating how our soldiers and sailors often dreamed of island girls, as they had been wrenched away from their homes, their mothers, their wives, their girl friends, etc.