Many of Dave Fleischer and Fleischer Studios' cartoons were good to classic. The best of them were fun and charming and even if there were cartoons of theirs that veered on the cute and some cartoons had more interesting characters than others they were always outstandingly scored, very easy to like and extremely well made, some of the techniques used even were innovative for back then.
'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp' is the longest Popeye cartoon, more a short film somewhat, and for me and many others it's one of his best, classic Popeye if you will and contains everything so great about his best cartoons. Of the three Arabian Nights Popeye cartoons, 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp' is my personal favourite though all three are more than well worth watching. Did not mind the absence of Bluto at all and didn't actually miss him all that much, it is always good to have changes of paces in the Popeye cartoons and most of those in question do that well, of which 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp' is one of the best examples.
Olive Oyl is not quite as interesting as Popeye and the villain and Mae Questel's voice fits the character a little more than that of Margie Hines. But really there is very little to criticise.
Popeye is as amusing and likeable as ever, the genie is lots of fun and the villain is just as entertaining and also a good enough threat without being too over-the-top. Jack Mercer does a great job as always as Popeye and relishes Popeye's mumbling and asides.
As ever, the music is lush and characterful, synchronising beautifully with the action. The story is not too formulaic and filled with energy and charm, as well as the customary magic. The best assets though are the animation and dialogue. The animation is meticulously detailed, vibrant and sees a lot of smoothness in design and with some imaginative visual flourishes. The dialogue is fresh and one can tell that the writers were having a great time writing the dialogue here, mumblings have seldom been more hilarious than here.
In summary, really great. 9/10 Bethany Cox
