Popeye the Sailor (1933)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

'Popeye the Sailor' is a good debut for Popeye, but there have been better cartoons of his since.There is not much wrong with it. There is a finding its feet/style feel, and there is a preference to the voice actors who would take on the roles later. Popeye and Bluto were fine courtesy of William Costello and William Pennell, but Bonnie Poe's voice agreed (from personal opinion this is) doesn't really fit Olive Oyl, and it was strange hearing a deeper voice when so used to Mae Questel's pretty iconic interpretation.On the other hand, the animation is beautifully drawn, smooth and meticulously detailed, the black and white crisply shaded. The music is merry and energetic, though again am more familiar with the scoring of Winston Sharples later.It's a very entertaining cartoon and smartly written, with a lot of charm and energy. All three lead characters are engaging and their personalities established well even for so early on. Betty Boop makes a small but memorable appearance, that's both sexy and cute.All in all, a very good debut cartoon but not among my favourite Popeye cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Popeye the Sailor (1933) **** (out of 4) First film in the series of shorts was also the first I've seen of any of these early films. I watched some of the later ones when I was a kid and I wasn't sure what to expect out of these theatrical shorts but this first one was great. Popeye takes Olive Oyl to a fair when Bluto shows up to start trouble. There's a lot of great humor here and I really loved the animation style. The opening scene of Popeye singing his famous song is priceless as is the appearance by Betty Boop.Now available through Warner in a 4-disc box set.

Wow, it's interesting to see how different this first Popeye cartoon was from all the others we are used to seeing. Right off the in the introduction, other - not Popeye - is singing a "Strike Up the Band" song. Actually, we find out it's a "Betty Boop" as Betty joins in the singing, with a similar lyric about it "being a cinch that every inch he's a sailor."Popeye came from the comic strips, so the first thing we see when the story begins in a newspaper headline reading, "Popeye A Movie Star," meaning the audience will now see him at the movie theater. (There was no television back then.)Anyway, just watching the first few minutes of this cartoon produced a big smile on my face. It's tough to beat these clever, funny 1930s Popeye cartoons. The combination of sight gags and music - they loved music in cartoons and movies back in the '30s - is guaranteed to make you feel good after watching.Popeye demonstrates his strength, dexterity and resourcefulness in his screen debut and it's quickly established Bluto is the enemy and wants Olive. That storyline went on for decades but was always fun to see as the sailor man bested the bearded bully time after time.Betty only has a small number in here, so even if the cartoon is under name, it's really Popeye's. Betty does a quick Hawaiian dance which she did in several other cartoons before they made her put more clothes on by the end of 1934.The only thing different was Bonnie Poe doing some voice work as Olive. Her voice was a lot lower than Mae Questel's who did Olive for most, if not all, of the other cartoons. Mae also did Betty Boop, and my guess is they didn't want the same voice for both characters in the same cartoon.Also, Popeye's answer to everything was a punch, destroying whatever he hit....even a train! He's always ready to show his stuff, but a little more so than normal in this debut cartoon. This guy was punching everybody and everything, and so was Olive! In later cartoons, Popeye entertained us more with his clever remarks and reinventing of words. However, you can see from this early cartoon that it's no surprise this comic strip character made it big "in the movies."

Spoilers herein.Popeye's first cartoon after he matured on the comics page. I believe the Fleischer cartoons may be the best of the era. Where other pioneers were working with characters abstracted especially for the screen, the Fleischers gave life to `real' characters. Betty Boop until 1934 - when regulatory prudes stripped her of her magic - was an amazing invention: sexy, somewhat dumb. But the important thing was the flapper persona.By 33, the Fleischers bought the rights to Popeye and this is the first appearance on screen. His dumb but endearing masculinity is a perfect match for Betty's similar femininity. She only appears in a cameo here, except the voice of Olive is very similar (and done by the same person). Betty was retired in 39, to be replaced by the unplucky, unsexy Olive.The world of film stereotypes would never be the same. The death of the Clara Bow type begins with this short.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.