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.
'Bride and Gloom' 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. There was certainly worse from Famous Studios during this period, with work that looked cheaper and more fatigued in story and writing quality (actually many of the late Popeye cartoons under them were among the studio's better late efforts), but 'Bride and Gloom' certainly is nowhere near among the best Popeye cartoons.
What is fantastic about 'Bride and Gloom' is the music score which is its best asset. It's beautifully orchestrated, rhythmically it's full of energy and there is so much character, it's also brilliant in not just adding to the action but enhancing it. The animation is not bad either, the finesse is not always there but there is a lot of vibrant colour and detail in the backgrounds.
There are amusing moments, the wet kiss agreed being the funniest and most memorable part. The pace is lively enough to start with and Popeye and Olive Oyl's chemistry is charming. Popeye is as amusing and likeable as ever and while Olive's material is not near as strong she has the equal amount of likeability factor. Jack Mercer and Mae Questel do great jobs providing the voice work, of the voice actors to voice Popeye and Olive they for me were the ones that make the most impression on me.
However, there are agreed not enough laughs, quality and quantity, and what there is is a case of there being good moments but otherwise it's fairly hit and miss. With more freshness and variety they would have made more impact. The story is very flimsy, being rather formulaic and predictable.
Disappointing too is the fantasy dream segment, which didn't have the imagination or fun it should have done. Here the humour is barely there and what should have been imaginative was more irritating than charming and was so familiar. There is a routine feel and the momentum sags to begin with before picking up when Popeye arrives. The kids weren't either appealing or menacing, annoying actually.
On the whole, worth a look but fairly uninspired. 6/10 Bethany Cox
