The early-30s Popeye cartoons were good, the best ones very good, if with a slight finding the feet feel understandable. The mid/late-30s cartoons were the series' best period with most of the best Popeye cartoons being made in it. The early-40s output were interesting and mostly solid. Those from the late-40s were more mixed, ranging from just scraping average to good. The early-50s likewise. With exceptions, the late-50s saw a big decline for the studio and the series didn't quite feel the same either, feeling rushed-looking and a running out of ideas feel.
1953's 'Toreadorable', made in one of the Popeye series' mixed periods (a very mixed period for Famous Studios too) is not an awful cartoon, it has its moments and it is functional enough, but there is just very little that leaps out. Which gives 'Toreadorable' a bland feel, which is as bad as being over-familiar and repetitive (the cartoon suffers from both those things too) on top of other reservations with the material. While the bullfight arena is an entertaining setting, it was visited regularly in animation before and since (already feeling done to death at this point) with varying success.
Good things and moments can be seen here in 'Toreadorable' definitely. The animation still looks like effort and care was being made, there may have been more budget and time limitations at this point but unlike the late-50s that is not as obvious here. There are rough moments in the drawing but the backgrounds have a lot of vibrant colour and meticulous detail. The music is one of the consistent high points of the 50s Famous Studios output (Popeye and overall), and it is one of the best things here. The lively character of it is just infectious and it has an energy that the rest of the cartoon lacks, while the orchestration is as beautiful as ever.
Although any amusement is too far and between, there are moments. Bluto comes off best of the three regular characters by far and while his and Popeye's antagonistic chemistry has had much more freshness before there is fun and tension. The best character though was the bull, who is on equal level with Bluto when it comes to comic timing and menace. Don't have any problem with the voice acting, have never failed to love Jack Mercer as Popeye and nobody voiced the character better.
It is sad though that the story, pace and most of the gags don't deliver. The story is little more than the basic Popeye vs Bluto formula with not an awful lot of variety, actually found it very predictable and repetitive. The pacing never comes to life here either, which made those story problems even less overlookable. Other Popeye cartoons increased on the wildness and had exciting final thirds. While the energy is there, the ending was just too easily foreseeable from the very beginning to excite properly.
Popeye himself does not have much material of note, all the amusing gags come from Bluto, so he was a touch bland. The amusing moments as said were too infrequent and are only mildly so, most of the gags here are tired from feeling rehashed and add further to the running out of ideas feel. Olive is not much more than a bland plot device and the cartoon could have done better at capturing the dangerous spirit of being at a bullfight, one does not expect blood or guts but this was fairly safe territory.
Concluding, not awful but not particularly good. 5/10.
1953's 'Toreadorable', made in one of the Popeye series' mixed periods (a very mixed period for Famous Studios too) is not an awful cartoon, it has its moments and it is functional enough, but there is just very little that leaps out. Which gives 'Toreadorable' a bland feel, which is as bad as being over-familiar and repetitive (the cartoon suffers from both those things too) on top of other reservations with the material. While the bullfight arena is an entertaining setting, it was visited regularly in animation before and since (already feeling done to death at this point) with varying success.
Good things and moments can be seen here in 'Toreadorable' definitely. The animation still looks like effort and care was being made, there may have been more budget and time limitations at this point but unlike the late-50s that is not as obvious here. There are rough moments in the drawing but the backgrounds have a lot of vibrant colour and meticulous detail. The music is one of the consistent high points of the 50s Famous Studios output (Popeye and overall), and it is one of the best things here. The lively character of it is just infectious and it has an energy that the rest of the cartoon lacks, while the orchestration is as beautiful as ever.
Although any amusement is too far and between, there are moments. Bluto comes off best of the three regular characters by far and while his and Popeye's antagonistic chemistry has had much more freshness before there is fun and tension. The best character though was the bull, who is on equal level with Bluto when it comes to comic timing and menace. Don't have any problem with the voice acting, have never failed to love Jack Mercer as Popeye and nobody voiced the character better.
It is sad though that the story, pace and most of the gags don't deliver. The story is little more than the basic Popeye vs Bluto formula with not an awful lot of variety, actually found it very predictable and repetitive. The pacing never comes to life here either, which made those story problems even less overlookable. Other Popeye cartoons increased on the wildness and had exciting final thirds. While the energy is there, the ending was just too easily foreseeable from the very beginning to excite properly.
Popeye himself does not have much material of note, all the amusing gags come from Bluto, so he was a touch bland. The amusing moments as said were too infrequent and are only mildly so, most of the gags here are tired from feeling rehashed and add further to the running out of ideas feel. Olive is not much more than a bland plot device and the cartoon could have done better at capturing the dangerous spirit of being at a bullfight, one does not expect blood or guts but this was fairly safe territory.
Concluding, not awful but not particularly good. 5/10.
