Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor

This has gotta be one of Popeye's best adventures ever and it's certainly one of the real gems of the old Fleischer cartoon library. In terms of quality the animations that the studio was putting out at this time were easily giving the works of Disney a run for their money! This very old but no less beautiful short that in-part inspired the special effects of a wonderful classic movie has such an enchanting visual design and use of colour to it and the rich small details in virtually everything as well as the plethora of screeching chained up beasts is fantastic. I especially enjoy the use of the 3-D like effect they used in a couple of the sequences, to me it still looks pretty cool and it was accomplished through a fascinating process of filming the animated cells against an actual physical model, and it was a technique the Fleischers pioneered that really gave a little added sense of depth and magic to whatever animation it was used in. It sadly wasn't used all that much after their time, which is a bit of a shame as I find it quite a beautiful and impressive effect in its own way even today. It seemed a bit odd to me how Sind(D?)bad was portrayed by Bluto who is a big blowhard of a bullying jerk and most definitely not a likable hero type, as his hilarious bragging song about how great and mighty he is adequately demonstrates, but on the other hand he does have a whole island of mythical monsters under his command that he conquered fair and square so he is technically mighty, he just didn't have to be such a jerk about it! It has some good funny sight gags and stuff like the creepy Italian double-headed ogre and when Popeye gets squeezed and turns so beat red that he actually turns into a beet for a second! My favourite bit of animation is when the gigantic roc flies over and demolishes Popeye's boat. This is still a terrifically fun short cartoon that's still great to watch a good eighty years after it was made! The fantasy adventure atmosphere and the magical story book-esc imagery really made it special and different and much more than the average Popeye short. Definitely worth a look-see if you're a fan of the character, if you're a fan of the traditional heroic image of Sinbad the Sailor though..probably not so much! 🏝