Have always liked Popeye as a character and many of his cartoons are good to great. Especially the mid/late-30s Fleischer cartoons (though the early ones are also worth watching), the 40s ones and the Famous Studios ones were hit and miss. Misfires in fact are not many in my view, even the weakest Popeye cartoons are still watchable in some shape or form. 'Let's Sing with Popeye' is one of the early Popeye cartoons and to be honest expectations were not high considering the type of cartoon it is.
'Let's Sing with Popeye' for me didn't work. Not a terrible cartoon by all means, but not much good works here and it is one of only a small handful of cartoons from the series where the point of it was questioned. And not by a little, considerably really. Am not the biggest of fans of bouncing ball/singalong cartoons, though it depends on what is done with the songs and the quality of the material. Had no issue with the music, but very little stands out in terms of material.
There are good things. The animation is crisp and fluid, not looking primitive. Even better is the music, which actually is the best thing about 'Let's Sing with Popeye', very catchy, full of energy and full of character.
Popeye is fun and amusing as well as characterised solidly by William Costello (prefer Jack Mercer though).
Not much else works unfortunately. The story is pretty much non-existent, pretty much just one big singalong and gag stringalong. The energy that the music had is not matched in other departments, the pace is pretty perfunctory and none of the material is inspired or particularly funny. So rather bland.
While the melody is a lot of fun, the lyrics become a lot less inspired and memorable with each verse. While the animation is pretty good, none of it excites or is imaginative. As said, the point of 'Let's Sing with Popeye' is questioned, all it pretty much is is being invited to sing an extended version of the theme song.
Concluding, pretty bland and pointless. 4/10.
