'Barking Dogs Don't Fite' is the second of three colour remakes of early Fleischer Studios' Popeye cartoons from 1949. Preceeded by 'A Balmy Swami' and succeeded by 'The Fly's Last Flight'. It is a colour remake of 1937's 'Protek the Weakerist', one of the great cartoons of one of the Popeye series' better and most consistent years. There were various colour remakes in the series throughout its run, with varying success. 'Barking Dogs Don't Fite' is one of the successes.
To me, this was a very good cartoon and very nearly as good as 'Protek the Weakerist' for similar reasons. Some of the colour remakes are quality-wise drastically inferior and anything fresh at the time had been reused more than once in between that it no longer felt fresh when it was remade, a problem with 'A Balmy Swami' (which 'Barking Dogs Don't Fite' is a big improvement over), but like 1953's 'Shaving Muggs' it succeeded because the original material was so good and would still have been good no matter how many times it was reused.
Is 'Barking Dogs Don't Fite' perfect? No. Once again Olive is underused and is merely there to introduce the action.
Like in 'Protek the Weakerist', Popeye's initial treatment of the dog was a bit too mean and something of a shock for a usually likeable character.
However, so much is great here. The animation is bright and colourful as usual for the late-40s efforts and there is some lovely background detail. Don't have any issue with the music either and never did throughout the series, which is typically merry and sumptuous, adding to and enhancing the action and even gestures and expressions. The gag count is higher here than most late-40s Popeye outings, and all them hit even if not innovative. The best of them made me laugh out loud without feeling guilty about it at all, with the exciting final third being especially good.
Once again, it is very difficult to not love Popeye's mumblings and asides and Jack Mercer's delivery helps a lot. Popeye amuses and endears most of the time, Bluto is a formidable opponent and their chemistry has the right amount of surprises and amusement. Actually thought though that the dogs stole the show from under them (with the most relatable character in the whole cartoon by far being Frenchy), loved their contrasting personalities and their chemistry has a genuine spark despite being polar opposites to each other and their animosity being even stronger than that between Popeye and Bluto. The voice acting is great.
All in all, very good both as a remake and as a standalone. 8/10.
