Fleischer's Popeye cartoons tended to be funnier, more imaginative and better made in my view. Meanwhile, Famous Studios' on the most part entertained though their later Popeye, and overall filmography actually, cartoons had tighter deadlines and lower budgets evident which accounted for the animation not being as good, less surprises and the material not as imaginative. Speaking as someone who likes the character himself and many of his cartoons.
With 'Tar with a Star' we are in the middle of the 1949 output of the Popeye series, an again inconsistent year but actually not as patchy as the previous year. 'Tar with a Star' is familiar in setting (which is handled quite nicely), but it is one of the better 1949 Popeye cartoons. As well as one of the funniest and more interesting in premise. It is not great and there are much better cartoons in the series, but with the late 40s being an up and down period this fares fairly favourably.
'Tar with a Star' has flaws. Once again, Olive for my tastes has too little to do in an underwritten role and her material is fairly weak and forgettable.
Like a good deal of Famous Studios' Popeye output, the pacing is not always perfect either, the first portion a touch slow and takes a little long to find its groove. One predicts the ending with certainty and correctly very early on, if you are familiar with most of the Popeye series and know how they end you'll know how this does as it is essentially the same but in a different setting.
On the other hand, the animation is very nicely done. Very colourful, meticulous in background detaill, the fluidity in drawing and movement having gotten smoother all the time and the expressions freer. The western setting is vividly done and far from wasted, it actually looked like the whole crew were having a lot of fun with it, and Popeye's expressions and body movements are as ever a joy. As is the music score from regular Famous Studios composer Winston Sharples, always one of the best done components of their cartoons and even the best thing in some. The playful character, how dynamic it is with everything and the beautiful orchestration make it one of 'Tar with a Star's' strongest assets.
While the gags are not hilarious, there are a lot and they are funny. The fly gag and the ending are great, with a wonderfully wild final third. The asides and puns are also great fun, enhanced by the delivery, and don't come over as too cheesy. Popeye and Bluto are both very well characterised, especially Popeye, with a great bond between them.
Summing up, nicely done. 7/10.
