DVD : Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Stunning
I don't generally write reviews unless I am impressed, or I feel the need to warn people about a blatant ripoff. To my delight, this would be the former case. I am extremely pleased with the quality - the 3-D effects used by Fleisher are so apparent on these disks it makes me gasp. This is one of the very finest animation compilations that I have ever purchased, or even SEEN for that matter.

Rating:

- Maybe Too Perfect??
Folks, I may be wrong, but look closely at the opening titles of each cartoon. I think we are seeing a digital reconstruction of the Paramount titles. The first three discs, anyway. The image is too rock steady. Too sharp. Even the best transferrs have slight imperfections. These are perfect. The toons themselves have varying degrees of changes in density and slight jumps as old film is prone to do. Only when you get to disc 4 do you see what is probably a direct transfer of the titles. Anyone out there able to check it out? Please don't get me wrong. I am very glad to have these toons. You won't go wrong in buying them. One toon even appears to have nitrate damage, so I'm glad they did these transfers before it was too late. And I am anxiously awaiting volume two. Comments welcome please.

Rating:

- Max Fleischer's POPEYE
The most definitive and sensational and complete
collection of the 1930's animated black and white
POPEYE THE SAILOR films one can EVER HOPE TO FIND.
It is total animation, Retro styled, by the same man
who gave us the original black and white BETTY BOOP
animated cartoons. This POPEYE is full of great story-
plots and surprise twists, and great cartoon characters
with original voices. This is the treasure collection
one can kill for to possess. It is great! I should
know, I am a cartoonist and animator, and I know
professional quality when I see it. For enjoyment and
pure pleasure and Nostalgia, this is the DVD POPEYE
Collection everyone must have. It is complete and total.
---- Luisa Felix

Rating:

- Funnier stuff than any other animation studio in the 1930's
Aside from the brilliant job on restoration, I must mention that after getting reacquainted with these shorts, it's very obvious that the Fleischer cartoons featuring Popeye were much more funny and inventive and imaginative than anything that other animation studios were putting out at the time. Other cartoons seem so safe, bland and sugary in comparison. The Popeye shorts really pushed the limit on silliness and fun, as well as creativity and imagination. The situations are very funny and wacky, which is exactly what the medium of cartooning was made for.... to exaggerate and go over the top.

Seeing these hilarious films again I am reminded strongly that the people who made them were heavily involved with brilliant writing, background art, voice characterizations, use of perspective (something you rarely see in animation, especially this early in the 20th century), squash and stretch, wonderful musical compositions for each short, and just a great sense of whimsy and fun.

Rating:

- the real deal?
I am a hard core Popeye fan. Many of you who reviewed the Warner-restored Popeye cartoons have sold me on the product. But one question remains: Is there a Warner logo in the lower right corner of the screen?
Nothing offends me more - well, almost nothing - than someone's distracting, disturbing and annoying stamp of ownership on someone else's masterpiece. I bought a set from some joker that is absolutely an insult to the Fleischer legacy. It's the same cartoons, but not the same. Bad 12th generation copies..logos in some, not in others..so-called expert commentators in between films. I just want the unadulterated product. It speaks for itself. Anything added or taken out is 1st degree murder of great art.
This was supposed to be a review so I will say this: If you have what you all said you have in this restoration/ compilation, then every man woman and child should have a copy of this set. Absolutely the finest animation ever accomplished. And so much more.

page 2 of 23