The odd disappointing one aside, really like to love a vast majority of Popeye's cartoons and the character himself. If more Fleischer's output than Famous Studios'. Fleischer's Popeye cartoons tended to be funnier, more imaginative and better made, 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.
'Her Honor the Mare' is not Popeye at his best, while not the greatest of representations of him it hardly disgraces him either. It is still enjoyable stuff and there are a lot of great things, just felt that something was missing. As far as the second world war-period Popeye cartoons go, 'Her Honor the Mare' is neither among the best or worst. Thankfully it does not make the mistake of being heavy-handed or have any stereotypes that are not for the easily offended, but generally there are funnier and more creative Popeye cartoons.
Ones that don't have running gags/jokes that exhaust themselves far too early and become tiresome. Despite the clever and imaginatively animated reaction shots, do agree that the horseradish gag became very repetitive and stretched way beyond its limit (and it was not even, to me, the most inspired of running gags in the first place).
Story-wise, 'Her Honor the Mare' is not an awful lot special. There is plenty of energy, but the surprises and imagination didn't feel enough. Would have liked to have seen more of Popeye, when he is there he is just fine, and Jack Mercer as ever does a great job making the most of his material, but part of me felt like there was a little too much emphasis on the nephews.
Not that that is a desperately bad thing, as the nephews are appealing and doesn't come over as personality-deprived or obnoxious. One admires their good intentions too. The horse is worth rooting for if not as interesting a character as Popeye, as always amusing and likeable, or the nephews. Can't fault Mercer's voice work.
Most of the animation is very good, simple but has some nice detail in the backgrounds, the shading is crisp and the character designs are far from ugly or off. The inventive reaction shots make for great viewing. Even better is the music (always important for me to talk about and Popeye cartoons always fared very well in this respect), again lush and cleverly orchestrated and doing so well adding to and enhancing the action. The dialogue amuses a lot, while the gags are plenty and most hit the mark thanks to crisp timing and some creative visuals. Hilarious they are sort of not, but most are still very amusing.
In summary, enjoyable. 7/10
