My Pop, My Pop

My Pop, My Pop (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Popeye and his old man are building a boat but the son tells him to take a break because he's old. This here sets off the old man to try and prove that being old doesn't mean a thing.

MY POP, MY POP is a pretty interesting title because of the way it plays out. You'd think that the message would be that the old man can do anything that Popeye can but in fact it's the complete opposite and the old man is made to look exactly like.... an old man! The film still has plenty of fun back and forth between the father and son and there's also some funny action as Popeye is pretty much forced to build a boat on his own.

Popeye is building a ship. Pappy comes to help, but he is getting too old at 99. Popeye reluctantly offers him one side of the boat. Pappy's side looks bad. He throws another fit and Popeye lets him help raise the mast. Of course, he falls asleep. Popeye eats some spinach and fixes everything. Pappy wakes up and thinks that he's the one who finished the ship.

It would be nice to flip the situation and have Pappy actually fixing everything. As it stands, this is somewhat too straight forward. The story needs a surprise or an odd turn. In the end, this is fine and that's all there is. It is fine.

Poopdeck Pappy shows up while Popeye is building a boat. Although he's 99, he challenges his son to a boat-building contest, but falls asleep on the job.

It's always fun when Pappy shows up in the Popeye franchise, and this is no exception, filled with the braggadocio that characterizes the old man throughout. It also shows a side of the Sailor Man we rarely get to see: his sentimentality.

Excellent background art, and a lively pace pace further enrich this episode. Although the Fleischers' shorts were in a downdraft at the time that would eventually cause Paramount to call in their loans and kick them out, this is a very good one.

This Popeye cartoon mainly shows Popeye's patient and kind side toward his somewhat-senile father. "Pappy" is 99 years old but still thinks he can build ships, and better than his son. That, as we, is ludicrous, as Popeye is not only inventive but terrific in building ships.

Popeye can spit out tacks and then hammer them in perfectly in seconds, as well as other talents all in the form of sight-gags. His father comes along and tries to show him what he can do, but it's almost nothing and his gags aren't really funny, either. Finally, Popeye tells his dad to build one side of the boat and he'll build the other. The results are just what you'd expect.

Later, while trying to put up the mast, the old man falls asleep and Popeye, with the aid of his spinach, finishes the job in a few seconds, making the entire boat look super. Pappy wakes up and thinks he did it and walks always singing about how great he is while Popeye laughs it off.

As you see, this one is a lot more sentimental than it is funny. It's a nice, feel-good cartoon but don't expect a lot of laughs. It is a bit unusual in that it's a one-man show, regarding the "cast" as Jack Mercer is the only voice needed here, doing both men.

This was actually a bit touching. Popeye is building a big boat and his father, 99 years old, comes to help him. He can't seem to do much of anything, so Popeye shows his kind side. This is a change from the usual use of spinach, which is generally used to punish people physically. It is instead used in a loving and compassionate way.