Big Bad Sindbad

Big Bad Sinbad (1952)

*** (out of 4)

Popeye takes his three nephews to a museum that shows off the greatest sailors in history. They come across Sinbad and Popeye tells the story of how the two of them had a major fight over Olive Oyl.

If you're a fan of the Popeye series then you'll certainly enjoy this entry because there are plenty of nice laughs as well as some great violence (action). Obviously Sinbad is played by Bluto and there's no doubt that he and Popeye get to have a really good fight here that includes all sorts of punches. There are some good laughs and especially during a sequence where Popeye scares a couple lions that are chained up. The animation is good as you'd expect and this is certainly one of the better films in the series.

Popeye takes his three nephews to Nautical museum and tells them how he once met Sindbad the greatest sailors in history.

It is an excuse to show clips from an earlier Popeye cartoon when he and Sindbad fought over Olive Oyl.

Popeye even turns two chained up fierce lions into pussycats.

There was some good animation from the earlier cartoon but it just shows how low budget it got for some of these 1950s cartoons.

This one is for the kids and nephews.

Have always liked the Popeye series, loved even quite a lot of the cartoons from namely Fleischer Studios' late-30s period. Also like the character of Popeye very much especially his mumblings and asides and chemistry with Bluto (the latter of which being a huge part of the series' appeal, apart from the cartoons where Bluto doesn't appear). Am less of a fan of the cartoons, and cartoons in general actually, that are basically clips of previous cartoons with a framing story that isn't as interesting.

'Big Bad Sindbad' is one of these types of cartoons and personally wasn't completely sold on it. Despite being based around and having a healthy dose of 1936's 'Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor', one of the three Arabian Nights Popeye cartoons and one of the best of the series, a big part of me just questioned its necessity when it was basically that cartoon (or some of it) told in retrospect via a story linking the clips together. Especially since the difference in quality between the clips and framing story, so everything with Popeye and his nephews, is so vast.

The 'Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor' clips are a joy and make 'Big Bad Sindbad' watchable. The animation consists of drawing clearly done with precision and care and meticulous background detail and landscapes that never came over as too cluttered or static. The music is the outstanding element in the clips and the Popeye/nephews segments, the energy is right on point and the orchestration is typically lush and clever.

In terms of gags and memorable moments in the clips, they are all never less than amusing, with some of the particularly imaginative and clever material included, and the wildness increases wonderfully. It may be formulaic Popeye, but it is enormously entertaining, nostalgic and clever Popeye. Love the chemistry between Popeye and Bluto, both on top form, and the voice work from some of the studio's finest (re-dubbed here in this cartoon so Bluto is voiced by Jackson Beck here) is reliably strong.

Unfortunately, the Popeye/nephews portions are not near as interesting or entertaining, the huge difference in quality from them and the clips was quite distracting. Apart from Popeye himself and some of his dialogue, the story doesn't have the same amount of energy or invention (very standard, routine stuff here that is not a new concept and little new is done with it, giving it a blandness). The difference in animation quality between the these parts and the 'Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor' parts is very obvious too, great in the latter, uneven in the former (never terrible but seldom great, nice colours but the drawing and characters aren't as careful or as expressive).

Not much of the material is particularly inspired and didn't care much for the characters of the nephews here, pretty annoying and with not an awful lot of charm either. The chemistry between them and Popeye never really ignites somehow.

Concluding, certainly not bad but felt unnecessary. 6/10

Remembering, too much, Popeye meeting Sindbad , it has the only two virtues - the naughty nephews in the visit to the naval museum and the statue of their uncle , conclusion of story, hommage to their hero.

Often, animation companies would pillage their vaults and make compilation films that were short on new ideas but long on recycled film. BIG BAD SINDBAD takes a wide array of scenes from POPEYE MEETS SINDBAD THE SAILOR, but cannot match the animation brilliance. However the story line weaves fairly seemlessly throughout, and the addition of Popeye's nephews as a plot device works well. An above-average 1950's POPEYE production, mostly because of the old film use.