User Reviews

Popeye and Poopdeck Pappy are playing poker, but they are interrupted by Swee'Pea's crying. Popeye calms the baby by reading him a story but he takes it the wrong way. Popeye and Pappy continue to differ in styles of childrearing.

This one proves that Pappy is the most childish of the Popeye franchise. Popeye is not even that necessary in this one. It's Pappy vs Pea. That's the fun part. It would be interesting to riff on that a lot more.

'Child Psykolojiky' is particularly interesting for seeing two recurring supporting characters return and as leads strictly speaking. One being Swee'Pea, the other Poopdeck Pappy. Both are great characters and among the Popeye theatrical series' best recurring characters, with a vast majority of their outings with Popeye very good and more. Especially Pappy. Despite the cartoon being produced and released in Fleischer Studios' weakest period, it was still seen primarily because of those two.

As a cartoon, 'Child Psykolojiky' is good fun and definitely worth seeing. It is not a classic or one of my favourites of this period of the series (though for late Fleischer it is much better than most late Fleischer), of Fleischer's Popeye output or of the whole theatrical series. There are far better representations of Popeye as a character. 'Child Psykolojiky' is an absolute treat for those that like Swee'Pea or/and Pappy in what is essentially a Swee'Pea and Pappy partnering rather than a cartoon starring Popeye.

That last point may be a problem for some. Popeye is a great character, but he is more a featured supporting role here rather than the star (one would naturally think that he would be the latter as it is his series). He is not in the cartoon much and is given little to do when he is, did question the point of him actually in all honesty.

Maybe 'Child Psykolojiky' could have been wilder in the pacing, especially in the slight first half, and will agree that the gags could have been higher in number.

However, this is far from a bad cartoon. As indicated already, it actually struck me as well done and fun. The animation is neatly and expressively drawn (especially with Pappy in the second half) and still very much like the work that goes into the backgrounds. The music, appropriately like its own character, is as beautifully orchestrated and characterful as ever. The voice acting is very good, Jack Mercer could do no wrong.

While there are Popeye cartoons that have higher gag counts, those that are here all hit and are very amusing if not always hilarious. The pace does become livelier in the second half, especially in the final quarter, while the character interaction between Swee'Pea and Pappy sparkles. It does help that both are very strong characters and not a disconnect as a partnership. Swee'Pea may be a baby but he is also tough and amusing, as well as adorable without being too cute. Pappy is even better, do prefer him with Popeye but he has such great comic timing and is very rootable in a difficult situation.

Overall, good but not great. 7/10.

Child Psykolojiky (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Popeye and Poppy are playing poker but Swee'Pea's crying keeps interrupting them. Poppy wants to spank the young child but Popeye says there are better ways to fix it.

This here isn't the greatest Popeye short but there are enough cute moments to make it worth sitting through. The one thing that really hampers the film is the fact that there aren't nearly enough laughs as there needs to be. With that said, the animation is wonderful just like you'd expect it to be and there were some clever moments with Poppy and his ideas of making the boy not a sissy. Of course, these tactics probably won't go over too well today but I'm sure Poppy would think people today are sissies too.