Beaus Will Be Beaus (1955) Poster

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6/10
Civilised admirers?
TheLittleSongbird9 August 2021
Really like to love a good deal of Popeye cartoons, even if story-wise they tend to be on the formulaic side, and like the character of Popeye. Love Bluto even more and his chemistry with Popeye has always driven their cartoons whenever they are together. Will admit though to preferring the Popeye cartoons from the Dave Fleischer era, the cartoons tend to be funnier and there is more originality and more risk taking in some of them and they look better too.

'Beaus Will Be Beaus' is a late Popeye cartoon and made near Famous Studios' roughest and most variable period where budgets were much smaller in particularly the animation and deadlines and time constraints were shorter and tighter. All things considered, while there are infinitely better Popeye cartoons (especially during the Fleischer era) and there are signs of what made this period an inferior one for Famous Studios, 'Beaus Will Be Beaus' is not a bad late Popeye cartoon. Though also not a particularly great or inspired one at the same time.

It is a very standard cartoon story-wise, one knows what is going to happen and how it's going to end (which is not a surprise at all and too neat). Not to mention the premise is a quite familiar one with little new done with it, it is not the first cartoon Popeye and Bluto are asked to act civilised and one knows whether they do or not and who has no intention of being. The energy is not always there in the middle where it is particularly routine and predictable.

Not all the animation is great, more uneven but leaning more towards quite good on the whole. The colours are fine and there is smoothness and nice detail but there are many moments where the backgrounds are sparse and the drawing rough. Olive is underused and only there really to introduce the action.

There is though one fantastic aspect in 'Beaus Will Be Beaus' and that is the music score, a consistent good thing in the Popeye cartoons. It's beautifully orchestrated, rhythmically it's full of energy and there is so much character and atmosphere, it's also brilliant at adding to the action and enhancing it. While the gags are not exactly creative or hilarious, 'Beaus Will Be Beaus' is not short on them and they are amusing and quite well timed.

While the pacing is not consistent, 'Beaus Will Be Beaus' does pick up in the last third which is wonderfully wild and carried beautifully by the conflict, one that is both entertaining and tense, between Popeye and Bluto. Popeye and Bluto are a joy here and all the voice acting is well done. Jack Mercer was the longest serving voice actor for Popeye for very good reason and Jackson Beck is as good as Gus Wickie and voices robustly.

Overall, not much amazing much other than the music but above average and definitely worth a one time watch at least. 6/10.
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5/10
Spinach Allergy
boblipton2 January 2023
Popeye and Bluto each want to take Olive Oyl to the beach. She insists they promise to stop fighting. Bluto crosses his fingers, which apparently makes attempted murder legal.

I've been watching the Popeye cartoons for the better part of a century, and early on concluded that the Famous Studios ones were repetitive. I understand the economics of cartoon-making now, and see why this was so, and admire the gag construction, but it doesn't improve the cartoons a whit. This one, like about 90% of them, involve the same plot of Bluto beating up on Popeye until the spinach makes its appearance. Like Bluto, I have an aversion to spinach.
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