With Little Swee’Pea (1936)

With Little Swee’Pea Review

 With Little Swee’Pea is a 1936 animated short from Popeye the Sailor series. It is one of the more disappointing entries of its time.

Popeye takes the baby to the zoo on the request of Olive and there he must save him from various animals. Now, the introduction of Swee’Pea is okay. Nothing too memorable or special, but he an interesting new creation and I especially liked the fact that it led to some of Popeye’s hilarious lines. His resolute decision to not have babies at the end is very funny. Also, that whole ending is just superb and although I’ve seen this type of ending before in the series, I still liked it here and it was easily the highlight of the entire episode.

Yes, the action is lacking here and the humor in the first half is non-existent. I liked that scene with the crocodile, but the rest of the animals at the zoo are very weakly realized and quite forgettable. The film definitely has a very good second half and a solid opening, but the whole middle part is just disappointing on so many levels. It is definitely a solid flick, but the one that isn’t quite up to standard to the rest of the series.

With Little Swee’Pea starts and ends well with Popeye being great, but the rest of the short is forgettable and very disappointing.

 My Rating – 3.8