Like the character of Popeye very much, have said this more than once. There was definitely the odd disappointing one, generally later on, but on the most part like to love a vast majority of his cartoons. More so Fleischer's output than Famous Studios'. Have always found that Fleischer's Popeye cartoons tended to be funnier, more imaginative and better made, so the quality was more consistent.
Famous Studios' on the most part did entertain, their second world war efforts were a mixed bag where heavy-handedness crept in in some of them, but did find myself liking the late 40s-early 50s Popeye cartoons quite a bit more generally. Their later Popeye, and overall filmography actually (so around mid-50s onward), cartoons had tighter deadlines and lower budgets evident which accounted for the animation not being as good, less surprises and the material not as imaginative, so were inferior in quality without being terrible necessarily. 'Cartoons Ain't Human', intriguing for being the final black and white Popeye cartoon, is one of the most unusual ones of the series , but in a good way. It also in its cartoon within a cartoon concept is one of the more interesting Popeye cartoons, is very imaginative for one made by Famous Studios and particularly an effort of theirs made in the second world war and definitely stands out. For me, this is one of Famous Studios' better second world war cartoons.
'Cartoons Ain't Human' is slowed down a bit by the Olive Oyl/Popeye vs. villain story not always being quite being as involving, it was a shame too that after such a unique concept for Popeye with the him as a cartoonist that it went into pretty formulaic territory story-wise.
There are a few references too, but they felt slightly out of place, though interesting from a historical perspective even if familiarity is in order.
However, the animation is fine, simple but has some nice detail in the backgrounds, the black and white shading is crisp and the character designs are far from ugly or off. The inventive shots are striking. Even better is the music (always important for me to talk about and Popeye cartoons always fared very well in this respect), again lush and cleverly orchestrated and doing so well adding to and enhancing the action, the main reason actually as to why the action has so much character. The use of sound was also extremely clever. The dialogue amuses a lot, the gags are plenty and most hit the mark thanks to crisp timing, some creative visuals and the vocal delivery, and even more so the increasingly wild action that avoids being too frenetic. While not what one would call hilarious sometimes, 'Cartoons Ain't Human' is never less than amusing, is beautifully timed and doesn't ever feel repetitive or dragged out. A good deal of it is pretty inventive.
Popeye is put to entertaining use and is as likeable as ever, again Jack Mercer does a fine job voicing him and makes his mumblings and asides very funny. He is also suitably formidable as the villain and doesn't make the nephews too annoying. Margie Hines fares a little less well as Olive, not fitting the character as well as Mae Questel.
Summarising, very enjoyable. 8/10
