Cops Is Always Right (1938) *** (out of 4)Minor but entertaining Popeye short has him on his way to see Olive when he runs into a police officer who gives him a ticket. Throughout the rest of the film he keeps running into the same cop and getting more tickets.COPS IS ALWAYS RIGHT is a minor Popeye film that has a couple good moments but there's no question that it's far from a classic. The highlight of the film actually happens with the first encounter with the cop as Popeye annoys him even more by the strange way he gets into his car. This joke is repeated throughout the film but never works as well as that first time. There really aren't enough laughs to make this one more memorable but as usual the animation is great.

This is kind of in response to Mary-18's review regarding Olive Oyl's voice. At first it does seem kind of out of place how she's yelling at Popeye telling him what she wants done when he's standing right in front of her and without good cause (ie: she's not mad.. yet!). However, it always cracks me how how she yells at him in such an angry way after he drops all her dishes and then returns asking what else he can do. Her response is "You can put the trunk back on top of the closet!!" as she sweeps up the broken pieces of dishes. Makes me chuckle as I type this. Popeye's mumbling throughout the short is quite funny as well when he keeps getting tickets and as he's "helping" Olive with the cleaning.

From the cityscape true to the Segar vision, overhead shots, Popeye off his game to Olive evidently at that time of month and the jug-band musical accompaniment, this is a favorite cartoon of mine. The running gag of Popeye opening his jalopy door is great. It's simply proof that the series under the Fleischers wasn't just a one-note approach. The Fleischers were the masters of the b&w short.

This is not really a good cartoon. Popeye cartoons are notoriously poorly animated, but this seems even unusually cheaply done. Margie Hines is just plain irritating as the voice of Olive Oyl, although thankfully Mercer's rantings are still pretty funny. Overall, it feels sloppy and thrown-together. The only redeeming aspect of this cartoon is the clever scene of Popeye wrapping up the entire contents of a room into a rug viewed from directly above.