Have always liked the Popeye series, loved even quite a lot of the cartoons from namely Fleischer Studios' late-30s period. Also like the character of Popeye very much especially his mumblings and asides and chemistry with Bluto (the latter of which being a huge part of the series' appeal, apart from the cartoons where Bluto doesn't appear). Am less of a fan of the cartoons, and cartoons in general actually, that are basically clips of previous cartoons with a framing story that isn't as interesting.
'Popeye's Premiere' though managed to be a lot better than expected. As someone who wasn't totally enamoured by 'Big Bad Sindbad', another "cheater" revolving around one of the Arabian Nights Popeye cartoons, expectations were not massive. While 'Popeye's Premiere' is a long way from being on the same level as the cartoon that is heavily featured ('Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp', a series high point) or one of the best Popeye cartoons, it was a lot less cheap than feared and was actually pretty good. Especially considering that the late 40s was the period where the series was starting to decline (with 1948 being a pretty disappointing year on the whole).
Is 'Popeye's Premiere' flawed? Yes. Although the animation quality between cartoon featured and frame story has a significantly less wide divide in quality than 'Big Bad Sindbad' with 'Popeye Meets Sindbad the Sailor', namely because the gap in years here between the first cartoon and the one it features in is a less, and there is still a difference quality-wise. That for 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp' is more fluid and has more meticulous attention to detail in the backgrounds.
Although the framing story here in 'Popeye's Premiere' is significantly more interesting than the one in 'Big Bad Sindbad', it doesn't have the same amount of excitement and charm of 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp' and is on the formulaic side.
On the other hand, the animation in 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp', where snippets feature prominently, is great and even though it is less refined in the framing story parts it is still vibrantly coloured. As ever, the music is lush and characterful, synchronising beautifully with the action. The writers were clearly having a great time with the dialogue throughout.
While the story has more interesting parts than others, 'Popeye's Premiere' is never a dull cartoon, and the gags are plenty and a lot of fun. The ending is imaginative, while Popeye himself (wonderfully voiced as ever by Jack Mercer) is great as a character.
Concluding, good enough if not great. 7/10