Instant Favorite.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Olive's Boithday Presink (1941)*** 1/2 (out of 4)Popeye wants to give Olive Oyl a fur for her birthday but they're too expensive so instead he decides to go bear hunting for one.This is certainly one of the most entertaining shorts in the series as there's some really funny material throughout. The highlight is without question the ending when Popeye finally flips out and decides to give this bear a hilarious beat-down, which also has a great gag involving the clouds. Other highlights include the bear saying goodbye to his family. The animation is terrific as you'd expect, there are some huge laughs to be had and best all of is just how fun this film is.

Popeye plans on getting a "bearskin coat" for Olive for her birthday, and goes down to the local furrier to buy one. However, the owner, "G.G. Geezil," tries to pull a fast one and sell him a rabbit coat instead. How the owner is exposed as a crook is pretty funny.Popeye winds up going out in the forest to shoot a bear and make his own bearskin coat. That's the bulk of the cartoon: a contest between Popeye and a pretty funny bear, who uses "sympathy" to prevent himself from being shot.The bear, and his whole family, are very clever. The ending of this, though, is not what you'd expect, or the way it appears it is going to end. It has several twists, the last one on the last "shot" being one that will you scratch your head and think about it. For that reason alone, I elevated this from seven to eight stars. It was a very clever finish.