Pleased to Meet Cha! is just pure, violent cartoon chaos

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, if you want a plot, look elsewhere. But if you have seven minutes and want to see two guys beat the hell out of each other for a girl who doesn’t seem to mind the house getting wrecked, you’re in the right place. It’s pure, mindless fun that feels like a precursor to the energy in A Briny Boob.

The whole thing is basically a fight disguised as a talent show. Popeye and Bluto are at it again, and they don't hold back. I mean, they’re really trying to kill each other in front of Olive. It's funny because she just stands there giggling while her furniture gets turned into kindling.

There’s this one bit where the house is just falling apart around them. It’s not subtle. The animation has that jerky, frantic rhythm that really sells the impact of a punch to the face. You can almost feel the lead weights inside their fists.

Small observations:

• Olive’s laugh is genuinely a little unsettling if you listen to it for too long.
• The way they switch from 'polite suitors' to 'murderous brawlers' in a split second is wild.
• I don't think they actually fixed anything in that house at the end.

Compared to something a bit more grounded like The White Parade, this is pure insanity. There’s no message here. There’s no growth. Just Popeye eating spinach and Bluto acting like a total brute. I think I’ve seen this exact dynamic in about a dozen other shorts, but it still works in a weird, hypnotic way.

It’s not trying to be a masterpiece. It’s just trying to be loud and chaotic. It succeeds. The pacing is breakneck, and the violence is creative in that way only 1930s cartoons could get away with. It’s a bit of a relic, sure, but a fun one.