popeye's portrayal in the animated adaptation (such as the theatrical cartoons and especially the famous outings) has alternately been criticized for giving him a single means to solve all of life's problems (unlike in the older strips), or praised for bringing children to eat healthy. this reliance was most exaggerated in the short "how green is my spinach," which presented popeye as being helpless without spinach (and portrayed other vegetables as ineffective), spoofing the cartoons's own formula but at the same time providing a rather questionable message.