Popeye

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source: Popeye

The recreation of Popeye characters in this film is phenomenal!! I've always felt one of the biggest challenges in movie making is to recreate characters that are either already well-known, or ones that have been fully developed in a best-selling book. No plot can carry a viewer along if they are aren't seeing the character they expect to see, and already love. It's hard enough to do that for a book, but for a cartoon character who's actual visual image is ingrained in the entire viewing audience, it has to be a HUGE challenge. Well, Popeye and Olive couldn't have been done better. The rest of the cast is well done too. Any version of a "Popeye like" plot would be just fine. Just don't ask Popeye to do something the "real" Popeye wouldn't do, and I'm happy enjoying the recreated characters. Great movie!

I guess you'd say this film is... controversial. Leonard Maltin declares it's a "bomb," critics have termed it "disastrous," and a lot of IMDb's viewers seem to find it either boring or (more weirdly) "scary." I'm glad to see, however, that a number of IMDBers have hailed "Popeye" as an underrated classic; put me down on their side. I've watched the movie four times now -- certain scenes, in fact, more than a dozen times -- and continue to find it funny, charming in a quirky way, true to the spirit of the Popeye cartoons, and in fact quite magical. Normally I can't stomach Robin Williams, but he and Shelley Duvall are delightful and endearing in this; it's a bit of casting made in heaven, and they've got real chemistry together. Some viewers dismiss the musical numbers, but I love their oddly loose, unpretentious, offhand quality; the songs are simple, infectious, and -- that word again -- endearing. (Lately I've been walking around with the songs playing in my iPod; they can cheer one up in the middle of a New York crowd.) For me the best musical number is the first, the haunting and memorable "Sweethaven," when -- after those strange, dark, disturbing opening-credit shots of the lone figure of Popeye rowing his way across the dark and stormy sea -- the sun suddenly comes out and we're introduced, as on a stage set, to the population of Sweethaven as one by one the characters come trooping out of their homes.

It is very nice to see a revival of interest in this quirky little film. The art direction of this film is simply amazing, and deserved to win an Oscar for being able to completely capture the homely innocence of the story's setting, in rich detail. Many have derided the story as unfocused, but there is an epic sweep to the storyline, which requires an episodic approach. This film requires paying attention on multiple levels, and rewards viewers who do so, as few other epic films have. There are some detractors who can't handle the fact that the film is part Musical, but this is definitely in keeping with original cartoons, which frequently featured music in their storylines. In any event, the half-dozen or so songs come at appropriate intervals, and in some cases are Broadway quality set-piece showstoppers, like the scene in the Rough House Diner, and Pappy's diskgruntlement about Kids! I will leave it to others to comment on the all-round fine ensemble acting, but I would like to finish by saying, that this is truly a film where the whole is greater than its parts. From the rich tapestry of Elzie Segar's original imaginings, to the lush production values brought to this vision by Robert Altman and company, this is a film that fails on some levels but succeeds on many more.

E.C. Segar's comic strip characters Popeye the Sailor Man, his sweetheart Olive Oyl, her dejected fiancé Bluto, the hamburger-eating Wimpy, and the townspeople of Sweethaven fail to emerge in this muddled live-action adaptation, directed by Robert Altman as if he were still doing "McCabe and Mrs. Miller". Altman, who doesn't appear to have seen any of the wildly popular Fleischer Studios cartoons which extended the comic strip, doesn't have the buoyancy for a musical-comedy, and the songs by Harry Nilsson are a leaden lot. As Popeye, Robin Williams squints and mutters disgustedly to himself, but he simply doesn't have the material to kick this thing into high gear; Shelley Duvall fares a bit better, yet both performances are ruined by the gloppy cinematography and the scrappy editing. Simply dreadful. NO STARS from ****

source: Popeye

The first time I saw "Popeye," I though it cluttered visually and audially, not believable, and downright silly. When I later realized it was meant to be viewed as a "living cartoon," I did a 180 on it. The visual clutter I began to see instead as the delightful and detailed set that was Sweethaven - "early demolition," indeed! That, combined with a rich selection of both staple Popeye secondary characters like Wimpy and new ones like The Taxman formed a fitting backdrop against which the interaction of the main characters takes place. Some of the audial clutter was simply Robin Williams duplicating with uncanny accuracy the verbal ramblings and running "dialog" that Popeye always had going on in the cartoon shorts (can't imagine anyone other than him in the role). And, bits" too numerous to mention, pulled right from the cartoons, add to the fun. Bluto "seeing red" is just an example. A sadly under-appreciated movie, to be sure. If you loved the cartoon shorts, you'll get what should prove to be a satisfying dose of live action duplication with "Popeye."

This 1980, live-action, feature film called "Popeye" is absolute T-R-A-S-H! Absolutely!! Absolutely!! ABSOLUTELY!!! I guarantee you that there's not a single, solitary funny, or even slightly amusing, moment in this movie's entirety. There isn't. Popeye has got to be one of the ultimate fiasco movies of all time. It wouldn't (and it couldn't) even amuse a 5-year-old child. For all the extensive time, effort, and cost that was obviously put into the design and building of the elaborate and goofy "Looney-Tune" sets for Popeye, and, not to mention, Robin Williams' special Popeye make-up effects, I'd have thought there'd be, at least, some worthwhile and humorous entertainment value to this flick. But, nope, there wasn't. Popeye was pure G-A-R-B-A-G-E!!.... There's no if's....and's...or, but's, about it. The Popeye cartoon character is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favourite, animated heroes. He's such a dynamic and complex sailor-dude. Popeye ranks right up there with Superman in my books. And, yet, in this flick Robin Williams almost single-handedly succeeded in destroying Popeye's wonderful charm and winning character with his cringe-worthy portrayal. Williams was absolutely pathetic as Popeye. He, literally, rendered Popeye contemptible. I loathed the way he tried to emulate Popeye's gestures and imitate Popeye's unique speech pattern and distinctive chuckle.....Blah! All anybody, in their right mind, has to do is simply watch any one of Popeye's amazing animated shorts from the 1930's or 40's. It doesn't take a genius to immediately realize that there's no comparison here between one of these classic cartoon episodes and this crummy, little excuse of a movie. A simple, short, 7-minute Popeye cartoon from 1938 surpasses this inferior flick by literal miles when it comes to likable characters, genuine humour, and real, honest-to-goodness imagination.