Popeye (1980)

Perfectly adorable

Good concept, poorly executed.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Robin Williams's first starring role kinda fell flat in 1980 for a number of reasons. Fist, the Thimble theater cartoon by Segar went through several changes but had been pushed out of the mainstream viewing by such more cerebral cartoons like Peanuts, Doonesbury, Bloom County and then 5 years later, Calvin and Hobbes. As late as the 60s, these Popeye cartoons were seen only on kiddie shows and as such, were long out of the public view. Hence, the appeal of the strip was restricted to old duffers like me who grew up with Popeye in the 40s and 50s.Too bad, because this film reflects the talents of Altman and Feiffer, maintains a level of tristesse and timelessness that hearkens back to the old Segar cartoon strip. My only criticism of the acting was Robin Williams's difficulty in getting Popeye's squint done which Ray Walston did so beautifully.

I went in expecting Popeye to be more or less like the cartoons, except in live-action. What I got left me sorely disappointed.The soundtrack was very terrible. If I see the 'music and lyrics by' credit in a movie, you better make the songs worth it. As it turns out, the songs weren't memorable at all, and Olive Oyl's vocals in particular were fairly bad. If a cast member can't sing, don't make them do it. Save it for the ones who can, or better yet, compose a normal soundtrack and call it a day. Nilsson dropped the ball hard in this area. As the movie went on, I kept waiting for Popeye or someone to kick the story into high gear, but it never happened. Instead, I got something that felt like it was traveling at a snail's pace while providing very little humor along the way. By the time I reached the last 30 minutes, I was only halfheartedly paying attention. I remember something about Pappy sailing after Bluto with Popeye and friends, and the final battle in the cave, but I didn't get any satisfaction from seeing Popeye triumph. I just wanted to see the credits roll so I could add it to my checklist.Finally, Robin Williams did a decent job as Popeye, and his mutterings were amusing at times. Duvall was somewhat annoying as Olive Oyl, but did look the part, so good for her. The other cast members weren't anything special, but I suppose they played their roles well enough.I'm sure there are people who like the movie, but it just didn't do anything for me.

Back by popular demand it is time for "Matthew Rambles". What you missed rants, so do I but there will be some soon. Right now I got to ramble about this movie. When I first heard about this movie, I found out something about it. I was four when I saw a pirated video of it on Betamax and it had Arabic and French subtitles! When I was young I was familiar with Popeye with the cartoons. Whether it is the Fleischer Bros. (1933 to 1941), Isadore Sparber (as in the Famous Studios era from 1942 to 1957), the turgid Al Brodax cartoons (1960 to 1962) or the Hanna-Barbera reboot (1978 to 1983) I knew who was who. When I got the movie, I thought to myself, "Oh it is Popeye, I don't care!" When I got it I had fun, for a few moments. When I got older, I read that it was turgid. After giving it another watch, I found out why this was bad. It was so bad that Mad Magazine spoofed it as FLOPEYE! Thanks to a new set of eyes, I found out why this movie is not good! First of all, who is Robert Altman, who had a ton of dramas in his filmography, trying to cater this movie to. Those who watch musicals, or dramas and comedies you can see on a dull January? When KING KONG was remade in 1976, it was catered for those who watch disaster movies because Dino Dellaurentiis wanted to give this movie a disaster movie fell to it. POPEYE - THE MOVIE was made to rival the success of Richard Donner's SUPERMAN - THE MOVIE (1978). How can you cater a movie like this to those who watch a film like SUPERMAN? Second, while the cast is fine, Bluto is a bit of a problem. Bluto needs to have a big body and small head. Lou Ferrigno would be a good choice. Third, which is following number two, some scenes might be too scary for small children. Bluto angrily approaching Popeye, which leads to him rolling like a wheel. A small child would say, "Does this happen to a real person?!" Also, prostitutes in that musical number called "I am what I am" and the octopus (scientific name, Octopus-Cartoonicus) are other reasons why this movie is rated PG. Fourth, the writing. Since when did Popeye not like spinach?! Whenever danger rears its ugly head, he takes his spinach. When he eats it, his arms get big, his legs get big, his chest get big. You don't get to see that in this movie. In fact it can only work with nice stop-motion animation with a model of Popeye and have someone like Jim Danforth or David Allen animate it. We would like to see the octopus get clobbered. In fact it did get clobbered, it flew sky high. It would be funny if it lands explosively and when the smoke clears, you see something like cooked calamari or sushi. Now that is a good gag. All in all, POPEYE THE MOVIE is a mess. It is a Frankenstein Monster made of a drama, a musical, a western, Homer's The Odyssey, various cartoons and comics for which the film is based on and cinematography from Frederico Fellini films as the bolts on the beast's neck. This movie caused a trend that Hollywood would be doing over the next 35 years. Some went well such as the original TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES trilogy and A FAIRLY ODD MOVIE: GROW UP TIMMY TURNER. Other are just plain terrible like well, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, THE FLINTSTONES, INSPECTOR GADGET, THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, SCOOBY-DOO, UNDERDOG, SPEED RACER, DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION, YOGI BEAR, JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS, the TRANSFORMERS franchise and the atrocious ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS franchise. This film like any other movie has a cult status. Other people love it. My mother loved it and praised it like CITIZEN KANE. I wish I could praise, but I got a new set of eyes. Recently she found some moments where some scenes let her down. Bottom line, give it a watch at your own risk, because it is a guilty pleasure of mine. Rated PG for violence, mild language, some prostitutes and peril.

This movie has its charms, but some flaws too. The casting is excellent with some great performances specially Robin Williams, but the script needed some fixes, mostly in the last third.Some of the songs are good, others OK, but none is bad. The side characters (the ones that are not in the cartoon) like the Olive family didn't add much to the movie. At the end there was too much characters and I didn't see why they were still there... In my opinion it would be better if they had less screen time.Good movie, not a masterpiece as some says, neither awful as others says. It's worth a watch,