Monday, May 30, 2016

Popeye (1980)

Director: Robert Altman

Writer:  Jules Feiffer

Composer: Harry Nilsson

Starring: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Paul L. Smith, Richard Libertini, Donald Moffat, MacIntyre Dixon, Roberta Maxwell, Donovan Scott, Bill Irwin, Linda Hunt, Dennis Franz

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Haves a happy holiday wit me an' Olive!

Plot:  Popeye arrives in the seaside town Sweethaven in search of his long-lost father. Popeye finds that the town is governed by the pirate and big bully Bluto.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

Wow.  I haven't seen this since the theater 35 years ago.  I still remember some of the songs, the finale with the octopus fight and Pappy saying "haul ass" a lot.  And that's what I enjoyed on this viewing.  It's cute for kids.  The casting is spot on and the sets are amazing.  They did a fantastic job in recreating the world of Popeye but there's something missing that keeps this from being so much better than it is and I can't figure it out.  Maybe it needed to be more quickly paced or shorter.  Beats me.  One of the best bits for my money is the under the breath dialogue from Popeye.  It's just like it was in the old cartoons from the 40s.  I loved that about the original shorts.  It's a cute film but it's also somewhat of a misfire even if it's not all that bad.  The Paramount DVD sports a great looking anamorphic widescreen print with no extras. 

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