Popeye Movie 2016

[samurainoir]

[comicmike]

Kept my attention! Olive=Contortionist!

[palitoy]

I don't even have to look it up to know that's Tom kenny.

Lots of Segar love in there!

[HardyGirl]

I guess this is a good way for parents to introduce their kids to Popeye, 'cos today's kids don't even know who that is unless a parent has shown them.

[MIB41]

That should be loads of fun. I have a soft spot for Popeye and his portrayal by Robin Williams. I'll definitely check this one out.

[jacoblb]

As good as it looked and despite a following from Genndy this movie was canceled. Too bad.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-f...ye-110356.html

[Brazoo]

From what I recall - Genndy Tartakovsky left the project a while ago, but I believe the studio is still going ahead with it. As a HUGE Popeye fan I don't have high hopes for whatever gets squeezed out - but I'm also a gigantic curmudgeon.

[mego73]

I am probably in the minority for loving the Robin Williams Popeye movie.

[palitoy]

I love the Williams movie, it has Harry Nilsson music for craps sake!

[Brazoo]

I LOVE the Williams movie. I think it's an incredibly under-appreciated film. Williams, Duvall and Walston are all so amazing in it. Nilsson's score is brilliant, and so charmingly strange.

I've read a lot of articles speculating on why Popeye didn't work. I think a large part of the reason it's not remembered more fondly is because it does adhere so much to Seger's comic and audiences were primed for Fleischer cartoon slapstick, especially because it starred Mork.

To be fair, the movie ends on a very flat note. Jules Feiffer said they couldn't do what he originally wrote because the movie's budget spiraled out of control after a lot of production issues.

I think another thing that plagues the memory of that movie is the tabloid fodder. When a huge budget movie has issues and goes over budget that always becomes a joke in the press, and the fact that everyone knows now that Williams, Altman, Nilsson and Evans had drug issues at this time became part of the punchline over the years.

I remember in Robert Evens' book "The Kid Stays in the Picture" he seemed surprisingly fond of the movie - even though it contributed a lot to essentially ending his career. He talks about how important he thought Popeye was as a character, for representing rugged individuality. Apart from the budgetary issues he still felt like they came really close to making a great movie - I think he even said if the movie worked out just a little tiny bit more it would have been remembered as his best movie - and keep in mind this guy produced The Godfather.