Popeye

I am not ashamed to admit it but I love Popeye, the cartoon and the movie starring the amazing Robin Williams as Popeye. He is almost unrecognizable in the role but completely believable. I love Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl because she really does a superb job living up to and beyond my expectations as the ultra-skinny love interest to muscular Popeye. It's like watching old friends. "I'll pay Tuesday for a Hamburger today" was a common statement. Of course, Popeye and Olive Oyl have Brutus as an obstacle to their happiness and almost the loss of Sweet Pea. It's a kind a family film too. It has music and dancing. Okay, it's not the greatest musical film ever made but it's always worth watching again. It reminds me of being 7 years old and seeing this film at the movie theater.

I didn't see Popeye the movie for the first time until it came out on video. But I remember how my dad told me he saw it in the movie theater. He told me afterwards "Popeye hads its moments, sos I, halfway throughs the movie, I wents out to me car to gets me cigarettes, hads me a puffs or two, then wents back inside to wartch the rest of me movie, geh geh geh geh geh." A couple of years later, we rented Popeye on video and I saw it, and I'd seen it several times since. Its not too bad. Robin Williams is fairly convincing as Pop-eye. Paul Smith as Bluto, looking large and menacing like his cartoon version. Paul Dooley isn't too bad as Wimpy. And Ray Waltson as Poopdeck pappy. And Shelly Devaul as Olive fits her role pretty good. She does sort of seem like Olive Ole come to life, with the looks and mannerisms. However, the late Zasu Pitts who starred in several different 1930s films such as "Meet the baron" and "Dames" would've been an even better Olive with her looks and the very Olive Ole like way she went "oh my" in her films. I read somewhere that they took some of Zasu's mannerisms and appearance when creating Olive's character when the Popeye cartoon was first made. I always watched Popeye as a kid growing up even before seeing this movie. I liked the neat special effects, too such as steam really coming from Bluto's ears when he got mad, just like the cartoon. They also had Popeye's (Robin's) forearms really bulging out and him doing the squint with his eye just the right way, and his pipe. They made the seaport town Sweethaven look quite convincing. It always had an English seaside town feel. Anyways, this movie overall had some good, funny, and interesting moments. A few other moments were a little less below par. And I personally don't think the songs in the film were that good, or necessary. Popeye the cartoon was not a musical. Overall though, this is always a pretty good film for a mom or dad to watch with their kids.

Note; I wrote this review about a year and a half ago, and no one has clicked on either 'useful' or 'not useful' yet. Can someone reading this please click on one? I won't be offended either way on which you click on, I'm just curious on what others may think of this review. Thanks

I remember my Dad taking me to watch this film as a Christmas treet. This film was made here in Malta and we are very proud of it, the set still stands today as a tourist attraction in Anchor bay. i remember loving this film. Robbin Williams was only known for the series of "Mork and Mindy', he still had a very long way to go but you can see that he was more than a promising star in the entertainment business. I learnt that at the time he was having serious troubles with cocaine and a cheating wife. This film was really cool and should they re-attempt it(not that Popeye is so much in vogue this days....although he should be) I can't imagine anyone but Robin Williams himself for the part.

Wow, again "the worst movie ever made". At least when you go by those self proclaimed internet-movie-critics on IMDb who never bother to bestow upon the heavily bored public their highly imaginative musings like "Two hours of my life I will never get back", without even having one (a life that is) in the first place. Fact is: Every movie in this database is "the worst ever made" ... for someone ... then scroll up or down a bit and suddenly the same movie will become a "never fully appreciated masterpiece". What does this teach us? The truth, like always, lies somewhere in between and is highly subjective. Go and see it for yourself. Don't be interested in what I have to say. Well, if you still are: I quite liked it.

When I first saw Popeye around the early 80's(Im 26 now), I was hooked. I found the whole production to be amusing. It seems that I'm one of the few that enjoyed the soundtrack to the movie(I recently picked it up on LP). The songs fit the mood and had some good humor to them. Musically performed well also. I thought the set(Sweethaven), was very comical yet useable,liveable and the "no sense of time" previously mentioned just brings it out more. I'd visit it if I were ever to travel near Malta. Shelley and Robin are the perfect pair to bring their characters life. Of course can't leave out Swee'Pea. The whole cast rounds out the picture well. I guess I could get in depth and go on but I just wanted to quickly sum up my thoughts. Believe it or not--there are some big fans of this flick. I recommend this movie for anyone with a quirky sense of humor and fun. I wish this movie would be released on DVD. Behind the scenes extras would be neat.