Popeye (1980) - PG
Common Sense Note
Parents should know that kids will hear a few instances of very mild cursing and see cartoonish fights between Popeye and several villains, including his nemesis Bluto.
Families who see this film might also wish to view some of the original Popeye cartoons, available on VHS and DVD. They may also wish to discuss remakes and nostalgia. Why make a movie that essentially reproduces a cartoon popular when many of today's parents were children? Do you think it's harder or easier than creating new characters, new themes, new stories? Is there an element of safety in remaking a once-popular cartoon?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: M. Faust
One of those movies that you either love or hate, POPEYE stars Robin Williams as the spinach-eating sailor of newspaper and cartoon fame. Directed by Hollywood maverick Robert Altman, it's a movie in which the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Even so, some older kids and their parents will appreciate the live-action representation of their favorite sailorman.
Popeye (Robin Williams) drops anchor in Sweethaven, a ramshackle little seaside town where the buildings are as odd as their inhabitants. He rents a room in the Oyl household, which is preparing for the upcoming engagement of daughter Olive (Shelly Duvall). Her prospective fiancé is Bluto, who runs the town for his boss, the feared but seldom-seen Commodore.
Sweethaven isn't the friendliest place in the world (the major industry seems to be taxation), but it becomes a home to Popeye when he adopts a foundling. Swee'Pea, as he names the child, helps forge a bond between him and Olive Oyl, to the chagrin of Bluto. And Popeye's sense that this is the place to search for his father proves to be correct.
Kids who are familiar with Popeye might have seen the cartoons from the 1960s and 1970s (when the villain was named Brutus). Some parents might remember the cartoons made for theaters in the 1940s. But director Robert Altman and writer Jules Pfeiffer took their inspiration from the original newspaper comic strips, in which Popeye and the residents of Sweethaven offered commentary on the hard times of the 1930s. Obviously, that's something few children (or even adults) will care about.
Perhaps the best word to describe this Popeye is "eccentric." The performers do an admirable job of enlivening the characters, but those characters are sometimes so charmless that you wonder why they bothered. Shelly Duvall is especially good at portraying Olive Oyl, though a little of her goes a long way. Robin Williams (Hook and Jumanji) has Popeye's gait and mumble, but his dialogue seldom rewards the effort it takes to hear it.
Altman put obvious effort and expense into designing the town of Sweethaven, which is essentially one giant set. But his trademark style, in which the camera seems to drift aimlessly around, is poorly suited to showing it off.
Altman has a similar problem with the songs Harry Nilsson composed for the movie -- they're often lovely, but given the naturalistic style in which they're used, they simply fade away before we can notice them.
For another cartoon brought to life, see George of the Jungle. Older kids might prefer the mix of animation and live action in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
Rate It!
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ViolenceCartoonish fights between Popeye and several villains, including his nemesis Bluto. |
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LanguageA few instances of very mild cursing. |
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