Popeye (Robin Williams) travels to Sweethaven. There he meets and falls in love with Olive Oyl (Shelley Duvall). Unfortunately she's to be married to Bluto (Paul L. Smith) who has a nasty temper. Also Popeye adopts an abandoned baby (Wesley Ivan Hunt).
How anybody thought this could work is beyond me. It was directed by Robert Altman. He was easily one of the best directors around but he made his mark in low budget adult movies like "Nashville" or "MASH". Giving him a big budget cartoon movie AND musical (yes--it's a musical too) to direct was just stupid. Altman obviously didn't know how to direct musical numbers--the staging on them seemed off. It doesn't help that the songs and lyrics themselves are unmemorable. As for the dialogue--a mess. Popeye's mumblings in the old cartoons were actually pretty funny. Here we have Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue drowning out most anything Popeye says. There are a few cute lines ("Olive Oyl? Sounds like a lubricator.") but not enough. Also Popeye HATES spinach here! Huh???? Who came up with that idea? How did he got those muscular arms to begin with? That's just stupid. This also contains some of the most painfully unfunny slapstick I've ever seen in a movie. Watch the scene where Duvall accidentally and "hilarously" destroys Popeye's room. Casting helps somewhat. Williams and Duvall and Smith look exactly like their cartoon characters and their acting isn't bad. Also Hurt (Altman's real life grandson) is just adorable. But bad songs, incomprehensible dialogue, a stupid plot and lousy comedy sink this one. Supposedly it DID make a tiny profit but Altman later said this almost ended his career. It was two solid years before he did another theatrical film. Boring, stupid and a real mess. A 1.
How anybody thought this could work is beyond me. It was directed by Robert Altman. He was easily one of the best directors around but he made his mark in low budget adult movies like "Nashville" or "MASH". Giving him a big budget cartoon movie AND musical (yes--it's a musical too) to direct was just stupid. Altman obviously didn't know how to direct musical numbers--the staging on them seemed off. It doesn't help that the songs and lyrics themselves are unmemorable. As for the dialogue--a mess. Popeye's mumblings in the old cartoons were actually pretty funny. Here we have Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue drowning out most anything Popeye says. There are a few cute lines ("Olive Oyl? Sounds like a lubricator.") but not enough. Also Popeye HATES spinach here! Huh???? Who came up with that idea? How did he got those muscular arms to begin with? That's just stupid. This also contains some of the most painfully unfunny slapstick I've ever seen in a movie. Watch the scene where Duvall accidentally and "hilarously" destroys Popeye's room. Casting helps somewhat. Williams and Duvall and Smith look exactly like their cartoon characters and their acting isn't bad. Also Hurt (Altman's real life grandson) is just adorable. But bad songs, incomprehensible dialogue, a stupid plot and lousy comedy sink this one. Supposedly it DID make a tiny profit but Altman later said this almost ended his career. It was two solid years before he did another theatrical film. Boring, stupid and a real mess. A 1.