Popeye

Popeye (1980): A Nostalgic Cartoon Come to Life Robert Altman's Popeye isn't going to change anyone's weltanschauung. But good grief, is it delightful. A loving, slightly mad translation of the comic strip to screen, the film is a triumph of pure, unapologetic whimsy. Harry Nilsson's musical numbers are wonderfully bizarre - strange, singable tunes that capture the film's cartoonish spirit. Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall don't just play Popeye and Olive Oyl; they become living, breathing cartoon characters. Their physical comedy is so precise, so exaggerated, that each movement feels like a panel from E.C. Segar's original comic strip. The visual style is extraordinary. Sweethaven, built entirely on location in Malta, looks like a three-dimensional cartoon - all tilted angles, saturated colors, and impossible architectural perspectives. It's a world that exists somewhere between reality and illustration. For those of us who grew up with these people - Williams, Duvall, Ray Walston, and Jules Feiffer (screenplay) - the film is pure nostalgic joy. A reminder of a simpler, more sane period in our lives. Not every film needs to be serious. Sometimes, it just needs to be fun.

Sierbahnn

Sep 10, 2026

7/10

This is a deeply silly movie, with a deeply silly premise and a deeply silly execution of that premise. It does have some fantastic silly acting in it with Robin shining as the unquestionable star that he was. The premise and plot are ludicrous and you have to be able to look past that in order to enjoy the movie. It lives in a sort of cultural niche that we don't inhabit anymore. The character of Popeye isn't culturally relevant in the same way that he once was and he almost wasn't even when this movie was made back in 1980. The locations are whimsical, most of them shot in Malta, and the songs are silly and most of them are not musical masterpieces. Overall there is a lot you can say about this movie which does not work but if you just sit back and allow yourself to enjoy the whimsical fancy of this story, you can still have a good time. We all miss Robin Williams and he's not the reason why the movie gets as high of a score as it does, but he is the reason I re-watched this. I saw this in the theater when it was still running and I remember being amused by it and terrified of the end scene antagonist. The fact that such a memory can stick by me for all these years means that the movie has something worth remembering.