Just for the record, I love musicals, and some of my favourite movies(West Side Story, Wizard of Oz, My Fair Lady) are musicals. Popeye I wasn't sure whether I wanted to see due to its dubious reputation, but I saw it anyway because of the cast.
I actually thought Popeye was decent. However I do think it could have been better, and while I personally don't think it is as bad as its reputation I can understand some of the criticisms made. Popeye is far from the best movie musical, I do not think it is as bad as Xanadu, Can't Stop the Music, Mame or Grease 2.
And while it is one of Altman's weakest efforts of what I've seen it is as far as disappointing movie musicals from great directors go it is not as bad as Lumet's The Wiz or Attenborough's A Chorus Line(I am in the minority who loves Huston's Annie, despite its maligning).
For my thoughts on the movie, Altman's directing is not as efficient as it was with Gosford Park, MASH, Nashville or Macabe and Mrs Miller, but while it lacks buoyancy he does do what he can and while some scenes are better directed than others, it is not as heavy handed or as lethargic as the directing jobs of The Wiz and A Chorus Line.
Popeye does have its flaws. Some of the editing is a little scrappy, not always but some scenes don't always flow from one scene to another as seamlessly as it could've done. The story benefits from a great idea once you get over the idea of Popeye hating spinach(people say that it is a contradiction to the timeless cartoons and I am sorry to say they're right), but is bogged down sometimes by some pacing that comes across as a little too manic and the fact its execution is a tad too over-simplistic.
The dialogue is often silly, some of the slapstick didn't work for me such as the destruction of Popeye's room, and I think incomprehensible too, I understand they were trying to recreate the spirit of the spirits with the mumbling but with it happening a vast majority of the times here I think they went a little overboard though I credit them for effort. There were however some lines I chuckled at such as the Baby Oyl one and was touched by.
My feelings on the songs were mixed. Some are great, I enjoyed Popeye the Sailor Man and also He Needs Me, SweetHaven and I'm Mean. Others suffer from forgettable melodies that lyrics that either don't make sense or don't have much of a structure. The incidental score however especially in the end credits is fantastic.
I was also mixed on the effects. Most of them are not too bad actually. One however looked cheap and in a very distracting sense as well, and that was the octopus puppet.
Flaws aside, the film aside from some scrappy editing looks fantastic. Sweethaven is beautifully designed here, the costumes show some effort to stick to the cartoon/comic's spirit, the camera angles are good and the atmosphere is evoked very well.
The choreography is not the most sprightly I've seen nor the most inept. In general it was decent, and fitting with the tone of the song. The characters are one-dimensional, but pretty likable.
The casting aside from how the film looks is the best asset of the movie. Robin Williams is pitch perfect as Popeye and Shelley Duvall was born for a more seductive Olive-Oyl. Paul L.Smith is great as Bluto, and Ray Walston and Paul Dooley are solid. Wesley Ivan Hurt is an adorable Swee'pea.
Overall, not bad, not good, just decent in my eyes. 6/10 Bethany Cox
