Popeye: 40th Anniversary Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Popeye: 40th Anniversary Edition



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Back in 1980 people had noooooooooooooooooo idea what to make of Popeye in live action. The days of goofy throwback movies was long gone, and folks were expecting a more traditional film experience. Instead what they got was a manic mess of hamburgers, muscles, slapstick humor akin to the old 1960s comedies, as well as the manic craziness of 1929 cartoon series, all blended together into a 1950s and 60s musical attire. Even 40 years later I really don’t know what to make of the magical manic mess that is Popeye. The film is delightfully campy, hilariously fun, but an insane MESS of a film that really feels out of place. The humor of the movie is sidelined by campy musical songs, as well as some pretty poor casting for the villain Bluto, and a plot that feels more at home in a 30 minute short instead of a near 2 hour film.

Popeye (Robin Williams) comes to the little town of Sweethaven looking for his his Pa who left him at the age of 2, only to find a quirky little town filled with eccentric characters who all have a penchant for breaking out in song for no reason. The town is especially afraid of strangers, shunning the sailor at every chance they get, except for the Oyl family, who takes him in. The entire town is run by the mysterious “commodore” whose will is enforced by the burly and brutish “Bluto” (Paul L. Smith). The crazy little town is just as bizarre as it seems, with an overly obese hamburger loving bum named Wimpy, a priest, a whole host of other oddball characters, and the town “beauty”, Olive Oyl (Shelley Duvall) who’s engaged to be married to Bluto soon enters into a weird “parenting” relationship when the two find an abandoned child they name “swea pea”.

Enter into the mix a strange sort of burgeoning romance between Olive and Popeye, a sunken treasure, the identity of the Commodore, and you have Popeye in a nutshell. The film itself is so manic and neurotic that it’s hard to really get a grasp on the plot. Altman is more concerned with having familiar cartoon characters on screen (most of the major characters from the 1929 comic are represented in some form) and mimicking the lunacy of the cartoon strip and animated show than he is with telling a cohesive story. The film suffers as a whole as it is a jumbled up string of songs, vignettes and general tom foolery that sort of climaxes in a giant underwater battle between Popeye and Blutu over some treasure (and of course Olive Oyl’s love).

The good side of this coin is that Altman cast the movie impeccably. Robin Williams is a rubber faced genius at imitating the mumbles and guttural grunts of the famous seaman, and everyone else is cast to perfection to replicate the various counterparts. Altman meticulously directs each scene, each back drop, and each character to give the illusion of a cartoon in live action form down to a T. This perfection comes at a cost though, as cartoons are best for comic strips, and live action requires different direction. The same attention to comic perfection kills the movie in many ways as it feels too campy for it’s own good. Some people like that sort of thing, but the vast majority of the public, critics, and myself felt it was a bit “too much”.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA



Video:

Paramount’s 1080p Blu-ray disc is a nice looking disc that doesn’t look to have undergone any digital tampering. It’s rather grain (not surprising considering it’s a 1980s film), but the grain structure appears intact and isn’t clumpy or overly aggressive. Black levels are strong, and the whole film is lovingly detailed with the constructed backdrops. The film isn’t overly colorful, but it isn’t washed out or drained either. Primary colors (such as the red in Olive Oyl’s outfit) pop nicely, and has that dusky hue to it that 1980s films tend to have with colors. The real benefit from the new 1080p transfer is that the film really looks much more nuanced. The old DVD was overly soft and smoothed, but this is very textures and detailed. It’s not overly detailed, but gives enough that it makes the viewing experience into a whole other experience. There’s some soft shots here and there (such as when Olive and Popeye walk up to the engagement party with Swea Pea) here and there (looks to be material that might not be salvageable), but overall is a very sharp and clean looking transfer.





Audio:

Paramount provides the original 2.0 track in lossy Dolby Digital, but the main track is the 5.1 upmix that we’ve had in the DVD era, just with a nice new lossless re-encode in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The 5.1 mix is solid enough like the video, with very nice vocals, and good surround usage. You can hear the lapping of the sea port in the background, as well as the hubbub of the hamburger joint as well. Voices are clear, surrounds good, and the score flows effortlessly through the mix. It isn’t an overly aggressive mix, but there’s solid bass representation in the fights, as well. A good mix.





Extras:

• NEW Return to Sweethaven: A Look Back with Robin and the Altmans
• The Popeye Company Players
• Popeye's Premiere
• The Sailor Man Medleys
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Popeye is a fun enough film, but it’s a bizarre flick that is really a cult watch for many. Not everyone will love it, but it’s a film that has gained a rather rabid following, even if they are in the vast minority. The new disc by Paramount looks and sounds rather good, and there’s a brand new extra that even the DVD didn’t have back in the day, so all in all I’m rather impressed with the package. Worth checking out for nostalgic purposes at the very least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Paul L. Smith
Directed by: Robert Altman
Written by: Jules Feiffer (Screenplay), E.C. Segar (original characters)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG
Runtime: 114 minutes
Blu-Ray Release December 1st, 2020

Recommendation: Nostalgic Watch

 

[tripplej]

I remember seeing this as a kid.. will look at it again for nostalgia reasons as you mentioned but only once it is available on amazon prime/netflix.

 

[Asere]

I watched this movie on cable as a kid so many times that when the DVD came out some years ago I had to get it. I agree the movie can be a little depressing because of the atmosphere and the strange people and it is fun to watch (I enjoyed the boxing scene with Butterbean) but if you did not watch it back then most likely you won't like it today. In my eyes though it will always be a classic

 

[Michael Scott]

I watched this movie on cable as a kid so many times that when the DVD came out some years ago I had to get it. I agree the movie can be a little depressing because of the atmosphere and the strange people and it is fun to watch (I enjoyed the boxing scene with Butterbean) but if you did not watch it back then most likely you won't like it today. In my eyes though it will always be a classic

Then you should be pleased with the set. Good video and audio, solid extras. And rather cheap too

 

[Jack]

Loved this movie as well as Toys, yes I am odd.

 

[Bassaholic]

This was one of those films shown on a loop on HBO. I bet I saw it a dozen times. lol
This is a nice looking BD and sub $10. Nice.