Popeye the Film
Jun. 23rd, 2013 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarah_tvThinking about Popeye, the film, for a moment, it occurs to me what a risk was taken casting Robin Williams as Popeye. Robin does an adequate job as Popeye. He's not strong, per say, but he almost has the banter right, and he has the physical comedy down pat. He doesn't have the singing voice the role requires, but frankly, none of the cast does.
However, that may be completely on purpose. Popeye in the Cartoons isn't known for a singing voice, and all the characters tend to grate when they sing. It could be that the whole musical part of the film was specially ill cast to emulate Popeye even better. While this makes the film a little harder to take as a Musical, as a faithful story presentation of Popeye, it works.
Overall, it's only the casting of Robin Williams that makes me wonder about the film, because he's a hard sell, even when watching the film. Part of it may be script based, but he has a tendency to overplay Popeye, and I think that is what people react to the film the most.
Popeye the Film floats in that awkward space between cartoons and live action. While some movies pull this off brilliantly (See Space Battleship Yamoto for an excellent example), Popeye at times tends to be clutzy, keeping a realistic vision of a very cartoony world, and one that still stays faithful to the Cartoon.
It is interesting art, and in that fashion, I find the film fascinating.
However, that may be completely on purpose. Popeye in the Cartoons isn't known for a singing voice, and all the characters tend to grate when they sing. It could be that the whole musical part of the film was specially ill cast to emulate Popeye even better. While this makes the film a little harder to take as a Musical, as a faithful story presentation of Popeye, it works.
Overall, it's only the casting of Robin Williams that makes me wonder about the film, because he's a hard sell, even when watching the film. Part of it may be script based, but he has a tendency to overplay Popeye, and I think that is what people react to the film the most.
Popeye the Film floats in that awkward space between cartoons and live action. While some movies pull this off brilliantly (See Space Battleship Yamoto for an excellent example), Popeye at times tends to be clutzy, keeping a realistic vision of a very cartoony world, and one that still stays faithful to the Cartoon.
It is interesting art, and in that fashion, I find the film fascinating.
