Popeye takes me back to my childhood. In a good way. Although why a tough sailor was ever thought a good idea for a cartoon character now beats me. I guess it made sense at the time.
Popeye has been out of our lives for a while, apart from the oft-repeated cartoons, obviously, but is now coming back, this time to the big screen. It’ll be in the form of a computer generated animation (naturally) and presented in 3D (of course).
According to Variety, Avi Arad, the man who helped make Spider-Man what it is/was, will be producing, with Mike Jones likely to write the screenplay. Arad said:
“Scott [Sassa, president of Hearst Entertainment] called me and said, ‘I have something for you.’ I literally started singing the famous Popeye song (after securing the rights). What always blew me away is the level of the animation. It was so beautiful and unbelievably detailed.”
The last time Popeye had a big screen outing was when Robin Williams tried to bring him to life. It didn’t work. A 3D CG actioner is obviously much more suited to the character, and should work.
Olive Oyl, Bluto, and Swee’Pea are all going to appear, with the story set to “cover the themes of friendship, love, greed and life, and focus on human strengths and human frailties.” Which all sounds very by-the-numbers and unsurprising.
Are you interested in seeing Popeye make a comeback? Will this film excise the memory of Williams’ Popeye? Is 3D going to make any kind of difference to the movie’s chances of success?
