It has been one year since Sony released an exclusive animation test of Popeye, a film Genndy Tartakovsky was going to direct after Hotel Transylvania, on YouTube. Around the same time I started this blog, I was going to write a review on the test footage. Due to other blog posts, my personal life and how long this review was, news eventually broke out that Tartakovsky was leaving the Popeye project and moving on to a different film based on an original idea he had. Ever since, I stopped working on this post. I hate missing deadlines. However, I put a lot of work, love and analysis into this, I wanted to finish it. Although Popeye is still in development, I hope Tartakovsky would return to it after Can You Imagine?. This review is in written as if Genndy was still working on it while finishing up Hotel Transylvania 2 (don't forget to see it next week):It’s no surprise I like the classic Popeye animated cartoons and comic strips.
When I first saw Genndy Tartakovsky’s take on Popeye, I was awestruck. I actually cheered out loud. This is the best 3D animation I've ever seen!
Finally, a modern animation director with a passion and point of view to bring this character to the present day audience - with today’s sensibilities, yet retaining the classic elements from the Segar comic strip and the old Max Fleischer cartoons.
The project is a very personal one for Tartakovsky, who avidly watched old black-and-white Popeye cartoons when he first moved to the U.S. from Russia as a child. Then, when Tartakovsky went to film school, he had the good fortune to be instructed by Gordon Sheehan, one of the animators working at Max Fleischer Studios from 1935 to 1940, when Popeye was made.
"The reason I do animation is to laugh at movement"...THAT right there, is why he is the key to his animation success. If you can make me laugh with movement, I'm sold. He seems extremely passionate about Popeye and I believe that will make it work...hopefully not too many suits interrupt.
Genndy makes his style work brilliantly and likes to approach animation his own way, but I don't want to make it sound like the ol' John K. mindset that "animation must be cartoony".
That being said, he is VERY good at making me laugh with movement and I think this test is great.
I'm in the minority, I think, who LOVED Hotel Transylvania and the movement is just brilliant in that film. Even the typical "dancing scene" didn't bother me because it was so much fun.
I prefer how Genndy seems to think about animation to what John K. seems to profess. John K. is what I would call a zealot; he has extremely particular beliefs about what is and is not valid in cartooning, what is and is not valid in short-form comedy, and he derides those who feel that there is room for all different kinds of animation and storytelling. I doubt many of the "actors with pencils" who worked on Disney features had the kind of contempt and disrespect for John K. or Ren & Stimpy that John K. seemed to have for them or their films.
I get where John K. is coming from. He got his start in animation during one of its lowest points; the 1980s "product placement" half-hour toy commercial era. Working on stuff like Mighty Mouse, that pushed the boundaries of what was commonly green lit for production made him all that much hungrier for "old school" slapsticky, character-driven cartoons. And I share his distaste for the push toward writer-driven rather than artist-driven TV shows. But there is room out there for all kinds of animation. Genndy seems to appreciate both funny action with strong "takes" and visual gags, as well as having an overarching plot, character development, and all that "fancy stuff" that John K. seems to feel interferes with the natural purity of "funny cartoons." I'll take Genndy's mix over John K.'s purity.
The clip, Genndy tells us, is only a test – not part of the film, and the designs aren’t final. So any internet nit-picky-negativity is moot. Wait... wait, where's the pipe?! Really, Genndy? And Popeye's recognizable tattoos?!?!?! Ugh...This is an outrage!!!!!!!! Where's the spinach when you need it? I can't handle this! Why are so many people complaining?? Jeez it's Popeye! What more do you want??
...This is a test animation....Calm down and take a chill pill. This is a test footage that was produced to get the right look and cartoony feel that combines the Segar, Fleischer and Tartakovsky sensibilities. Tartakovsky promised to make the film “as arftul and unrealistic as possible” — and it looks like he delivered. The director of this movie is a good person who used to watch Popeye as a child and has wanted to make a Popeye since he was young. Also he is a skilled director; he made movie greats such as Hotel Transylvania and great cartoons such as Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. So watch the movie before judging it man. Stop looking for what isn't there and start looking at what is: Fun.
That, and marvelous design - and exaggerated cartoony movement. Genndy has cracked the code – he’s perfected what Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky and Sony Animation itself have inched towards for years: the perfect melding of cartooning with computer graphics.
And it works!
Cartoony is better than "photorealistic" CG all the time. I love anything that pushes CG somewhere new and limitless, and he's doing it PERFECTLY.
And Popeye is the perfect character to demonstrate its possibilities. With the rich mythology of Elzie Segar’s comic strip serial – with its numerous characters, situations and exotic locales – combined with the Fleischer’s screwball animation sensibility and cinematic embellishments (including the continuing use of Spinach, hilarious fight scenes, a memorable theme song and Jack Mercer’s enduring “voice” for the character (though originated by William Costello aka “Red Pepper Sam”)) – there is much great material to mine.
I knew that was Tom Kenny voicing Popeye as soon as I heard him. That is pure genius.. PLEASE KEEP HIM AS THE VOICE ACTOR.
What was that teleporting cat thing? That's Eugene the Jeep. He appeared in the cartoons in the early 40s or so, either just before or just at the start of World War 2. He could teleport, walk on walls and ceilings, and phase through any object. He could "Go anywhere and do anything" Rumor has it that it's partially because of that that the car was called a Jeep, because like Eugene, it could "Go anywhere and do anything".
Let us not forget: Popeye was America’s first super-hero before superheroes were invented. The biggest comic strip character during the depression, Popeye became the number one animated cartoon star – topping Mickey Mouse – in the 1930s. When the cartoons went to television in the late 50s, Popeye became the number one kids TV cartoon star of the baby-boomer generation.
Why? Why is a middle aged, grizzled, tattooed, pipe-smoking, muscle-bound fighter so popular with kids, adults - and Olive Oyl? Everyone has their own answer for that. For me - as he did during the depression, World War 2 and the mind-blowing 1960s – Popeye represents the common man, the outcast, the other – one who speaks with his wits and his fists, and comes out on top despite insurmountable obstacles.
We identify with him and want to be him. He’s not handsome or a cover model – he’s us. And, as the Fleischer cartoons and Segar strip recall, he’s great to watch in action and doesn't hesitate to speak his mind (mostly through hilarious ad-libbed mumbles). In short, he’s a real man – warts and all.
Making movies from books, comic strips or old animated series is nothing new. But only semi-recently has it been done with the proper respect to the source material. And when it is – it pays off big for the studio, the filmmakers and most importantly to the public. Genndy attached to Popeye may be the greatest Hollywood match making since Joss Whedon took on The Avengers.
I’m not always a proponent of reviving classic cartoon characters. There have been some tragic misfires - Mr. Magoo, Dudley Do-Right or Yogi Bear anyone? For a minute, I was thinking it's about time someone made a well-executed Calvin and Hobbes movie, but then I thought Watterson wouldn't allow to make a Calvin movie because he probably doesn't want his works to end like GARFIELD. Need I say more? But popular cartoon stars from the past are now part of American culture, our film history and literary legacy. The great ones don’t deserve to simply live on only in reprint volumes. Their stories must be told again and again and kept alive. Like Zorro, Robin Hood or Superman.
Some classics are better off left alone, but this ain't one of them, and I'm glad they're trying to bring him back. I dunno about you but that entire animation was respectful of the original. Similar movement, similar humor, no vast changes to body type... if the actual film remains the same it should be a faithful new entry. I was smiling the entire time watching the clip, so if they made a whole movie like that I certainly couldn't complain. That being said, I'm eagerly awaiting Sony's next original film (as in not a reboot or sequel), whatever it ends up being. (please be Medusa please be Medusa please be Medusa!)
I'll admit, I was pretty skeptical of the idea when it was announced but this video really sold me on it. Really wish that they'd put this out before Hotel Transylvania 2 but oh well! That said, does anyone else feel like they've made Popeye a little cutesy? Can't help but feel his voice and his design are a little less gruff then they should be.
Genndy's Popeye clip has gone viral, garnering over 1M views and 95% thumbs up from YouTube viewers worldwide. It made YouTube's top 10 most popular videos over the weekend.
"I'm kind of hoping that the reaction from animation fans will be so loud and so strong that Sony will be eager to put Popeye into production," Tartakovsky said in an interview with the Huffington Post. “That way, once we finish working on Hotel Transylvania 2, we just move on over and begin working on Popeye. And then have that film out in theaters in a year or two.”
This is supposedly an origin story, so maybe it's a younger him I think. He does seem to have more hair than he should. No pipe? No tattoo? No Spinach? I suspect they will address all those questions and hopefully be there in the final product. Removing Popeye's tattoos is like giving Jessica Rabbit a breast reduction surgery. Plus, no one protested Captain Haddock's booze in Tintin. I don't care if you shouldn't "show kids how to smoke" - he doesn't need to smoke from it or anything. He could just have it in his mouth... he can even blow bubbles from it for all I care. Just bring back his tattoos (those was one of the iconic ones) and give him his pipe. Along with the funniest action-packed reboot an American icon ever received. I trust Genndy’s vision on this – and I think you should too. That’s my “Toot-Toot” cents.
Hooray, it's actually becoming a true movie!
For the love of GOD, complete Samurai Jack's story !!!! Samurai Jack movie when, Genndy? WE NEED A CONCLUSION TO SAMURAI JACK, GENNDY!!!
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