It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I'm not sure if you ever could have made a good picture out of the Popeye cartoon or comic. The characters and general schtick of the thing work well for half an hour at most. Still, what these filmmakers gave us in the end is worse than could ever be imagined: this is a nightmarish piece of cinema, one of the worst major Hollywood productions I have ever seen.It's almost miraculous how wrong everything went, because the casting is perfect. The sets and costumes are perfect. Such a shame the screenplay is terrible, meandering from plot point to plot point, vaguely connected and with the most ear bleeding-ly horrible "musical numbers" in between. Every piece of dialogue is mere noise, a cacophony of mumbling and screeching and pratfalls. I almost wished I were dead watching it.How anyone could ever procure joy from this will be the eternal mystery for me. To call it unpleasant would be an understatement.

Robert Altman's "Popeye" (1980) features Robin Williams in the titular role, Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, Ray Walston as Pappy and others as Bluto, Wimpy and so on. These actors are outstanding as these characters, particularly Williams and Duvall. Unfortunately, I found the story boring and the excellent seaside Malta set too confining and therefore increasingly dull. If Altman would have included a more compelling story it would've worked better for adults. As it is, its appeal is limited to small kids, hardcore Popeye fans and devotees of Williams.The reason 1994's The Flintstones" and even the 2000 sequel worked so well (for me anyway) was because they both had interesting and entertaining stories. "Popeye" is dull by comparison, although somewhat amusing. If my wife -- who loves the movie -- wasn't with me I would've never gotten through it.The film runs 114 minutes (too long).GRADE: C-

Popeye is one of those films for which I could guess the plot exactly before I saw it. I don't know if it's because it's super predictable or because I've seen too many movies. You can predict the whole movie and ending very easily. These characters were walking cardboards. I could've cared less what happened to these characters because there was no depth to them and I didn't feel attached to them at all. We've seen these clichéd characters a million times. These are the only things to critique on. The directing, music, editing, etc are not focused on at all. Overall, the film was..."eh". I was bored through most of it and I left the theater with no intentions to ever see it again.

Superb example of taking a cartoon character and doing absolutely nothing with it....absolutely no story , unsustainable noise that the producers try to pass off as music. "he needs me he needs me he needs me" ---What? You can't write another line of verse and find a word that rhymes with "me"? And, I didn't realize for the first few unending minutes that Poopdeck Pappy was supposed to be "singing" during the long, boring boat chase. Annoying background noise with him complaining about children or some such meaningless banter. The original Popeye The Sailorman song, performed at the end of this horrific mess, was the only thing even remotely true to the cartoon. Williams mumbles throughout the film and Duvall is just plain annoying. She's almost as annoying as in The Shining. This attempt at movie-making was written as they went along. terrible. I can only hope that the special town set they built for this tragedy went to the homeless locals in (Malta, was it?). Someone should benefit from the building of this fictitious town. Certainly moviegoers did not benefit. I was 27 in 1980. I remember walking out of the theater and thinking " what the heck!!!" It's on a movie channel right now and I am laughing very hard, both because of some of the reviews I've just read and am torturing myself (AGAIN)while watching a movie that is so ridiculously bad. Robin Williams...please donate your fee you got for this mess to some worthy charity, Maltan refugees.