Movie Review: Popeye's Voyage the Quest for Pappy

Popeye is a character I grew up with. If I wasn't playing the VHS movie on the VCR constantly, I was watching Popeye the cartoon. I loved him, a superhero who got his strength from a can of green leafy spinach, and saved the day with a kiss from Olive at the end of nearly every episode.

When I stumbled across the DVD, Popeye's Voyage The Quest For Pappy, I was pretty excited, because this was no cartoon, nor was it a movie. It was a computer animated Popeye, something that I've never seen before when it came to Popeye. I figured on an HDTV this movie would look pretty damn good, like Shrek. I was right, the movie did look pretty spectacular on a big screen.

How was the movie though is the ultimate question?
 
Popeye's Voyage The Quest For Pappy starts off with Popeye having a nightmare that involves his Pappy who abandoned him as a little boy. In the dream he sees Pappy's location, and feels that this is the exact location his Pappy is at. Popeye does not think that Pappy abandoned him though, he thinks his Pappy is being held somewhere as a prisoner. So he sets sail to look for Pappy.

Along with him Olive, Swee'Pea, and Bluto join him on his quest.

Now the first odd thing about the flick is that Popeye and Bluto are sort of chums in this flick. Growing up Bluto has always been Popeye's number one enemy, yet in Popeye's Voyage The Quest For Pappy they are pals.

Anyhow not too long into the flick the ship sets sail straight into the Sea Of Mystery where a Sea Hag lives. The Sea Hag wants to keep Popeye for herself, a sort of debt she feels she deserves for a feud taken on between her and Popeye's Pappy years earlier.

My Opinion:
 
Well Popeye's Voyage The Quest For Pappy was okay for the younger audience. Those of us who grew up on the original Popeye, and the Popeye movie will find themselves slightly disappointed. Popeye only chugs his spinach once in the entire flick, it was sort of like the big bang moment at the end of the movie. I imagine not showing us spinach all too often will lead us to forget about the super powers it gives to Popeye.

What killed the deal for me though was the way they portrayed Bluto, as a more docile gentle giant. Bluto in the past was huge; huge personality, huge attitude, and huge desire to steal Olive from Popeye at every given chance.

In one particular scene in Popeye's Voyage the Quest for Pappy Olive is put under a spell by the Sea Hag to fall in love with Bluto, and not Popeye. When Olive makes advances at Bluto, he actually is worried about what Popeye would think. Come on! This is not the Bluto we all know, the Bluto I know would have grabbed Olive the second she batted an eye at him claiming her as his own! Likely before she even made advances at him.

Overall:
 
Popeye's Voyage the Quest for Pappy is still a good flick for new generations of younger children. The animation is done really well, there are some cute and funny parts, and it's overall a decent plot.

 However for those of us who grew up with the original Popeye cartoons, this one will just disappoint you. Characters take on whole new personalities, and it was just a miss for me.