In 1980, Robert Altman took on the not-unformidable project of making a live action film of Popeye, one of the most cartoonish cartoons ever. Beyond great music by Harry Nilsson and a brilliant performance by Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, this bizarre film is a little unsettling to watch. Altman follows through with a 1:1 conversion of cartoon action into live action. The result is the disappearance of whimsy that usually mitigates the gruesome violence and slapstick with which Popeye, in particular, is so fraught. When it's a real flesh-and-blood face that Robin Williams is repeatedly pummeling with his gigantic forearms, it's more grotesque than funny. Similarly, spectacular falls, flips and tramplings leave you wincing instead of chuckling. In a way, it provides a cultural comment about the violence inherent in our supposedly "family-friendly" entertainment - but it's really more strange than moralizing.
