Word: cartoon
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...astringently witty and rather young for a seasoned oracle (39), Will once called Carter perhaps the most dangerous President since James Buchanan. On their first postvictory visit to Washington, the Reagans went to dinner at the Wills' in Chevy Chase. This inspired Garry Trudeau to a cutting Doonesbury cartoon. In a column last week Will good-humoredly noted: "Fearful rumors are afoot that I may abandon the columnist's basic stance of thorough disapproval of all conduct but his own." The dinner "was a small matter, but large enough to fill to overflowing the minds of some people...
...plot, as in a typical Popeye cartoon, is thin. Popeye arrives in Sweethaven looking for his father. He lodges at the Oyls, becomes smitten with Olive and does battle with her betrothed, Bluto. Popeye eventually finds his father, rescues Olive and Swee'pea from Bluto and, thanks to a handy can of spinach, sends the brute packing...
THIS PLOT PROVIDES the framework for the usual action--Popeye slugging his way through run-ins with Bluto and other assorted ruffians. The fight scenes underscore the limitations of the premise. Clever camera and stunt work not-withstanding, human beings simply cannot contort themselves the way cartoon figures can. Robin Williams can only cock his wrist a couple of times for the famous twister punch. As a result, the slapstick gains in immediacy but loses the necessary hyperbole...
...attempt to transfer Popeye from the cartoons to the movies might have been doomed from the start. After all, why bother having people do what animated figures do better? Moreover, no movie can keep up with the breakneck pace of a cartoon. Yet Altman seems to have all the ingredients for a blockbuster film. He succeeds in creating a busy visual and auditory atmosphere, but he fails to take advantage of his opportunity for free play on several levels. As just two examples, he throws in a few bits of scatological humor, and completely avoids using the Popeye story...
...very first animated Popeye cartoon, while singing his macho theme song, Popeye reveals that, under his shirt, he wears a corset. Robin Williams might have developed this image, but in Altman's limited and narrow Popeye, we never find...