When All Else Fails, Reboot “Popeye the Sailor Man”!

Don’t be alarmed that the headline implies someone will try and replace the late great Robin Williams. No, we’re not talking about the 1980 live-action Popeye, but the classic cartoon that began with a comic strip in 1929! I’m not sure of all the “reboot” statistics these days, but I’m guessing this is one of the oldest American franchises that has ever been considered for a 21st century reincarnation.

Yes, in 2016, Sony Pictures plans to release a Popeye the Sailor Man feature length animated film, and they’ve tapped director Genndy Tartakovsky to helm it. Not only did he achieve great success with his recent Hotel Transylvania — which was nominated for a Golden Globe and has a planned sequel in the works — but he’s also a huge Popeye fanboy.

What we have in the video above is a rare glimpse into the inner-workings of Hollywood pre-production. It’s not a movie trailer or even a scene from the Popeye film. Instead, it’s an animation test created by Tartakovsky and his team to give you a sense of what a 2016 “Popeye” will look like. You can definitely see an homage to the classic Fleischer animation style that he’ll be using here (you gotta love those eyeballs), but it also has that added “CGI polish” that dominates nearly all modern animated features today, for better or worse. Thankfully, there are no humans here — just pure, unadulterated (well, kind of) animation.

What do you think? Will this one be worth a shot? Or is it merely another crappy retread of an old property from a film studio that’s plumb out of ideas? Eat your spinach and sound off below.