Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Something Not Bland: Popeye - "Can You Take It" (1934) - walks

I figure we needed a break from all the blandness so...


Here's the opposite of bland. Now I knew tons of little kids who indentified with Popeye, even though he is a bizarre looking 90 year old toothless man who eats terrible tasting spinach.

Everything about him is unique and original, even his walks and taste in women.

He has more personality that the rest of animated feature heroes combined and he's funny and charismatic.


Kids act out Popeyes antics all the time (if they've seen his cartoons). They sing the songs. Do you know any kids who sing Celine dion or Elton John cartoon songs?

If you were a kid, who would you rather be, Linguini or Popeye?

VARIETY OF WALKS ALL IN ONE POPEYE CARTOON

No time is wasted in these cartoons. Even getting from one place to the next is not only entertaining and musical, it further defines the characters.



Animated features could learn some editing from classic short cartoons. No filler. Loads of personality. Non-stop fun. Variety. No bullshit. Sincere entertainment.




This is all done for a fraction of what it would cost to produce even one minute of boring stock full animation today (even considering inflation). And it goes a lot farther.



Marc Deckter prepared these clips and he loves these cartoons and personally dislikes blandness himself. He gave me his review of Ratatouille the other day and it pretty much matched mine and the other cartoonists I know.

NONETHELESS, he is blandness' greatest defender!


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