Sony Release Eye Popping Popeye Test Footage!
“He’s Popeye the sailor man” and this time he’s back under the control of famed animator and director Genndy Tartakovsky. Yesterday he treated the world to an exclusive clip to the upcoming film and the reasons behind why he wanted to make this film so much.
From growing up watching Popeye to being mentored by a Popeye animator Tartakovsky calls directing this film his “destiny”. His passion within the short featurette is heartwarming and for any doubters out there this should hopefully have them thinking again. Taking Popeye from a 2D Fleischer animation to modern 3D was always going to be difficult, yet when we get to see the beautiful animation test towards the end, you’re not even thinking about the difficulty anymore. The sequence is pure farce and wonderfully achieved. Watching this short clip took me back to my younger days watching Popeye in 2D! All the contorted, elasticated and pure ridiculousness was there. It’s brimming with cartoon hilarity and multitudes of slapstick.
Talking about the film in a past Skwigly podcast Tartakovsky expressed that he wanted to make an assuredly “animated physical comedy” comparing it to a “modern day…Mr Bean”,and trust me, this goes well beyond that. As a 2D man myself, even I was impressed and astounded by how complex and bendy those CG rigs are.
You can listen to the complete Skwigly Animation Podcast interview with Genndy Tartakovsky here.
As he did in Samurai Jack and Hotel Transylvania, Genndy Tartakovsky is once more pushing the boundaries of animation and the power of exaggeration. Lets just hope that Popeye doesn’t need his spinach this time to stay strong in this competitive world of feature animation. With Tartakovsky by his side it looks as though he’s onto a winner and this latest version of Popeye is certainly eye popping!
Popeye is still in production and is looking at a release sometime in 2016.