Skip Netflix and the commercial mayhem of the big movie theatre and take the kids downtown to an indie film cinema this Sunday to see the classic must-see movie Popeye.

Once a month, The Cinematheque presents a matinée film program for children and their families as part of their Film Club. Kids under 13 are just $6 a head and free popcorn (and a special Film Club badge) is included in the price of admission!

This Sunday, the film-lovers cinema presents Popeye, which was called “a wacky masterpiece, the likes of which you’ve never seen before” by Geoff Andrews of  Time Out magazine.

Meanwhile Vanity Fair has this to say:

An amazing movie that just improves with age … It’s Robin Williams’s best film, hands down. Nothing else even comes close.”

“I yam what I yam!”

Popeye’s warts-and-all catchphrase could easily apply to this totally bonkers, obsessively watchable, live-action adaptation of E. C. Segar’s spinach-pushing comic strip, directed by the great American auteur Robert Altman. A  mix of cartoon slapstick, overlapping, semi-improvised dialogue; high-wire juggling of a ragtag ensemble — and music by mercurial ‘70s songwriter Harry Nilsson, Popeye can be appreciated today as the misfit, amusement-park movie that it is, anchored by Robin Williams as the clam-eyed, veggie-fuelled Sailor Man, and Shelley Duvall, pitch perfect, as the radiant, angular Olive Oyl.

After the show

If the weather is fine, head out for a walk along the seawall, go to Stanley Park, pick up lunch in Yaletown or take the kids swimming at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. If you’ve got hardy, focussed kids, you could head to the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown or hit the wild and wacky exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery: The Octopus eats his own leg! Consider this a day out.

Details

• Showtime: Sunday, February 18th at 11:00 am
• PS: Cinematheque membership not required
• Admission: $6 – Ages 13 & Under | $10 – Everybody Else
• Info: Popeye, Cinematheque Film Club