The name Genndy Tartakovsky is probably familiar to you if you grew up watching cartoons in the late ’90s/early ’00s, or are just a fan of quality animation. Even if you don’t recognize the name you’re probably familiar with the projects he’s helmed and/or created, including The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, the acclaimed Star Wars: Clone Wars miniseries, and the feature film Hotel Transylvania. (I’ll admit that I haven’t seen those last two, but I’ll totally vouch for everything else)

Anyway, it turns out that Tartakovsky is a huge fan of the original Popeye cartoon shorts, and in a thoroughly endearing introduction to the footage says that it’s his destiny to work on a Popeye movie, the cartoon being a favorite of his childhood and having one of the cartoon’s original animators as a teacher.

The footage itself is really fantastic, opting to ditch the uncanny realism so many CGI animated films emulate in favor of something more traditionally cartoony.

There’s no firm release date for the film, though Sony says it’s on target for 2016. In the meantime, check the footage out for yourself, with or without the extended introduction from Tartakovsky.

Test Footage Only:

Test Footage With Tartakovsky Introduction: