Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists

Implementing the latest technology for special effects in a film has had it's hits and misses, never more so in full length animated motion pictures. The realization of 3D Computer Generated Images (CGI) have been restricted to companies like Pixar (Monsters, Inc., Toy Story) or PDI-Pacific Data Images (Antz, Shrek). But the images have been primarily of funny animals with cartoonesque rendering of humans. Game manufacturer SquareSoft tried with their technologically superior, but vapid tale "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within".

Now, an India based company, Pentafour, tries with a superior bend in their storytelling and artistic design with "Sinbad". Although their movement software isn't as smooth or as well rendered as "Final Fantasy", the story is much more engaging, making it another good entry in the myriad tales of the most famous sailor since Popeye.

Brendan Fraiser seems to have found his niche in these characters (along with his work in the Mummy films) giving voice to the adventurous young salt on another mission of danger, discovery and romance. The conceptual designs, especially in the undersea kingdom are excellent. You just have to get past the somewhat stilted animation style and renderings of the human characters and it makes for a pretty good entry into someone's animation film collection.

This thing is really awfull. There´s no charachter with weight, they´re all floating around in the BG´s. The Motion Capture is a fine toy, but this movie demostrates that you really need people who knows animation to do an animated film. THE MACHINE CAN´T DO ANYTHING WELL BY ITSELF. If you see it as a bizarre film, you´ll have fun finding mistakes of continuity... IN A 3D MOVIE!!! It´s funny to watch the princess dress move around like a thing with diferent phisics. You need animators and 3D animators, not data-entries whom know 3D programs. Note the junctions, like the elbows, how they lost volume and get deformed. The person who made the charachter design (a very good one) sufered for sure when he/she watched them move, ´cos you can´t say they come to life.

This movie is not only boring, it is also really badly done. The graphics are so bad, they are not even second rate - they are dreadful. The characters do not show any facial expresssions, the voice acting is empty and without any soul, and the plot absolutely lacks .... well... anything and everything. My 5 year old likes it - but thinks it's a bit boring. I agree with him.

Great effort to create an animated movie in three D. The plot in this case was secondary to the effects of making animated characters jump out at you on the screen. It was easy to follow with the fantasy of Sinbad and the princess reaching the depths of the ocean to find the answer and antidote for breaking the spell cast by the nefarious bad guy. The art of animation has been pushed further along due to this effort and a new bench mark set. Only those who risk going too far will ever know how far they can go. Worth watching young or old. My grandchildren loved it.

Watching this was rather disconcerting. Some parts of it (like the water) are animated beautifully. Combined with some photographic backgrounds and the results are impressive.

However all the characters look like they're animated with a Nintendo 64 or a home PC with a mediocre graphics card. It really breaks the suspension of disbelief. Think Tombraider quality, not Quake III.