Il viaggio fantastico di Sinbad

Boy, I'll tell you that when this was new, it was great. This was before Lucas and Spielberg made it impossible to have a straight ahead adventure film with no winks at the audience.

This was when special effects were more believable because the monsters were so unlike humans.

This was before Arabs became equated with uncontrollable anger, and instead could be seen as mysterious and wise. Indeed, so thorough is our acceptance of the Arabian perspective here that the inner, more primitive (and unrefined) magic is Hindu. A very cool touch.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Ignore pointless comparisons about how it pales in comparison to Lord of the Rings. This isn't Lord of the Rings, nor is it Citizen Kane. Why some fools insist that every movie must be measured by the yardstick of their own personal favorite I will never understand.

If you're so spoiled by state-of-the-art computer graphics where each creature has an entire team of people working on it, and can't appreciate the human creativity and craftsmanship of great stop-motion animation, don't waste your time on this movie, go watch the latest Pixar release.

Harryhausen's work is remarkable not because it's the most realistic animation ever, but because he was able to achieve remarkable things with sculpture and movement on a budget comparable to today's 30 second ad spots.

Tom Baker steals the movie. He's terrific as the evil sorcerer, villainous but with enough humanity to his character to make him at least somewhat sympathetic.

Made 14 years after The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, this follow up is ,unsurprisingly, not as good, but that WAS a ground breaking classic. Perhaps sensing that they could not top the first film, the filmmakers give this movie a slightly different feel. If 7th Voyage was full of colour and size, Golden Voyage is somewhat darker and less spectacular. Most of the action occurs at night or in caves, while none of the creatures are especially large. This makes Golden Voyage slightly less of a delightful romp, but it's certainly not just a rehash. There is a strong sense of the uncanny to some scenes,such as the villain's resurrection of the tiny humunculus, or the coming to life of the ship's figurehead.

The pace is possibly a little two leisurely, but the action is still terrific, the showstopper being Sinbad and his men battling the 6 armed statue of the Indian goddess Kali, a masterpiece of effects and editing. Tom Baker is the most sinister of all Harryhausen's villains, and Miklos Rozsa's wonderfully rich and grand score never fails to provide excellent backing. It's very different from Bernard Herrmann's classic Harryhausen scores, but as effective.

Despite their flaws, there is a wonderful innocence to these Harryhausen films. A modern version would be filled to the brim with CGI, hyperactive editing, 'clever' laughs that show that no one is bothering to take any of this seriously ,etc....... Is that really an improvement?

Contrary to a previous viewer's opinion, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is a wonderful, exciting film. The plot is a bit complex as a malevolent sorcerer races with Sinbad against time to secure a missing piece of an amulet that will insure the holder of powers beyond imagination. John Phillip Law is a pretty decent Sinbad, and the rest of the cast is quite adequate with Caroline Munro busting out of her outfit as both a figurative and literal standout and Tom Baker is very good as the evil magician. The real star once again, however, is Ray Harryhausen. His stop-motion creations are all very good. This time round we get a gargoyle-like homonculus, a wooden siren, a griffin, a centaur, and the image of six-armed Kali. The action sequences are riveting and the pace of the film is nice and brisk. Very entertaining!

Ah, yes; Ray Harryhausen and Sinbad. This is my favorite of the Sinbad films. Yes John Phillip Law is not an a-list actor; but, for once, he's not bad. Tom Baker is outstanding as the evil wizard. Carolie Munro is the breast, er, best sight in the film.

Harryhausen really captures the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights. There is adventure, mystery, terror, love, comedy, and some pretty good sword fights. I'll put the six-armed Kali up against the skeleton from the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad any day. And Tom Baker's wizard is far more evil.

Look, forget about CGI and enter the world of Dynamation! You'll have a good time. Now, where's that scene where Caroline Munro.........