Sinbad : La Légende des sept mers

I know and love all the movies with the famous "Sinbad" (from the Ray Harryhausen time). But I find the recent remakes (TV production) are always boring because off the lack of imagination from the directors.

So I hesitated a long time before watching this one. (above all with a "DISNEY" movie ! I feared to fall asleep.)

But I love this one ! The story is absolutely new, surprising and imaginative. The runtime's movie is short, so no time to bore. The charactere way of talking is really fun and modern, with hilarious quotes. My favourite one is when the Sinbad's ship arrives at the end of the sea, and someone says : "Well, at least, that proves earth is flat !" (LOL !)

Not a masterpiece, but a really good entertainment !

9/10

The movie concerns on Simbad , 1001 nights' hero . The sailor of legend is framed by the goddess Eris for the theft of the Book of Peace , as an object with extraordinary power has been stolen and Simbad must retrieve it but if he doesn't obtain it , his friend prince will be beheaded . Simbad goes out with his ship and the pirates henchmen and as stowaway the prince's girlfriend . They will ought to face off several dangers : storms , ominous mermaids , deep chasms , giant animals and must travel to a realm at the end of the world to retrieve it and save the life of his childhood friend Prince .

In the picture there are mythology , humor , rip-roaring , adventures , swashbuckling and it's pretty bemusing . It's a combo of computer generator and hand-drawn animation by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson with voices from Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta Jones . The movie mingles spectacular cartoon with FX computer generator as when the heroes are taking on monsters because these are made by computer . The confrontation amongst the starring and the giant bird named Roc (also appears in ¨The seventh voyage of Simbad¨ directed by Nathan Juran) is mesmerizing and fascinating , it's the best part of the film . In the movie there is a homage to Ray Harryhausen because the monsters are similar , though here are made by computer and on Ray's films are by means of Dynamation and stop-motion . Film obtained much success likeness to previous motion picture ¨Treasure planet¨ , both of them achieved quite money at the box office.

Good production by Jerry Katzemberg , David Geffen who along with Steven Spielberg constituted Dreamworks . Harry Gregson Williams' musical score is atmospheric and enjoyable . The fable will appeal to fantasy fans and adventure cartoon buffs . Rating : Very nice , well catching .

I realise that it may be premature to call this film overlooked, but with both Disney and DreamWorks sounding the death knell for cel animation, this film has yet to receive its due.

First off, this is a gorgeous film to look at. The CG work may not be quite seamless, but this seems to be an intentional decision on the part of the directors, and it wasn't jarring in any way. The colour palette is well chosen, and the characters are well-drawn and stylised.

Second, the voice performances are great. Brad Pitt has always been an underrated actor in my opinion, so his performance here was, no surprise, excellent, as were those of Joseph Fiennes, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Third, the pacing is great. This is a film that breezes by with plenty of action and a welcome lack of potty humour. There are scenes where vomit and bare bottoms are used, but not nearly to the same tasteless effect as most children's films these days.

Finally, my kids loved it. They had a lot of fun, and so did my wife. This is not a crowd easily pleased by movies, so this is really saying something.

I personally don't mind Dreamworks. They are either hit(How to Train Your Dragon, Prince of Egypt) or miss(Shark Tale, Bee Movie), but when they are good, they are good. Sinbad:Legend of the Seven Seas was surprisingly good and a thoroughly enjoyable animated film. It could have been longer though, and one or two parts could have done with more excitement. That said, the traditional animation is excellent, very colourful and vibrant, and the score is energetic and has a sense of adventure. The story mostly is engaging, with a sequence with seductive sirens standing out as well as the exciting escape from a bird of prey, and the script is smart and witty particularly the banter between Sinbad and Marina. The characters are likable and very well voiced. I am not the biggest fan of Brad Pitt, but he does a solid job as a somewhat flawed yet likable Sinbad, while Catherine Zeta-Jones is fine as the sassy Marina. Eris is quite sinister and fabulously voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer. In conclusion, a thoroughly enjoyable movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I was surprised that Sinbad was seen as a failure. I loved the animation and the storyline. It was a PG rated animated movie, what should be expected? The drawing was on time, the voices were great and the adventure was mesmerizing. I would take my grandchildren to see it again just as an excuse to view this cinematic treasure again.