Best movie of this year hands down!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Out of the trilogy of Sinbad movies that feature the stop motion animated effects work of the late great Ray Harryhausen, this is my favourite. It does have its dull stretches and the human cast of characters aren't exactly as thrilling to watch in action as the monsters, but there's something indefinable about the very fabric and atmosphere of this picture that I find quite endearing to this day and makes me have a special little place for it, something about the beautiful brightly coloured Arabian Nights aesthetic, something about what an immersively perilous place to be the monster-filled island of Colossa feels like, something about the poetry of that green wingless horned dragon in motion... I've found that with this and the majority of the retro fantasy adventure movies that feature Harryhausen's trademark animation, they all have the same kind of nice nostalgic feel about them that takes you back a little to how you felt when you watched them as children and concerns were few and childhood adventure was high. Again a bit of a drag for me is that a lot of the actors are kind of stuffy and boring and at some points downright unintentionally comedic, such as everything with the mutinous crew of scurvy idiots who fall foul of the insane screams of ten thousand fiends!! Kerwin Matthews as Sinbad was alright but nothing about the man exactly yelled out fearless adventuring hero, I mean no matter what happens his hair stays in place and frankly he was a little short in stature and looked like he never buckled-a-swosh in his life! And I really didn't care for the kid who played the genie, he was so annoying and he had the lamest magic powers ever, and the subplot about he and the princess and his quest for freedom slowed the movie down too much! Torin Thatcher as Sakura the delightfully evil magician I found to be a scene-chewing hoot though, he's not much to look at but he certainly livens up the movie in every scene he's in and makes his presence known and I buy him as a villain who could command giant monsters and who would actually have a lair as awesome as that! When all is said and done though, the human element of this movie is largely dispensable and is not quite the reason that the film succeeds and is fondly remembered today, that's entirely due to Harryhausen's amazing effects work. His devotion to his craft is so evident, the movements of the creatures are jerky yet natural and smooth, it's not like he was just doing a job and animating merely serviceable puppets of clay, it's like he wanted them to have the feel of living creatures, when that wicked cyclops suffers the grievous injury of having its eye put out with a flaming spear, you can see the pain in the poor brute's face! The sword fight between Sinbad and the rather evil-looking skeleton is a real little marvel of animated motion and an actor skilfully reacting to something that wasn't actually in front of him, the clashing of the swords and the synchronicity of the movements makes it so easy to believe in and love every thrilling second of, and the playful bone-rattlin' music theme doesn't hurt things either! My favourite part of the movie is everything involving the beautifully animated dragon, it's like the crown jewel of the movie to me. There's such an archetypal fiery terror to the dragon's corridor in which it guards Sakura's lair and the clever mechanism with the chain and the boulder. It moves so fantastically, like a classical fairytale dragon come to life, and I feel so sad that such a majestic beast has to fall so painfully at the end so soon after triumphing over its cyclops foe.. Such a creature inspired fear and courage in the sailor's heart but inspiration in mine, I think it's a strong example of stop motion animation at its finest. You were truly one of a kind Mr Harryhausen, and the spirit of your work lives on, and on behalf of generations of the young and young at heart the world over - thank you. X

Shot in the then-dazzling film-process called "Dynarama" - I remember, as a wide-eyed kid of 10, being absolutely struck with total awe while watching this cheesy Fantasy/Adventure picture from yesteryear.With its introduction of several delightfully monstrous, stop-motion creations by effects-man, Ray Harryhausen (including a ferocious, one-horned Cyclops - Wow!) - This pre-CGI film was a child's most spectacularly exciting nightmare come true on screen.But, alas - (As one might expect) - Time (yes-unforgivable time) has not been at all kind to this 1958 Sinbad, the Sailor, production. No. It hasn't.Remembering my excitement as a fascinated child - I honestly did try to cut this 60-year-old relic some nostalgic slack - But, unfortunately - As a jaded viewer of today - I could only grade Sinbad's 7th Voyage with just an "average" 5-star rating.

Whenever I watch one of these types of movies I'm overwhelmed by the painstaking amount of work that went into creating the 'dynamation' styled creatures, the work of special effects artists like the legendary Ray Harryhausen. You have to remember that the monsters and other fantastical creations were made of clay and repositioned a countless number of times while filming them individually frame after frame until the desired effect was achieved. Then, the film of the inanimate objects had to be blended together with the live action to produce what you see on screen. It's just an incredible amount of manual work that had to go into producing films like these in the days before blue screen and CGI.And the monsters here truly were fantastic. A Cyclops made an appearance on two separate occasions, while the second expedition back to the island of Colossa by Captain Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) revealed a legendary Roc, an enormous two headed hawk-like bird, along with your traditional fire breathing, scaly green dragon. Perhaps the strangest creation was that of the four armed half woman/half serpent conjured up by the magician Sokhura (Torin Thatcher), an ingenious tribute to the power of one's imagination.So with all these mythical creatures on display, one might miss the parallels to one of the all time great sci-fi films made over a decade and a half later, the original "Star Wars". After Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) was restored to normal size after applying the magic potion, she and hero Sinbad did the old rope swing across the gorge to escape the dragon's lair, a neat prelude to Luke and Leia doing the same thing in 'A New Hope'. Sinbad's sword fight with the skeleton of course was recreated any number of times using light sabers by various characters in the Star Wars universe.If there's one thing I thought the film makers might have improved on it would have been the casting of the lamp genie. The young Richard Eyer just didn't seem to have the charisma that was needed to pull off the magic genie theatrics that the story called for. But he's not on screen all that much so I wouldn't consider him an impediment to enjoying the picture.

Top notch entertainment, a vivid fantasy-adventure starring Kerwin Mathews as the heroic Sinbad, who's conned into returning to an exotic isle by a conniving, greedy, grasping magician named Sokurah (Torin Thatcher). Sinbad will have his hands full transporting his beloved, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), who's been shrunk to miniature size. Among the magnificent Ray Harryhausen-created monsters he and his friends must vanquish are a Cyclops, a great two-headed bird, and a dragon.This is fun for families, if perhaps somewhat intense at one point, as a Cyclops prepares a sailor for being eaten. The colour photography by Wilkie Cooper is breathtaking, as are the costumes, the production design, and the location shooting. Bernard Herrmanns' rousing score is one of his best. And, of course, the Harryhausen effects are extremely enjoyable - the highlight, as many people will tell you, is the climactic sword fight with a skeleton.Mathews is a handsome and innately likable hero; the lovely Grant is likewise endearing. Youthful Richard Eyer is an appealing child Genie, while Thatcher is a delightfully hammy villain.Director Nathan Juran serves up spectacle with style, crafting some grand escapist fare that still works quite well 57 years later.Eight out of 10.