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Summary: The Most Entertaining Harryhausen Movie of All
Review: "Clash of the Titans" may have sported more stop-motion monsters. "Jason and the Argonauts" may have had the most impressive Harryhausen scene (the skeleton battle.) But no other movie featuring his special effects can hold the value of awe and joy captured by The "7th Voyage of Sinbad."I call it a Harryhausen movie because that is exactly what it is. Movies sporting his creations are never credited to the director, producer, or even lead actors. What makes the movies tend to be Harryhausen's tireless work on animating the monsters on the screen. In spite of this truth, "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" manages to hold onto the audience through the entire film, not simply during the monster sequences. When I was younger and watching "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," I remember fast-forwarding until the monster would appear again. Only later did I sit through the actor-dominated areas of the movie. This was one movie I did not have to do so with as a 10-year old eager to see Harryhausen's effects (even by then, I knew his name.) The movie begins on a foggy night, where Sinbad (Kerwin Matthews,) after apparently a long time at sea on his way to Baghdad, stumbles upon the island of Colossa in search of food and water to continue the voyage. Accompanying he and his crew is Princess Parissa (Kathryn Grant,) who is to be wed to Sinbad upon their arrival in the city. The marriage is not only one of love, but of peace, so that Parissa's father will not go to war with Baghdad. On the island, they meet the sorcerer Sokura (Torin Thatcher,) being chased by a gigantic cyclops. While Sinbad and his men distract the wonderfully animated creature, Sokura uses his magic lamp to summon a Genie (Richard Eyer) to aid in their escape. However, the lamp is lost during the escape, and Sokura demands to return to the island and retrieve it. When no one will agree to do so, he takes matters into his own hands, shrinking the Princess to the size of a small figurine and claiming that the only way to change her back (and avoid war) is to get a piece of roc eggshell from the peaks of Colossa. The adventure is the voyage back to Colossa and the time spent there retrieving the eggshell, with struggles between men and monsters, and among the men themselves. The acting, while sub-par in some places, is decent throughout the movie, while the story, despite being simple, is enough to hold the attention of the viewer. A department equally on par with Harryhausen's effects is the musical score composed by Bernard Herrmann, which adds excitement and atmosphere that truly makes the entire movie a wonderful experience. As for the DVD itself, it features a couple Behind the Scenes sections, a segment with Harryhausen himself, and several movie trailers. Everything looks and sounds superb, and I can think of no finer way to present the film unless there was an animated menu, which would be asking for a bit much from an already excellent movie. For those of you who have seen the "Voyage," this is the perfect way to own it. For those who haven't, you should, and there's not yet a better way to see it. -Escushion
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Summary: From the land beyond- beyond...
Review: "From the land beyond- beyond.
From the world past hope and fear,
I bid you Genie now appear."
I always get goosebumps everytime I watch this movie. Suddenly I'm 8 years old again. The stop motion "Dynamation" is still amazing. Ray Harryhausen's ground breaking and painstaking effects defined every fantasy and science fiction film to come. However as an adult there are some "gaffs" in the production that can cause some unintentional humor. The first thing is Sinbad's ship. If you look closely it is three different ships. One of my favorite scenes is where the mini-princess helps Sinbad escape from the Cyclops'cage by pushing a giant cork off the trap door latch. The next shot shows Sinbad flinging the door open that the Princess a moment before was standing upon. All in all a classic of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: First and best of the Sinbad movies....
Review: 7th Voyage of Sinbad was a pioneering movie for Ray Harryhausen in a couple of ways. First it was the first movie that was done in color and it showed that Ray's effects work could work just as effectively in color (even more so then black and white). It was the first movie that Ray did which delt with creatures from classical mythology and he found that he had more freedom in using stop motion effects on fantasy monster characters because he could have them move in ways that were not limited to actual animal movements. This added to the believeability of these creatures. It was the first movie that Ray worked with composer Bernard Herrmann, whose music fitted the picture and the effects work like a good pair of shoes. And then there is the realistic performance of Kerwim Matthews who did such a great job of reacting to the effects work. His facsial expressions when he was supposed to be looking at a Cyclops or the Dragon are so convincing and added to the realisism of the film. This was one of Ray's best movies and it still is enjoyed by everyone today.
Rating:
Summary: Very "Sinbad like"
Review: A very cool movie, with lots of fighting which I like. Sinbad, played by Kerwin Mathews, seems to me kind of Indian instead of a man from Baghdad. When I first saw the movie, I liked it. When my dad came home, I was anxious to tell him about it.
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Summary: Fine fantasy film one of the best Sinbad adventures as well.
Review: After a couple of classic fantasy films (20 Million Miles to Earth) and a couple of duds (It Came from Beneath the Sea), Harryhausen found his niche. His best films were related to mythology and fantasy adventures. Jason and the Argonauts still stands as Harryhausen's best feature but 7th Voyage has a charm all its own. What it lacks in sharp, crisp direction it more than makes up for in swashbuckling fun. Kerwin Mathews plays Sinbad a bit stiffly but does have the atheleticism necessary for the role. While John Philip Law (who plays Sinbad in Golden Voyage) is a better actor he fails to capture the swagger of Sinbad. Matthews vividly brings Sinbad to life despite his limitations as an actor. Torin Thatcher chews up the scenery as if to make up for the shortcomings of some of the actors. He is the perfect over the top villian for this piece. The special effects are still powerful and the print used here is one of the best I've seen. The extras are really nice particularly the interview with Harryhausen by John Landis. The interactive menu is easy to use and the inclusion of a number of trailers reminded me how the art of creating trailers has changed over the years. It was also nice to see Matthews interviewed about the film in the supplementary section. All in all this is a terrific fantasy film that combines great optical effects, animation and colorful performances to create a great version of the 1001 Nights fantasy tale. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Harryhausen Masterpiece
Review: An excellent fantasy, this motion picture is also the standard in the painstaking process of stop-animation and model-making that began with King Kong and Mighty Joe Young (the original b&w). For classic Ray Harryhausen, the famous animator and creator of "Claymation", this is the film. No kid, big or small, can resist the adventure.
Rating: 
Summary: Great in its day
Review: As a kid i loved this movie and was in awe of the special effects. Still better than a Godzilla movie even today. Rent it and see, my son liked it.
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Summary: Action Adventure with Kerwin Matthews and Ray Harryhausen
Review: Even with the current state of digital special effects the stop-motion miniatures of Dynamation, also called Dynarama, are incredible. It is amazing to see the kind of magic that special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen was able to wrest from his miniatures. When wires were required to support certain features I was unable to find them even when searching for them.
This 1958 movie was the first of three Sinbad movies for which Ray Harryhausen created special effects. However, as has been said by many others, Harryhausen's special effects often did as much acting as the actors themselves, showing emotions and often intent, and the blend of special effects and live acting turns movies such as this into a viewing experience.
In this movie Sinbad (Kerwin Matthews) is on a quest to find the egg of a Roc to return his love Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant, soon to be Mrs. Crosby at that time), who has been reduced to miniature size, back to her full height. Sokurah the Magician (Torin Thatcher), who needs a piece of Roc egg in order to restore the Princess to her full height, sent Sinbad on this quest. Only the audience knows that Sokurah reduced the Princess to force Sinbad to go on the quest. Sokurah's ulterior motive is that a magic lamp containing a genie is on the same island as the Roc egg, and Sokurah plans to obtain the lamp during the quest.
During the quest to find the Roc egg we meet a cloven-hoofed Cyclops, a full grown two-headed Roc and a Roc chick, a marvelously animated dragon, and an incredible skeleton in a fight sequence with outstanding human actor interface.
While this movie is rated G, I recall when I was much younger that it was movies such as these that generated more than one nightmare, so you may want to consider whether younger members of the family should be permitted to watch this movie.
The DVD also contains several excellent features for Ray Harryhausen fans. There is a feature titled the "Ray Harryhausen Chronicles" that is an interview with Ray that includes an overview of his life along with a variety of film clips and stills. Also included are portions of his first storybook shorts, including the final one that he started, "The Tortoise and the Hare," but never completed. I thought the Ray Harryhausen related features were worth the value of the DVD alone. However, I have been a Harryhausen fan since the 60s.
The special effects featurette "This is Dynamation" is suitably campy and reminded me of the over-hyped style of 50s movies. Viewers whose primary language is Thai, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean will find subtitles available.
This DVD has a lot to offer to fans of Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion photography, fantasy, and Sinbad. This DVD is also contained in the "Sinbad Collection," which includes Harryhausen's other two Sinbad movies and offers a reduced price per DVD for the three DVD set.
Rating:
Summary: Big Time Fun
Review: Got this for my 6 year old's birthday. I love it as much as he does. Ray Harryhausen is a one of a kind artist. The battle between the cyclops and dragon is incredible. Get the DVD version so you can watch this adventure over and over without wearing it out.
Rating:
Summary: Ray Harryhausen's classic
Review: Great action. Great music. Great monsters! What more can you ask for. THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD is one of my all time favorite fantasy movies. I would count this, along with the silent version of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD starring Douglas Fairbanks and the 1940 remake with Sabu as the three greatest Arabian Nights adventure films ever made. What makes 7TH VOYAGE stand out among the three, however, are Ray Harryhausen's wonderful stop-motion effects. While there are some who consider the monsters in this movie "fake looking", for me, I actually prefer to watch this style rather than overblown video game-like effects that CGI offers us. Harryhausen's creatures have much more personality. I actually felt sorry for the Cyclops when he gets killed by the Dragon. Ditto for the Dragon when he gets killed by the large cross-bow. Kerwin Mathews, to me IS Sinbad. Every time the name "Sinbad" comes up, I always have to think of Kerwin Mathews. Kathyrn Grant is truly beautiful as the Princess. I also like Richard Eyer as the boy genie. Torin Thatcher, as the evil sorcerer Sokurah, is one of my favorite movie characters of all time. Foes of Sinbad in his later features like THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD and SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER, just lacked the strong presence that Thatcher brought to his character. As Leonard Maltin putting so well - "It's a winner all the way."
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