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Sinbad - Legend of the Seven Seas (Full Screen Edition)

Sinbad - Legend of the Seven Seas (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Road to El Dorado meets Disneys Tarzan
Review: Take the best animation and action from RTED and Disneys Tarzan and you get this surprisingly good Cartoon movie. Surprising, only because when we bought this I was cool to the notion that someone was doing another SINBAD movie. But this is very well done on all levels.

All my children enjoyed, girls and boys, for its action and romance, balanced to hold the attentions of an ADHD child AND his sisters.

the animation and action sequenced are often just plain WOW. Our family highly recommends this movie to you and your family.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Sinbad as in Bad movie
Review: There was one memorable scene in the movie, where Sinbad was jokingly introducing himself as Sin bad because he "sin"'s and is "bad" as in good. I started laughing because all I could think of was SinBad as in a really bad, terrible movie. This picture is plagued with many problems. First of all, while the animation is generally top notch, the animator's mixed in glaringly poor computer animation. This gave the movie a cheesy, inconsistent look. Secondly, the characters were cardboard cutouts. The movie didn't develop any characters. Instead, it just relied on cliche's and gave a fake feel of development. Thirdly, the whole story and "adventure" was extremely dull. There were scenes after scenes of action, but rather than being a delight, they just seemed like space fillers for the lame story. I would generally like to get into much deeper details, but seeing how I wasted enough time with this movie, I will just say a few more words. I bought this title because I loved both Prince of Egypt and Joseph, two previous titles from Dreamworks. I'm not a religious nut... but am a cartoon nut (owning most Disney classics). I saw the reviews on amazon and thought that people were being too harsh and purchased the movie anyways. I now realize that people were being too nice.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Swashbuckling fun
Review: I'm confused. Although I'll admit that's a natural state of being most of the time, it isn't regarding this fine film; critics slammed Sinbad when it came out. Is it because the animation, writing or voice performances are bad? No, actually all are exceptional. I personally believe it's something of a Dreamworks backlash of some sort (or, perhaps, a backlash against hand drawn animation after lots of CGI animated features).

Parents need to throw out all expectationst that this has anything to do with the Sinbad films Ray Harryhausen made or that it might have something to do with the Arabian Nights; neither is the case. Instead, what we are given is a very entertaining original film scripted by John Logan (The Time Machine and Star Trek; Nemesis).

Unlike Harryhausen's epic adventures, this Sinbad is a pirate raiding vessels on the Seven Seas. He's intent on stealing the Book of Peace a magical, legendary book that will fetch quite a surprise. What he doesn't intent on discovering is his old friend Proteus guarding the book and competition from the goddess Eris. When Sinbad spoils her attempt to take the book (she has the ship attacked by one of her squid creatures), she makes a bargain with the drowning Sinbad; obtain the book for her and she'll provide him with untold riches. Unfortunately, it's a bargain that she has no intention of keeping.

Sinbad follows his old friend Proteus to the city of Syracuse where the book is to be enshrined in one of the city's temples. There Sinbad also meets an old flame Marina. Turns out Marina is bethroed to Proteus. Eris disguises herself as Sinbad and takes the Book of Peace. Sinbad is thrown in jail with a sentence of death. Proetus stands up for Sinbad and offers himself as a prisoner in place of Sinbad so that Sinbad may obtain the Book back from Eris. Marina decides to go along to insure Sinbad will do the job so that Proetus will be spared death.

This wouldn't be a Sinbad movie if our hero didn't encounter a Cyclops and other nasty beasts along the way and defeat them. Sinbad is full of swasbuckling fun and beautifully designed animation. The integration of hand drawn and CGI designed animation enhances the film giving it a depth missing from more traditional looking films like Disney's fine Brother Bear.

Much of the criticism seems to be centered around the voice acting by Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joseph Fiennes and Michelle Pfeiffer. All do very good to exceptional work in the feature. Perhaps it bothered critics that the Dreamworks tried to sell the film on the stars' appeal vs. the film's qualities itself. Either way, both the stars and the film are outstanding.

The DVD transfer is exceptionally sharp and crisp. The colors are rendered nicely and the action sequences look great whether you watch them on the pan and scan version or widescreen. The direction by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson is vivid and the look, texture and tone of the film is very good.

The extras include an interact game/sequence set on Cyclops Island where you can pick which character to follow. There's also a trifle where you can learn about Spot Sinbad's pet dog and printable mazes, masks and a Cyclops Island Board Game (all of these are accessable with the DVD-Rom portion of the disc). There's also a section that concentrates on the gross out scenes and monster moments as they call it (I haven't watched that portion of the DVD yet). Additionally, there's a documentary about the making of the film that's average. The director's commentary is interesting and provides some interesting insights for animation fans although kids will be less than riveted by this feature.

Use of the dual layer format allows this epic film to look exceptional on DVD. There's few to none digital or analog artifacts visible. For fans of fun and swashbuckling adventure, Sinbad provides an entertaining evening for all ages.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you like the Sinbad movies, get this!
Review: I didn't see this in theaters for several reasons. I'm sorry now that I didn't. This easily ranks with the Ray Harryhausen live action Sinbad movies. It's also an interesting contrast in style when compared to "Finding Nemo", released about the same time.

The animation quality in Nemo was truly astounding. However the plot wasn't all that great, aimed obviously at children. The most interesting characters in Nemo were the secondary ones, led by Ellen DeGeneres who really stole the show. The lead characters, in particular, were pretty one-dimensional and quite often insipid.

By contrast, the animation in Sinbad is a highly stylized marriage of Japanese anime and almost photo realistic computer graphics. In this, it's even somewhat reminiscent of Harryhausen's work - although the man was a genius, you never got the impression that his stop-motion animated creatures were real. The opposite relationship exists in this Sinbad, though - the CGI monsters are quite realistic and the characters are obviously stylized artwork.

Where the new show clearly differs is in the plot. In this Sinbad, the plot and characters are what drives the show. The plot is pretty straightforward, but the back story of the characters is only slowly revealed. The anime-like characters display a wide range of physicality and emotion. More importantly, the plot touches on serious themes of character, principle, loss and redemption. In that sense, it's head and shoulders above the live action Sinbad movies. Perhaps more significantly, the themes in this movie are targeted just as much toward adults as children. As with any Sinbad movie, there's action galore, all well staged and building to suitable climaxes. However, in the end, the movie is about putting love, friendship and principle ahead of personal interest. These characters display a nobility you don't often find in modern films of any sort, and I find that refreshing.

Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Robust and nostalgic
Review: For any of you who are veterans of the original tales of the cunning sailor Sinbad you may find yourself surprised...but pleasantly!

Sinbad, I must admit, shocked me quite thoroughly. I quite stalwartly refused to watch the film in theatres, afraid that my view of the old hero would be stricken down by the saddeningly medicore turn that animated adventure has taken. You know the type. All you have to do is look at the movie cover and you already know the plot, every 'plot twist', and the outcome. Horribly boring and unsatisfying.

However Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, was quite the contrary to what I expected. As it happened, I sat spellbound the entire picture, totally transfixed by a world that has been flawlessly delivered in such a short time. The characters are engaging, witty, and utterly charming, from the knightly Proteus, to the daring rogue Sinbad, and finally the witty ambassador Marina.

Another point not to be missed in this film is the stunning blending of the realms of 3d and 2d to create scenic backdrops, rollicking adventure, and some of the most fantastic animated monsters to claw their way out of the depths since The Hobbit was animated (don't worry parents! Children will be too busy being awed to be frightened of the larger than life beasts!). Several animation firsts are achieved in this glorious animated adventure, adding novelty to nostalgia!

All in all, Sinbad is a lively retelling of old classics, sure to delight those who are willing to listen and be absorbed into their world.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A highly entertaining animated film
Review: Although it's obvious that Finding Nemo will win best animated film this year, Sinbad deserves to at least be nominated. It's fun for the whole family and the animation is very nice. The animation during the action scenes is smoothly done. The voice performances are all well performed as well. Especially Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad and Michelle Pfeiffer as the voice of the goddess of chaos. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is one of the best adventure films you'll ever see even if it is an animated film. It's so good that I wouldn't mind sequels. It's a lot more entertaining and original than Disney's Treasure Planet as well.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: BETTER THAN YOU HEARD
Review: Though not a theatrical hit, SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS (DreamWorks) is much more entertaining than I expected. Sinbad's quest to recover the Book of Peace from the edge of the world is an uneven mix of Arabian Nights elements, manga style characters, beautiful background art and the voices of Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Mind-numbing schlock
Review: Much like the even more atrocious 'The Road to El Dorado', 'Sinbad' is gallingly formulaic and frenzied, bordering on the hyperactive, condensing countless classic yarns into an incoherent mess. Add to that the energetic but chaotic action and cheesy (and at times even preachy) banter by 'Time Machine' and 'Star Trek: Nemesis' scribe John Logan, as well as a failure to blend its CGI with the regular hand-drawn animation, and you get a maddening and mind-numbing bit of cinematic waste, redeemed ONLY by its superior score. The plot is fragmented and the action is bloodless and bland (too fast-paced, too many quick cuts). Many characters (especially that horrible sidekick Spike) are hackneyed and the dialogue is filled with annoying anachronisms.

Schlock!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dreamworks is no better then Disney
Review: I saw this in theaters. It had Manga style animation and terrible voice acting. I don't know why Dreamworks is trying to be better then Disney, they both seem to make terrible movies (both animated and live action.)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fun but marred by a strong sense of predictability
Review: The newest animated Disney flick "Sinbad" is another sweet and fun film for younger viewers to enjoy and makes for a pleasant escape from the excessively cold and violent movies of around the same time span.

The story is of an exiled sailor who steals treasures from the sea but one day he is framed for stealing the world's most sacred treasure Book of Peace from and is now on a quest to recover and return the Book of Peace from the Goddess of discord Erris (Michelle Pfieffer). Proteus, the prince of the village, and an old childhood friend of Sinbad (they grew apart over the years), is risking being put to death for setting Sinbad free and now sinbad must recover the Book of Peace from Erris at the edge of the world before the tenth day or else Proteus will be given the guillotine.

Sinbad however, steers in a different direction for the fun and sun of Fiji but a young and attractive woman named Marina, bride of the prince Proteus, sneaks along and is determined to make sure that Sinbad and his crew stay on course on their mission to recover the Book of Peace and save Proteus' life.

This movie has beautiful animated landscape scenery and is a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately, it is also very predictable and does not cover any new grounds at all.

The main villain Erris, is NOT the attractive babe that this movie portrays her as. She, according to legend, was a very hideous monster and became very angry and evil due to her ugliness. That's why she is the Goddess of Discord.

"Sinbad" is a fun and charming movie and worth checking out but just a rule of thumb, don't expect anything that will leave you floored with awe, or leave behind any lasting impression. Still a decent movie, without being amazing.


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