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Jason and the Argonauts

Jason and the Argonauts

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $15.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nostalgiac Fun
Review: I popped in this DVD very wary of how I would feel about an old childhood favorite after years of not seeing it. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that the film is still a lot of fun. Yes, a lot of the effects (blue screen, etc.) are unconvincing and show their age, but geeeez, the movie's almost 40 years old so what can you expect. This was a real stunner in it's day and Harryhausen's stop-motion sequences still outshine any boring CGI effect in today's cookie-cutter movies (just look at the awful recent TV remake with all those cheesy computer effects --- there's no contest!) The skeleton battle is most well-known, but I have a special fondness for Talos which was the first scene that caught my eye as a young kid on Saturday afternoon TV in the late 60's. Glad to see that "Jason" still has it's magic (along with some acceptable campiness) and the DVD is a nice presentation (there are some slight flaws to the print materials and grain in some scenes). The Harryhausen interview (with John Landis) is interesting and the original trailer is also included on the DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jason and the fleeing Acting Coach
Review: WWWWWeeeww! Man that acting smells! I thought there was a dead animal somewhere in my house but the acting! Wretched acting! Seriously though, nobody should see this movie unless they are only doing it to re-live some nostalgic memories or for the amazing stop-motion work of hollywood bum turned genius Ray Harryhausen. Good show gentle sir!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's All Harryhausen and Herrman
Review: This movie is not as good as my childhood recollections. Visually, it suffers from a very unmagical TV blandness (except for Harryhausen's stop-action, which is still an f/x high bar). A lot of the acting is really appalling. Todd Armstrong plays Jason as a boring prig with tiny eyes and a voice that seems dubbed from a spaghetti western. Makes you wish they had cast someone like William Shatner (but the movie's look is already too "Star Trek"). Herrman's score is great. But I prefer the memories...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Still a Golden Oldie
Review: The special effects in this film are excellent, in particular the Giant Bronze Statue, Talos, that came to life. The way Talos moved had me on the edge of my seat, all creaky and big!. All the special effects were good but these two stand out. Though the story line is good, Ray Harryhausen, is definitely the star of this film!.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lots of thrills if you're a kid!
Review: My four year old adores this movie. He's had me rent it 10+ times so now I'm just going to buy the darned thing because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight!

It's "special effects" are charming.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A magical film that conveys a real sense of wonder.
Review: Don Chaffey was obstensibly the director of this movie but the mark of effects meister Ray Harryhausen is seen in almost every frame. Indeed, Harryhausen designed most of the major effects sequences for the film before a script had even been written, and as such "Jason" is almost pure Harryhausen from start to finish.

A master of drawing character from his latex and steel creations, Harryhausen's work on this movie transcends most CGI animation work done to date and even rivals the computer character creations seen in "The Phantom Menace". While maybe not as technically polished as the Star Wars creations are, Harryhausen's creatures have a real sense of character and life that does much to allow the viewing audience to suspend disbelief.

Due acknowledgement must also be given to composer Bernard Herrman for a stirring score that contributes greatly to creating the "sense of wonder" that is so prevalent in this movie. His trumpeting horns in the giant statue "Talos" sequence does much to lend a sense of massive scale to the sequence.

The skeleton fight near the end of the movie will perhaps be most famous sequence ever made by Harryhausen. The "Pharoh's undead army" sequence at the end of Universal's "The Mummy" is a clear tribute to Harryhausen's "Jason" skeleton sequence, and even with the flawless compositions and fluid, natural movements seen in "The Mummy" somehow don't quite compare to Harryhausens skeletons.

"Jason and the Argonauts" is a magical, wonderful movie, to be popped into the VCR along with the "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" for an evening of real family entertainment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: To Be A Child Again
Review: One of my fondest childhood memories was to spend Christmas Eve sitting near a warm fire watching the annual screening of "Jason and the Argonauts". As a teenager I stopped watching the film deciding that I had grown beyond it. A couple of years I rediscovered the film and found that I enjoyed as much as I ever did. All I need is to find a cabin somewhere in the wilds, take my DVD player up there and spend Christmas Eve as it was meant to be - next to a warm fire with "Jason..." playing away.

There is a sense of wonder and imagination to this film seldom echoed in the special fx epics of today, all bogged down with stupid (rather than stupendous) stunt sequences. This is good fun, highly enjoyable and a wonderful story.

This is a good DVD transfer - the picture is excellent (finally, the chance to see it in widescreen) and the sound is good. If you remember this from your childhood and wondeer if it is as good now then let me assure you that it has lost none of its magic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 'The Best movie ever," said Tom Hanks
Review: The year Ray Harryhausen was given a special academy award for his years of service as an animator Tom Hanks presented the award he was quoted as saying..... The greatest movie ever made was Jason and the Argonauts!! Quite a statemnt from a two-time Oscar winner. Nuff said

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the greatest stop-motion animation ever done by man!
Review: All I can say is anyone who thinks that the new computer animation is hot stuff should see what a true master can do. Without adoubt the job Harryhausen does in this movie put anything done since then to shame. The truly great effects and a really good story, Jason is sent on a quest to find the Golden fleece, along the way he fights a horde of mythical monsters, Talos the metal giant, the harpies,the hydra and lastly the seven children of the hydra, skeletons. The fight of three men and seven bone men is jaw-dropping amazing, once seen it will never be forgotten, that fight alone is worth the priced of the tape. In closing I sez buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than at the drive-in
Review: I first saw this at the drive-in when I was about 10 or so. It was that, a Simbad movie and Clash of the Titans. Jason was cooler, and he never lost his helmet or sword when he fought bad guys. The fact that he never has a helmet in the movie is of little consequence. He just wouldn't loose it if he had one. That is how cool this guy is. I love this DVD. I don't care about the technical end. Sometimes I think the reviewers are a bit up tight don't you? Hey, the picture looks better than VHS. The sound is better than VHS. I don't even have to buy a new copy every 2 years due to wear. Yeah!


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