Movie Review: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

, in Fantasy, Films

The legendary sailor is forced to form a crew of untrustworthy criminals and sail to a remote island filled with every kind of stop-montion animated peril when his fiancée is cursed .

I had good memories of the Sinbad from watching them on TV as a child, and I am happy to report that The 7th Voyage of Sinbad has aged quite well for a nearly 50 year old fantasy film. The plot is simplistic to the extreme and is mainly an excuse to move from action set-piece to action set-piece, but it gets the job done. Unlike other films of the era (and today), 7th Voyage does not skimp on the special effects, with magical creatures in abundance. Unfortunately, they don't really do much except fight Sinbad's crew or each other.

The special effects are by the famous Ray Harryhausen. By todays standards they are not terribly convincing, but they are still immensely appealing due to fantastic (in both senses of the word) design and detail. Many of the creatures exhibit more emotion than most of the cast, and you can see the care and skill that went into the animation.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing.