MickeyMoose15
07-05-2003, 08:40 PM
Released July 2nd, 2003
Director: Tim Johnson, Patrick Gilmore
Starring: Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert, Adriano Giannini
Premise: Sinbad (Pitt), the most daring and notorious rogue ever to sail the seven seas, has spent his life asking for trouble, and trouble has finally answered... in a big way. Framed for stealing one of the world's most priceless and powerful treasures-the Book of Peace-Sinbad has one chance to find and return the precious book or his best friend Proteus (Fiennes) will die. Sinbad decides not to take that chance and instead sets a course for the fun and sun of the Fiji Islands. But not so fast. Proteus' beautiful bethrothed, Marina (Zeta-Jones), has stowed away, determined to make sure that Sinbad fulfills his mission. Now the man who put the 'bad' in Sinbad is about to find out how bad bad can be. It's never a good thing when Eris, the goddess of Chaos (Pfeiffer), has it out for you, and Eris lives to her name-dispatching both monstruous creatures and the elements to do battle with Sinbad along the way. There is even mutiny afoot-times four-when Sinbad's loyal dog Spike switches allegiances. But those challenges don't compare to one small but formidable woman named Marina.
It was no surprise that when Jeffrey Katzenberg left the Walt Disney Company in 1994 to form his own studios with Steven Spielberg, he would create his own animation unit as well. Though many animators would come from the Disney animation division, Dreamworks has been able to create its own style uniquely different from that of Disney. They have had some successes including The Prince of Egypt, Antz and Shrek but also some failures like Road to El Dorado and Spirit. Looking at their list of animated films, most of their successes came from PDI, their computer animation unit, while all their failures were traditionally animated. That would make sense as traditional animation seems to be on the way out. With that in mind, Dreamworks’ latest animated venture, Sinbad, already has one strike against it. Being an animated action adventure film is yet another strike against the film as other films just like Sinbad (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, and Titan A.E.) have failed in the same area of animation. And was it mentioned that it involved pirates? What is wrong with pirates? In the movie industry, they are box office poison though Pirates of the Caribbean hopes to change all that. The slow start on marketing and the marketing itself haven’t helped the image of this film. With so many strikes against the film already, can this film survive or is Sinbad too bad?
The story follows the many amazing adventures of Sinbad, one of the greatest thieves the world has ever known. Sinbad is always getting into trouble which is no problem for him at all. Just another day on the job stealing treasure from all corners of the world. But this time around, Sinbad is too over his head. The goddess of Chaos, Eris, gets bored with the normal peaceful world, so she decides to shake things up in a big way. Eris, disguised as Sinbad, steals the Book of Peace and frames the famous thief. But Sinbad’s best friend, Proteus, decides to take the place of the thief in order for him to retrieve the lost treasure. Sinbad, on the other hand, has different plans but change his mind when Proteus’ girlfriend, Marina, decides to tag along to make the job gets done. Now the crew is on the ride of their life as they battle the elements, along with a few monsters, to retrieve the Book of Peace and save the life of Proteus before it is too late. The story for Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is moderate at best. There are many wonderful action sequences but everything else just falls flat. The dialogue is too modern and really doesn’t feel right in the film. At points in the film, the film feels at a right pace but then swings into quick moods of fast paced action that seem too quick. There is some consistency in the film but not throughout the script.
Though there are some famous voices behind the characters of this film, they don’t really stand out much. Brad Pitt, who took over the role after Russell Crowe dropped out, voices the great thief Sinbad. From what was seen in the film, there was probably a pretty good reason why Crowe decided to drop out. The character is more of an anti-hero in the legend but the script tries too hard just to make him a straight forward hero. Pitt doesn’t help the character as his voice work is too dull and flat to give much excitement to Sinbad. How about some emotion in the voice work Brad? Is that too much to ask? Not much to complain about the character of Marina, voiced by Chicago star Catherine-Zeta Jones. The script tries too hard to try and start a romantic spark between her character and Sinbad but other then that, Jones does a very good job. Michelle Pfeiffer is amazingly creepy as the voice of Eric the goddess of Chaos. The only problem is that as central as her character is in the film, she isn’t seen much, which is a shame since much of the animation done on her is very good. Joseph Fiennes is good as the voice of Proteus but the problem is that his character so rarely seen or talked about throughout the film. There is so little known about the character that you don’t feel emotion for him when he is about to die.
Overall, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, as good as it tries to be, signals another nail in the coffin of traditional animation. It would have been much better if Dreamworks would have stuck with the legendary stories about the famous thief instead of making up their own story that tries too hard to make Sinbad a straight forward hero. The greatness about the character is that he isn’t supposed to be a hero. He does great things but he does them for himself and himself only. His character was about the freedom of living on the high seas and not listening to anybody. The animated film just ruins that effect. Speaking of effects, the computer animation used to create the waves of the ocean as well as the many monsters Sinbad faces does not blend well at all with the traditional animation. Some of the effects, like the monster at the beginning of the film, just looked totally ridiculous. There were many things that just didn’t seem to make sense like The Book of Peace. What is the point of the Book of Peace? What does it do? From what was seen in the film, all it does is make everything turn dark and nothing more. The ending was just absolutely absurd. Sinbad returns the book and Marina, who at the beginning was engaged to Proteus, has fallen in love with Sinbad. But Proteus, who is nearly killed not once but twice during the film thanks to this guy, is absolutely fine with this. Are they nuts? Speaking of which, what does Marina see in Sinbad anyway? What ever it is can not be seen within the course of the film. Sadly this film may make more business then Treasure Planet, which is an absolute shame.
My Rating: ** ½ out of 5 (Grade: D+)
Director: Tim Johnson, Patrick Gilmore
Starring: Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert, Adriano Giannini
Premise: Sinbad (Pitt), the most daring and notorious rogue ever to sail the seven seas, has spent his life asking for trouble, and trouble has finally answered... in a big way. Framed for stealing one of the world's most priceless and powerful treasures-the Book of Peace-Sinbad has one chance to find and return the precious book or his best friend Proteus (Fiennes) will die. Sinbad decides not to take that chance and instead sets a course for the fun and sun of the Fiji Islands. But not so fast. Proteus' beautiful bethrothed, Marina (Zeta-Jones), has stowed away, determined to make sure that Sinbad fulfills his mission. Now the man who put the 'bad' in Sinbad is about to find out how bad bad can be. It's never a good thing when Eris, the goddess of Chaos (Pfeiffer), has it out for you, and Eris lives to her name-dispatching both monstruous creatures and the elements to do battle with Sinbad along the way. There is even mutiny afoot-times four-when Sinbad's loyal dog Spike switches allegiances. But those challenges don't compare to one small but formidable woman named Marina.
It was no surprise that when Jeffrey Katzenberg left the Walt Disney Company in 1994 to form his own studios with Steven Spielberg, he would create his own animation unit as well. Though many animators would come from the Disney animation division, Dreamworks has been able to create its own style uniquely different from that of Disney. They have had some successes including The Prince of Egypt, Antz and Shrek but also some failures like Road to El Dorado and Spirit. Looking at their list of animated films, most of their successes came from PDI, their computer animation unit, while all their failures were traditionally animated. That would make sense as traditional animation seems to be on the way out. With that in mind, Dreamworks’ latest animated venture, Sinbad, already has one strike against it. Being an animated action adventure film is yet another strike against the film as other films just like Sinbad (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, and Titan A.E.) have failed in the same area of animation. And was it mentioned that it involved pirates? What is wrong with pirates? In the movie industry, they are box office poison though Pirates of the Caribbean hopes to change all that. The slow start on marketing and the marketing itself haven’t helped the image of this film. With so many strikes against the film already, can this film survive or is Sinbad too bad?
The story follows the many amazing adventures of Sinbad, one of the greatest thieves the world has ever known. Sinbad is always getting into trouble which is no problem for him at all. Just another day on the job stealing treasure from all corners of the world. But this time around, Sinbad is too over his head. The goddess of Chaos, Eris, gets bored with the normal peaceful world, so she decides to shake things up in a big way. Eris, disguised as Sinbad, steals the Book of Peace and frames the famous thief. But Sinbad’s best friend, Proteus, decides to take the place of the thief in order for him to retrieve the lost treasure. Sinbad, on the other hand, has different plans but change his mind when Proteus’ girlfriend, Marina, decides to tag along to make the job gets done. Now the crew is on the ride of their life as they battle the elements, along with a few monsters, to retrieve the Book of Peace and save the life of Proteus before it is too late. The story for Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is moderate at best. There are many wonderful action sequences but everything else just falls flat. The dialogue is too modern and really doesn’t feel right in the film. At points in the film, the film feels at a right pace but then swings into quick moods of fast paced action that seem too quick. There is some consistency in the film but not throughout the script.
Though there are some famous voices behind the characters of this film, they don’t really stand out much. Brad Pitt, who took over the role after Russell Crowe dropped out, voices the great thief Sinbad. From what was seen in the film, there was probably a pretty good reason why Crowe decided to drop out. The character is more of an anti-hero in the legend but the script tries too hard just to make him a straight forward hero. Pitt doesn’t help the character as his voice work is too dull and flat to give much excitement to Sinbad. How about some emotion in the voice work Brad? Is that too much to ask? Not much to complain about the character of Marina, voiced by Chicago star Catherine-Zeta Jones. The script tries too hard to try and start a romantic spark between her character and Sinbad but other then that, Jones does a very good job. Michelle Pfeiffer is amazingly creepy as the voice of Eric the goddess of Chaos. The only problem is that as central as her character is in the film, she isn’t seen much, which is a shame since much of the animation done on her is very good. Joseph Fiennes is good as the voice of Proteus but the problem is that his character so rarely seen or talked about throughout the film. There is so little known about the character that you don’t feel emotion for him when he is about to die.
Overall, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, as good as it tries to be, signals another nail in the coffin of traditional animation. It would have been much better if Dreamworks would have stuck with the legendary stories about the famous thief instead of making up their own story that tries too hard to make Sinbad a straight forward hero. The greatness about the character is that he isn’t supposed to be a hero. He does great things but he does them for himself and himself only. His character was about the freedom of living on the high seas and not listening to anybody. The animated film just ruins that effect. Speaking of effects, the computer animation used to create the waves of the ocean as well as the many monsters Sinbad faces does not blend well at all with the traditional animation. Some of the effects, like the monster at the beginning of the film, just looked totally ridiculous. There were many things that just didn’t seem to make sense like The Book of Peace. What is the point of the Book of Peace? What does it do? From what was seen in the film, all it does is make everything turn dark and nothing more. The ending was just absolutely absurd. Sinbad returns the book and Marina, who at the beginning was engaged to Proteus, has fallen in love with Sinbad. But Proteus, who is nearly killed not once but twice during the film thanks to this guy, is absolutely fine with this. Are they nuts? Speaking of which, what does Marina see in Sinbad anyway? What ever it is can not be seen within the course of the film. Sadly this film may make more business then Treasure Planet, which is an absolute shame.
My Rating: ** ½ out of 5 (Grade: D+)