Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Ain't It Cool News
June 18, 2003
By Capone
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
In the grand scheme of big studio animated features, Sinbad isn’t so bad. Co-directed by Patrick Gilmore and Antz helmer Tim Johnson, Sinbad is actually kind of cool at times. It’s not nearly as goofy as Treasure Planet, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the likes of Finding Nemo.
It rests comfortably in the middle of the road. It goes out of its way not
to be offensive to what nationality or race Sinbad and his pals are supposed
to be. The actors providing vocal talents (including Brad Pitt, Catherine
Zeta-Jones, Joseph Fiennes, and Dennis Haysbert) are well done and
spirited. I particularly dug the bad-girl tone of Michelle Pfeiffer as the
evil goddess Eris, who tosses every type of peril Sinbad’s way. And the mixing
of traditional and computer-generated animation doesn’t bother me the way
it used to, so I even got into the art work here.
I confess not knowing too much about the original Sinbad legend, but I know
he fights a lot of creatures from all over the world and is the captain of
a ship full of daring crew members. Pitt voices our hero, who begins the
film trying to steal The Book of Peace (whatever the hell that is) from his
old friend Proteus (Fiennes). Somehow if the book isn’t brought back
to Proteus’ homeland, the world will be a darker and less happy place. Also
looking to get her hands on the book is the
nasty Eris, who has a legion of very big and very cool looking monsters at
her disposal. After Sinbad decides not to rob his friend, Eris drags him
under the sea to convince him that she will make him rich beyond his wildest
dreams if he does steal the book for her. Eventually everybody ends up back
in Proteus’ homeland, the book is stolen, the land turns dark and ugly, and
Sinbad is blamed. Just as Sinbad is about the executed for his crime, Proteus
agrees to die in his place if Sinbad is unable to retrieve the book in something
like nine days. The rest of the film takes us through Sinbad’s various adventures
in his efforts to steal the book back from Eris. Stowing away on board is
Proteus’ fiancee Marina (Zeta-Jones), a woman of adventures who finds herself
slowly falling for Sinbad.
Sinbad has an adult love story, the threat of a beheading or two,
a sexy temptress villain, and some big-ass scary monsters. In other words,
little kids might get a little scared or weirded out by many of the goings
on in this film. I found it kind of interesting...a little bit...a smidge...a
tad. The directors keep things moving so briskly that there’s barely time
to take a breath, and that’s probably the best thing this film has going
for it. The running time is brief, and there aren’t any stupid songs to bog
things down. Oh what the hell, this movie was okay. But if you see this before
Nemo, you’re out of your mind.
Capone
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