Monday, September 19, 2016

Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage


So, I was at my local library browsing the DVD section, and I came across a movie that I remembered I had wanted to watch one of these days.  'Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage'.  I had seen the trailers for this a few years back and was really excited because it was a modern movie featuring stop motion creatures.  It looked like a love letter to the classic Ray Harryhausen films like 'Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,' and that's precisely what it is.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect as this was a little independent project - Patrick Steward narrates the story and I really think that was because they wanted a big name to slap on the front of the DVD - but the filmography is pretty high quality.  They seem to have mixed old school stop motion effects with modern day CGI for the backgrounds and some of the atmospheric effects.  Personally I think the stop motion holds up pretty well in a modern movie.

The costumes are all top notch.  For those of you who are upset about Hollywood casting decisions in films like 'Gods of Egypt,' the cast of 'Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage' primarily appear to be of middle eastern descent.  Sinbad himself is always called 'Sen-Bahd'.  The exotic pronunciation of Sinbad's name and the casting decisions really help make this feel like an authentic Arabian Nights tale.

That said, the movie does seem a little amateur at times.  Some of the dialog could have used another go around.  It's a little repetitive and wooden in places.  Also, I found some of the editing confusing.  The storytellers chose to tell a love story between Sinbad and the Princess in back-flash form.  Even though the princess is named Princess Parisa after the princess in '7th Voyage', 90 percent of the time Sinbad just calls her 'Princess!' or 'The Princess!'  You'd think that since they're engaged they'd be on a first name basis.

So for these back-flashes, sometimes there would be an actual visual transition, but more often than not there WASN'T a visual transition.  And there wasn't really a good transition for the first one, so most of the scene I was scratching my head going, "Where are we?  When are we?  I'm confused!"  After that first one it's still a little jarring, but after awhile you go "Flash-back.  I didn't sign up for flash-backs in this movie, but since this movie is giving me flash-backs I suppose I'll have to make the best of it."

My other big complaint is the Villain.  He speaks in low whisper voice, and draws out all of his vowels.  It's sinister, but it's also really hard to understand a word he says.

There's a Genie in this movie, and I think this might be my favorite movie Genie now.  First off, he's not the cute cuddly Disney type Genie.  In the Arabian Nights stories, a Genie is always a wildcard.  Sometimes when you release them they grant you wishes, but sometimes they try to kill you.  This Genie sort of did both.  Also, he can shape-shift and is portrayed by three different actors.  He's pretty funny too, particularly his reaction in the part where Sinbad figures out a wish loophole.


But in any movie like this the real stars of the show are the monsters.  'Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage' pays tribute to a bunch of Harryhausen's creatures.  We've got a cyclops, roc, and wingless dragon like in '7th Voyage of Sinbad.'  There's a giant bee and crab monster like 'Mysterious Island.'  Sinbad fights with a six armed statue of Kali like in 'Golden Voyage of Sinbad.'  And of course there's a skeleton fight like '7th Voyage' and 'Jason and the Argonauts.'

Stop-motion may be an older effect, but it still holds up pretty well.  I'd like to see somebody do a movie adaption of one of my favorite Greek Myths, 'Thesis and the Minotaur,' in this style.  If you're a fan of stop-motion, big monsters, or Ray Harryhausen Sinbad, this is definitely worth a watch.

-Geekboy

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