Sinbad & the Eye of the Tiger

Patrick Wayne is great as the stalwart sailor Sinbad as he fights on behalf of the lovely Princess Farah. Sinbad ventures forth on an epic voyage to find the cure for the spell cast upon Farah's brother, Prince Kassim by the wicked witch Zenobia. This is a most thrilling movie and is well suited for viewing by the entire family.

If you just want to relax and have fun while eating popcorn, then this is a great movie for you.

THE FILM

-As much as I admire R.H.'s work, some of the animation in SATIOT appeared tired and rehashed. The 3 demons were a prime example. They moved so slow that I doubt they could produce enough velocity to break skin. It was a pale stepchild to the "Jason and the Argonauts" Skeleton battle.
-At release, much was made of R.H.'s efforts to control extranious hair movement during animation. In recent viewing, I'd have to say he still had a way to go. The baboon model has some enormous fir "jumps".
-The Smilodon had a very toy-like appearance. This is unusual for a R.H. film.
-There are so many matt shots it gets rediculous. They even used them in scenes that they had the opportunity to do shots on location without any monsters.
-The story was more shallow than usual. The evil scoreress's behavior is often inexplicable. Why did'nt she just sink Sinbads boat? Because there were some nifty models that still needed animating! She wants her son to be Califf. so why then does she tell him to attack 4 well armed men all by himself? That's just silly!
-The acting was... the acting... The actors were there to fight monsters. Nuff said.
-The Minoton(?) was one of the better creatures in this film and is written out of the film by "a falling block?" He never enguages in battle. NOT ONCE!
-The Troglodite was this films saving grace. An extremely sympathetic character who is animated brilliantly. His integration into the live action is unsurpassed.
-The music was passable. I especially enjoyed the droning rythems mirroring the Minoton's tireless rowing.

THE DVD

-Picture Quality is Bright and has good color, but the print used was dirty and scratched.
-Sound was bellow average. Did they really still produce mono films in the late 70s?
-Extras are quite good. "The Harryhausen Chronicles" has a lot of great vintage R.H. footage and sketches. Also very insightful concerning the "whys" and "why-nots".
-Trailers are awesome. The picture and sound quality of the trailers was actually better than the main feature.
-Packaging is a typical plastic keepcase with a nice "menu" insert.

After reading all this you would probably think I hate this film. On the contrary!! I always enjoy watching Harryhausen films. This one just falls short of it's predecessors. That does not mean it is not enjoyable. Just remember, I'm a BIG R.H. fan!! But I think I enjoy his early "B" movies with "Monster-scafold" scripts and brilliant black & white more than this "what the heck, let's make a movie" production. I'm still dissapointed that Columbia/Tristar won't generate clean copies with good sound for all of the "Classic" Harryhausen efforts.