Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Movie Review:


Sinbad the Sailor, probably the greatest anti-hero of the Arabian Knights, has seen many incarnations over the years. This time a new animated film from DreamWorks delves into the myth with some celebrity voices in tow.

Sinbad (Brad Pitt) is a happy pirate bent on retiring to Fiji after stealing the legendary Book of Peace. The only problem is that his childhood friend Proteus (Joseph Fiennes) stands in his way. Sinbad finds himself in a conundrum when he fails to obtain the book and ends up following his friend back to his palace where he is introduced to Proteus’s future wife Marina (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

When Sinbad is eventually framed by Eris (Michelle Pfeiffer), the Goddess of Chaos for stealing the Book of Peace, Proteus defends his friend for the crime. Proteus puts his life on the line so that Sinbad can sail into uncharted territory and retrieve the book. Unbeknownst to Sinbad, Marina tags along. Can Sinbad wrestle with a goddess and get through uncharted territory in time to save his friend?

Sinbad has always been an epic character and one of my favorites from classic literature and myth. He has inspired so many other multi-layered adventure characters over the years. I was first exposed to his adventures when I was a child and obsessed with seeing more movies from legendary creature creator, Ray Harryhausen. The Sinbad trilogy from Harryhausen still has a soft spot in my plethora of movie favorites. I loved the magic and vastness of worlds that inhabited Sinbad as a character.

It was that knowledge and foundation that made me so excited about seeing a new incarnation of a classic character. I had the same reaction when Disney re-invented “Tarzan” in their animated film. I was half-hoping that there would be a great musical score like that of Disney’s “Tarzan” or “Aladdin” but what I did end up seeing wasn’t your typical animated cartoon. That was a whole new blessing unto itself.

DreamWorks’s Sinbad was definitely a whole re-envisioning of the character but also quite a bold project on its own. I loved how the film seamlessly melded standard animation and computer graphics. There hasn’t been an animated film yet that has been able to make such a successful fusion. The backgrounds were utter eye-candy. I also really enjoyed how smart and delectable the dialogue was between these characters. The humor and drama were very involving and extremely enjoyable. As with every Sinbad movie, you always want to see more far off lands and more creatures. That allure and mystery is alive and well in this version.

What was probably the most interesting was that this was the first time an animated film had a character fall in love with his best friend’s future wife or that an executioner is ready with a giant axe to slice off a character’s head. Even some of the tongue-in-cheek humor was more aimed at adults than children. I liked that because it acknowledged that you don’t have to be under 12 years old to enjoy animated films.

My only wish for Sinbad would be that it had a grander score or a memorable song. I wanted some epic music for such a grand character. A bolder score would have made the animated film feel big enough to encompass what Sinbad is. I liked how DreamWorks used music in both “Spirit” and “Road to El Dorado” but seemed to have dropped the ball for this one.

Sinbad is a charming animated film with the DreamWorks edge but it needed to be bolder and bigger to do justice to such a legendary character. I just wanted more.

(4 out of 5)

So Says the Soothsayer.

Dean Kish

The most fearless bandit on the seven seas, Sinbad (Pitt) has caught the attention of the goddess Eris (Pfeiffer). Seeing him as self-centred, greedy rouge that only ever thinks of what’s in it for him, she decides to embroil Sinbad in her latest plan to plunge the world into chaos. Stealing the mystical Book of Peace and framing Sinbad for the crime, Eris puts her plan into motion. The reluctant hero now has to travel to the edge of the world to Tararus, Eris’s domain to clear his name and save his friend Proteus (Fiennes) from execution.

DreamWorks has one last valiant attempt to inject some life into the traditional 2D animated movie but even Sinbad doesn’t have the power to stop the march of fully computer-generated animation.

This doesn’t mean that this is a bad movie, in fact it is far from it. This is good family entertainment that successfully combines 2D and 3D techniques to great effect. The action sequences are superb, the characters are well rounded and enjoyable and it’s full of adventure.

Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Haysbert, Joseph Fiennes and especially Michelle Pfeiffer do an excellent job bringing there characters to life with some exceptional vocal performances. Pfeiffer excels as Eris, sounding like she really enjoyed the challenge and Brad Pitt brings a certain, but slightly too American, coolness to our hero Sinbad.

What his movie lacks, along with many other 2D animated movies, is a solid story. While the overall plot is fine, many of the supporting characters are not fleshed out enough and the Sinbad/Marina love story is a tad too convenient. All of the Pixar movies and DreamWorks own Shrek all have great stories that are filled to the brim with great characters large and small. Sinbad has only the hero himself and Eris, while the rest are seriously underdeveloped.

This aside, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is still a lot of fun and a great family movie. It is worth going to see of the action sequences alone and it will keep the kids smiling and the adults entertained. Set sail.

Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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