A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)

Date Viewed: 7/4

Details:

Voice talents: Brad Pitt (Sinbad)

Catherine Zeta-Jones (Marina)

Michelle Pfeiffer (Eris)

Joseph Fiennes (Proteus)

Dennis Haysbert (Kale)

Director: Patrick Gilmore & Tim Johnson

Score: +

The Review: Dreamworks has managed to do what Disney could not, in their (respective) latest animated releases: Sinbad combines excellent animation with a decent story, a familiar but slightly twisted plot, and interesting characterization of interest to all ages -- Treasure Planet cannot compete, having less than two out of four. With Sinbad, there was no need to "update" the plot to make it work. On the other hand, Sinbad's derivation and extraction from the original "Arabian Nights" is itself distant, piecemeal, derivative and only part of the story; there is a substantial amount of standard swashbuckler added in. And yes, the familiar roc (or rukh) is encountered in the second and fifth voyages, and the sea monster in the seventh, but the rest of this version's Sinbad's characters, tasks, cultural anthropology, mythology and geography..., all this has been seriously permuted or created from whole cloth. But it works.

The overall plot thread is situated in the extended Mediterranean community of Syracuse and the 12 cities (which 12, is never clarified; but 'tis mere quibbling), and focuses on two childhood friends turned adult antagonists. Sinbad (Pitt) fled home after a mysterious adolescent encounter, leaving Proteus (Fiennes) behind to slowly assume his princely roles. They meet again while Proteus is transporting the catalytic Book of Peace back to Syracuse, because Sinbad, in his role as pirate, is about to steal it. At that point, Eris (Pfeiffer), the goddess of discord and chaos, steps in, and things get both complicated and personally dangerous; this is "way back when" the gods and goddesses interacted directly with mortal men, making and breaking heroes. Along the way, a potential suitor for Proteus re-appears -- Marina (Zeta-Jones) -- and the adventure is off.

Character (and world) design is well-done and well-executed. The Sirens are reminiscent of the figure who greeted the crew in The Abyss. The islandic sea monster appears as a cross between a stonefish and the lighted lure of a deep sea predator. The roc is quite an atypical visualization of the fabled bird; to me it looked more like a giant crested sea eagle. But then, since this critter exists only in the realm of cryptozoology, some creative disagreements might be expected. The only cognitive dissonance is Catherine Zeta-Jones voicing Marina, whose character is rendered as having short hair; I have a hard time seeing her voice underneath that face. Grounding all this is a good epic score.

I found the animation to be pretty good. It is one of the first films in which mixed mode animation really seemed to work. Cetus and the other zodiacal critters are computer-mediated solid animation; humans, gods and scenic backgrounds are standard cel-based animations (both manual in-betweening and computer-assisted). Integration between these is a bitch (something first gratingly visible in Beauty and the Beast), and the styles were different enough that the merger was still visible -- not annoying, but visible. It will be curious to watch this medium as the two distinct modes / styles are fused with fewer and fewer artistic bumps.

(4-Jul-03)

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