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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Dutch: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: DTS 5.1 Surround
  • Commentary - English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    English, Dutch, Commentary - English, Commentary - Dutch
  Extras
  • Teaser trailer - The Cat In The Hat
  • Audio commentary
  • 7 Cast/crew biographies - Characters
  • 2 Featurette - Making Of, The Voice of Spike
  • Photo gallery - Comprehensive concept art
  • Animated menus
  • DVD-ROM features - Games and Activities
  • Web access - Dreamworks Kids
  • Film highlights
  • 3 Interactive game - Sinbad's Sailing Adventure, The 3DTour of The Chimera, Save The 12 Cities
  • DTS trailer - Piano
  • Short film - Cyclops Island

Sinbad - Legend of the Seven Seas

Universal/Universal Classics . R4 . COLOR . 82 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

I’m so disappointed I missed this in cinemas. I tried to get there but the film just wasn’t around long enough and I missed out. Well, I have to live with that, because this film would have looked superb on the big screen, particularly with the excellent DTS soundtrack. Not many animated movies bother with such rich, deep sound and it really adds to this film’s excellence.

It’s a relatively simple plot (like all Sinbad films before it): Sinbad is intent on stealing The Book of Dreams® from a ship. Upon discovering that ship is captained by his boyhood friend Proteus, he changes his mind and doesn’t pinch it after all. When the boats arrive in Syracuse, the Book is placed in situ to protect The Twelve Cities and that may well be the end of it... until Eris, the Goddess of Discord, steals the Book and frames Sinbad. He is arrested and is to be put to death until Proteus stands up for him, meaning Sinbad must rescue the Book from Eris within ten days or his friend will die.

"Isn’t it a pity we live in such sceptical times?"

What follows are several adventures and meetings with mythological creatures, a romance of sorts between Sinbad and Marina (fiancée of Proteus), and more cutting edge animation than you can shake a pencil at.

It is truly spectacular, the animation here. Images of Eris doing her thing are awesome; animated as if mired under turbulent waters, her hair a liquid motion that is incredibly delivered. She is almost a single digital effect throughout, although she is mostly hand drawn. That’s how good it is and is just one (among many) highlights of this feature. Michelle Pfeiffer brings voice to this nasty character at her husky, playful best and breathes life into her with a curious blend of childishness and adult strength.

There are certain scenes within this film that have never been tried in animation before, and have been accomplished so successfully I can’t understand why this film didn’t do as well as it should have. Perhaps they were too unimportant to kids or something, but for the rest of us watching this, the animation is absolutely top of the heap. No physical reference has been used for the fighting sequences, and when frame-by-framed the true abilities of the animators are clearly evinced. Really remarkable stuff. There are even other characters that are totally digitally animated and skinned like the 2D hand drawn stuff, though to the untrained eye it would be hard to discern between the two.

The story is typical of a Sinbad feature in the pursuit of a fabulous treasure and they have remained true to Sinbad’s general ideals, while incorporating some modern expressions and gags for the adults present. This is excellent viewing for the entire family, with parents finding as much to enjoy here as the kids will.

  Video
Contract

Superb and practically unfaultable. Incorporating both digital animation and traditional 2D, the film looks disgracefully good. There are some perhaps less rendered pieces than those around them, but these are rarely important to the story or on screen very long. Something rarely used in 2D animation has been utilised very effectively in roving cameras. Working along the same lines as crane or dolly shots in regular film, these manage to do things that are practically impossible to replicate in a real environment. Following action from the upper masts down along the deck and up ropes, for a close-up on someone’s face, as an example. It looks sensational. Naturally colours and such have been already perfected long before final rendering and the transfer has brought these accurately to DVD. Like I said, practically unfaultable.

If I have any gripe, perhaps it’s in the use of motion blur. This is a 3D effect that creates exactly what it says it does to show characters as if there were a real camera capturing action with a real shutterspeed. I think, speaking from both an animator’s and a filmgoer’s point of view, we’ve grown used to not having motion blur in animation and it doesn’t truly belong there. There isn’t any need for it and it kinda takes animation a step away from its truth, likening it to the real world. Animation is animation because we like it that way. Let’s keep the real world out of it.

  Audio
Contract

Massive choices for animation. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround in English, Dutch or Flemish (of all languages!) plus English in DTS 5.1. It’s beautiful too. Plenty of sea monster sounds roaming around us in the battle scenes with some of the Roc’s (a big flying hawk thing) sounds being simply killer in the surround. Other cool effects like swords clashing and snow sledding and The Siren’s splashing are all masterfully delivered and add so much more depth to this film.

Harry Gregson-Williams’ musical score is fantastic here, recreating that awesome Sinbad ethnicity through a regular orchestral work. One feeling always given by Sinbad films is the Middle Eastern influence and with certain instruments applied cleverly to the mix, Gregson-Williams has truly captured the essence of Sinbad and his adventures.

Dialogue is well delivered and easily recognised as the actors behind them, but for Joseph Fiennes as Proteus. Perhaps this is because he has his true English accent out and isn’t Americanising it. At any rate, everyone sounds great and there aren’t many lines we miss. If there’s anything it’s in some asides as scenes close that have been lowered a little so as not to detract from what just happened. Still, some of these are killer material, particularly after the wild ride behind the fish. Turn it up here for an hilarious line about Spike the dog. A great mix with crystal clarity doesn’t let this film down at all and in fact improves it yet further.

  Extras
Contract

Bunches of stuff to get through that will keep the kids entertained forever. First of all come the nicely animated menus. Using a repeating musical piece and a revolving map with short film moments, the film will not start on its own, nor will your DVD shutdown if untouched. (I left mine on overnight and the root menu was still on when I got up the next day and turned on my telly. So it may be best to eject your disc). There’s also the DTS piano trailer to fast forward before playing the feature.

Off the main menu there are several links to various places that contain yet more branches. Cylops Island can be reached from various places and Dreamworks are no doubt proud of this film short. Playing like a little epilogue to the film itself, it works like a Choose Your Own Adventure book in that you can select which character to follow in the short tale. A very nice feature, with five people, dogs or teams to follow throughout. The whole thing runs at its longest at just over four minutes.

There’s a choice of the Special Features menu or the Dreamworks Kidsmenu also off the main menu. The first, Special Features, contains a featurette in The Making of Sinbad and has some nice info to impart, although it’s the usual TV sell job. Running for 10:20, it contains 1.78:1 unenhanced film footage and crew interviews. A teaser trailer for the upcoming The Cat in the Hat is available as an appetite whetter, plus my favourite bit, the art gallery. This contains scads of concept art under the headings Characters, Monster + Creatures, The Chimera, Journey to Tartarus and Syracuse. Beautiful and inspiring stuff. There only remains the audio commentary in Special Features and this features everyone who ever worked on the film. Well, not really, but there are heaps of heads of department, plus producers and the directors. Very informative for folks in the know, but probably indecipherable to those outside the industry. Still, I found it interesting, if not great entertainment.

As to the Dreamworks Kids part, this is even fuller than the Special Features bit! Holding six main parts with branches within, this is chockers with fun activities and games for the gang. There is a short featurette included about how they recorded and acted the dog’s part for the movie and this is quite funny as they used actual dogs which is a bit of a first (of sorts).

Next comes the set-top games bit and this has three games included. The first is Sinbad’s Sailing Adventure, which is broken into three smaller games within the game. Good stuff and better than average. The second a virtual tour of the Chimera, Sinbad’s ship. This isn’t actually a game, but is a good chance to check out the hand painted backgrounds used for the ship. Finally, Save the Twelve Cities is a simple character recognition game.

DVD-ROM features include four games and eight activities involving using your computer printer to make colouring books, a story book, character masks, a mobile and a couple of other puzzles and things. It seems pretty comprehensive, to say the least, and should keep ’em quiet for a while.

Links to favourite scenes is next and these fall under five headings of Monsters, Gross Out, Sinbad, Spike and Marina. (Gross out won the day for me!) Lastly, Character Biographies follow and there are seven featured here in the main cast. While just being text pages of varying length, these are still worth a look.

Oh and finally, there are four various Easter eggs to have a look for throughout, but for the impatient, you can check 'em out on our Easter egg wing.

So, a busy bunch of extras and such here that add real ongoing value to the disc.

  Overall  
Contract

So, if not doing so well at the cinemas, I’m predicting this will be a huge seller on DVD. With so many extras enhancing what is already a worthy film in its own right, this one is bound to find a wide appeal in young and young at heart audiences everywhere. Some extraordinary blending of animation both computer and traditional has brought another of Sinbad’s classic tales to life in excellent fashion (if you wanna check out some other classics, go no further than here.)

A great story, killer animation and a rich and diverse soundscape come together to create a very nice addition to any family DVD collection and will continue to deliver for a good while yet (or until the straight-to-DVD sequel appears as well...)

Excellent value for money.


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      And I quote...
    "Family entertainment comes full circle in this amazingly animated high seas adventure. With monsters!"
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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