The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad: Classic cheesy movie with Ray Harryhausen creatures.

Centaurs, griffins, ship mastheads come to life. All so very, very cool!

I'm a sucker for Sinbad movies. At some point in my youth I watched all three in Ray Harryhausen's trilogy, from The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, to The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad, to Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger. I love them all for the cheesy train wrecks that they are. However, The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad seems to be the one that sucks me in the most often when I chance upon it on television. Maybe it's the griffin and centaur fight at the end. Maybe it's the evil sorcerer whose incantations are actually nothing more sinister than Trix and and Cocoa Puffs commercials read backwards (no, seriously). Maybe it's the flying creatures that spy for the sorcerer. Maybe it's the ship's masthead that comes to life to attack Sinbad's crew. Maybe it's all the other wonderfully goofy, cheesy, corny effects interspersed throughout. Whatever the reasons, I can't help but sit and watch this with giddy, girlish giggles of glee.

Honestly, I barely listen to the dialogue. The cast is well played, and the lines are delivered well, but this is a creature feature, and a pirate movie, and a sorcerer movie, so I'm just watching for the cool creatures and some magic. Yes, there are some funny lines, but that's just a cookie sprinkling on top of the sundae. The characters are typical, and just there to push the story along. It's the awesome creature effects that keep me glued to the screen. The attention to detail show the love that is missing from some of today's slick CGI. The six figured statue of Kali that battles our heroic crew is mesmerizing to watch, especially knowing how much work went into it. Anyone trying that today would fall woefully short of Harryhausen's standards.

The basic plot is Sinbad must quest for a third piece of a medallion, of which he has the first, and a grand vizier has the second. Along the way he encounters the evil sorcerer, Koura, is convinced to bring a lazy, spoiled sultan's son on his ship to toughen him up, and also frees a slave girl named Margiana. She's pretty much there as eye candy, although they hint that she has a higher purpose because she has an all seeing eye tattooed on her palm. Really, she is there so young boys from the 70's could hope she pops out of her tight, low cut top.

Everyone journeys around trying to get this third piece of the medallion, which promises youth, invisibility, and riches. There are plenty of battles along the way to keep the movie from dragging, culminating with a fight between a centaur and a griffin, and then the centaur and Sinbad, and then Sinbad and the sorcerer. We get a nice, safe happy ending, and all is right with the world.

This might be too tame for some of those in the younger target audience, but I think anyone who watches this with the proper expectations of a 70's flick, and perhaps a little glass of something alcoholic, will get a lot of laughs out of it, and be impressed with the creature effects. After so much CGI I think one needs to get a good dose of 'old school' to gain perspective and maybe appreciation for special effects as an art form.

If you get the chance, definitely watch all three of these Sinbad movies. However, if you have time for only one, definitely go for The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad. In this case the 'middle child' is the best!