Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage – 2014
I really tried to like Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage but I just couldn’t. I’m a huge fan of Fantasy movies and Sinbad regardless of form or shape usually cannot fail. But this modern tale, which does have sequences in it to homage to the great Ray Harryhausens stop-motion effects and feel for composition just doesn’t work for me. The acting is totally uninspired, the effects are sometimes pretty good and sometimes like an homage as I said. The story is boring and I never get that feeling of adventure as I usually do when it comes to Sinbad movies. Add the fact that the pronunciation of Sinbad’s name sounds like Sandbag all the time and you are sure to have a failure.
I try to be kind to the things I review on this site. But I just cannot enjoy Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage. I can’t tell in which order the event occurs, as there are some dream sequences that seem to be totally out of place and in sync. The struggle between good and evil, where Sinbad is always the good and witty one is blurry at best. It’s not a problem to determine that he’s on the good side, the side of love, and perhaps even that he’s witty. But there are some questionable actions made throughout the movie which I didn’t care for at all.
All in events
It feels like that went all in with Sinbad: The Fifths Voyage too. All the creatures and myths are thrown in there as a smorgasbord. There’s a cyclops, a gigantic crab, Death, and skeletons, probably to most obvious wink at Ray Harryhausen. There are shipwrecks, an evil wizard, and a lamp with a genie in it. Really all the things needed to create a compelling story but it just falls flat to me. I guess most of it is the storytelling bit. I can’t keep up with if we’re in a dream, fantasy, or in reality. That should be pretty easy to distinguish I think. It’s also so boring that I fell asleep two times while watching it and had to start over from the beginning. That’s how boring I found it. There’s no spark, no energy.
I really love adventure and fantasy movies but I would have done better if I stayed away from Sinbad: The Fith Voyage. Even though Patrick Stewart did a wonderful job by narrating some parts.
