Animation in Obscurity: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Yep, I'm back with Animation in Obscurity & I thought it would be return by reviewing probably Dreamworks' most obscure animated film (next to The Road to El Dorado, anyway), Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas! Released back in 2003, this would be the very last traditionally animated film before Jeffrey Katzenberg decided that Dreamworks would completely abandon the medium in favor of computer animation as they were box office hits at the time while hand drawn animated films were considered box office bombs. In fact, Katzenberg himself declared because of the low box office results this movie got that traditional animation was dead. So was Katzenberg right with this hyperbole of a statement (given that The Princess & the Frog would be released 6 years later), or is this as fun & swashbuckling as the lead man himself? Let's take a look!

Story: I just want to mention first that this was originally meant to be the first seven films centring on each ocean Sinbad & the gang goes to going on crazy adventures. But instead, they decided to put them all into  one movie. Now, with that said, this movie feels a bit cramped. It follows the formula of Sinbad has to look for a Macguffin (in this case the Book of Peace which is barely explained), he & Marina bicker, conflict ensues involving a giant monster, they make it through & there's some development. Rinse and repeat. Not only does it feel really cliched & repetitive, but the fact it feels so cramped with what it's trying to focus on between looking for the book, Sinbad & Marina's romance, Proteus sacrificing himself for Sinbad makes it more confusing. The comedy is admittedly a mix as it can rely heavily on 'cool and hip' slang, the comic relief characters relying on stereotypes & the  While the romance may be pretty cliched with Sinbad & Marina with the old 'they hate each other but they're clearly gonna get together' scenario, I will say that the banter between them is funny whenever they're at each other's throats & they do have some pretty good chemistry. But even with that, it's kinda hard to believe he's always been in love with her when they barely know each other & he had only met her once years ago. However, despite all of these issues, I will say that the action itself is very fun thanks to the fast paced scenes & seeing each is pretty interesting. And even if the character development is pretty cliched, at least the movie gives time for it instead of solely focusing on the adventure & it can feel genuine. Sure, it may be problematic in terms of plot, but it can still be fun thanks to the action & execution.

Animation: While the character designs are very nicely stylized, I oddly have an issue with the fact the main characters like Sinbad, Marina & Proteus are drawn as insanely good looking (and more Caucasian) while the ones with darker skin are perceived as ugly sans Kale...am I the only one who noticed that? Anyway, other designs like the sirens, Roc & giant Piranha are all pretty cool & surprisingly original. Along with that, the use of character animation is put to good use in the fast paced action scenes along with making the human characters & Spike the dog move more realistically, but without a doubt it's used at it's best on Eris! The way she moves so fluidly is so beautifully done & the ways she causes chaos (including putting herself into a freaking puppet version of Sinbad to steal the Book of Peace). The backgrounds of Syracuse really help with the grand scale of the movie & even when they're stuck in the middle of the ocean, they're still thanks to the variety of places they go & the action or romance scenes to help set the mood. If I had an issue, and it's pretty big, it would be the use of computer animation being inconsistent. While it's used to its advantage in Tartarus & the sails of Sinbad's ship, whenever a gargantuan monster would come & attack Sinbad & the crew, it REALLY sticks out like a sore thumb! he designs of the monsters themselves are very cool. While there's that little nitpick with the CGI, there's no denying the hand drawn animation is short of amazing!

Characters: While I enjoy these characters with their concept, I can't really say the same in terms of execution. Sinbad is a swashbuckling & selfish rogue who pretty much learns to be a good friend to Proteus while falling in love with Marina (his own best friend's fiancee). Sure, he may have a devilishly handsome design & Brad Pitt does a pretty funny performance (which probably explains why I had a massive crush on him as a kid), but even then all he really does is spew out one-liners & be a colossal douchebag til the end. Marina is pretty interesting in concept as the ambassador of her country & stowing away on Sinbad's ship to make sure he keeps his word to Proteus over obtaining the Book of Peace. Catherine Zeta-Jones was definitely the right casting choice with her snarky nature & it's fun seeing her be badass & gaining the crew's respect, but for the rest of the film she can mostly just qualify as the token love interest. Proteus (Joseph Fiennes) barely has a personality outside of his loyalty to both his kingdom & Sinbad, even if he's willing to sacrifice himself to at the expense of both. The rest of Sinbad's crew like Kale, Rat & Luca can all qualify as the comic relief with their own quirky personalities & it's pretty funny & sweet seeing them stick up to Marina compared to the misogynistic Sinbad. Spike can also qualify as a comic relief dog, but he's mostly there for gross-out humor &But without a doubt the best character in this movie is the villain, Eris. Not only does she have absolutely gorgeous animation both in design and movement, but Michelle Pfeiffer's performance clearly shows she's having fun & makes her pretty memorable. Even if she's not the best written villain out there, all of the positives about her more than make up for her lack of motivation or development. While the characters may be cliched for the most part, at least there's some room for development for its main lead & the voice actors do excellent performances.

Sure, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas may not be the best with a cliched & cramped story & not the best characters in the Dreamworks library, but I find still find it fun. With creative animation, very fun action scenes, great voice acting & a pretty fun adventure story, I still recommend people see it at least once if there isn't anything else on. I do find it unfair that Jeff because with Disney, it was numerous films that led to its downfall I felt it was mostly because of the weaker stories & not the medium it was animated (even if CGI films just happened to be very popular thanks to Pixar). And given that Dreamworks has been going through their own crisis with their recent movies, that is probably closer to the truth with why them movies failed.
Story: 6/10
Animation: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

Inside Out

I know I had previously said that I wouldn't be doing any more posts on this blog because of my 'lack of interest' in animated films. But to be perfectly honest with you readers, I still absolutely love watching them. After dealing with extremely personal issues over the past year (which made me miss doing last year's Animation Advent Calendar which I've already been preparing to make it up to you guys), I feel much better within myself & want to get back into reviewing what I love. And what better way than to return with this year's Best Animated Film Oscar winner, Pixar's Inside Out! Starring the likes of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader & Mindy Kaling and directed by Pete Docter, was this movie able to make me bawl like a baby like their past movies or will this make me feel angry & embarrassed for watching it? Let's take a look after nearly a year!


Story: Given that Pixar is known for coming up with the craziest of ideas in terms of concept, but manage to make it believable and enjoyable, this is definitely is another addition to their long list. The ideas & concepts of emotions may not be new with movies like Osmosis Jones & Herman's Head doing virtually the exact same thing, this actually manages to expand the concept to infinity & beyond. With various aspects of the head like memories, imagination, thoughts, dreams & the subconscious being touched upon during Joy & Sadness' adventure to get back to headquarter's, they are all interesting to know about thanks to the creativeness of the writers. Another part I love about the plot is the parallels between the real world with Riley trying to adjust to her new life in San Francisco along with adventure/journey plot with Joy & Sadness going on inside her head & how it affects her as the other emotions have to try & step into Joy's shoes, but obviously don't know how to. This definitely can be a challenge given that it could've easily solely focused on either one while leaving the other to the sidelines, but somehow Pixar managed to share each plot equally as they easily connect to each other. And given that this is obviously a movie centering on emotions, they are VERY strong in this, as the overall message is handled very realistically: it's OK to be upset. Nobody can be happy ALL the time otherwise that will just make you feel out of control & put so much pressure on yourself (trust me, I know that very well). I have never seen such an innovative concept be used to its full potential, but given that this is Pixar, what else did you expect?

Animation: Do I really need to say that the animation in this is absolutely amazing? I must say that this is probably Pixar's most creative animation I've seen yet both in the design & technical aspects. Not only do the physical representations of things like general & core memories, the personality islands & the console for controlling what the characters do/say all make sense for the world, but they are all also highly memorable. The character designs all fit each emotion with their personalities like Anger literally being a red brick & hot headed, Sadness being sort of the female equivalent to EEyore (am I the only one who noticed that?), Fear being a stereotypical nerd. But even at that, I felt the other characters inside Riley's head just looked like jelly beans with eyes & stick arms & legs. It's not as bad given that, but it still bothered me with how simple they are And even if the character animation is different in the real world with more restricted movements on the people & the more cartoony movements on the emotions, they actually work together very well as it knows how to blend the fluidity of realistic movements & the squash and stretch techniques used for the latter. The attention to detail with the textures are nothing short of amazing. The backgrounds of inside the head are so vast & grand like in Long Term Memory, Imagination Land & Dream Motion Pictures (I know Osmosis Jones did something like the latter, but it's used much better in this movie) that every action scene makes you forget this is all going on in somebody's noggin! And even then, the way they represent San Francisco in the real world makes it look like more than just a generic city but with the Golden Gate Bridge. While the animation looks amazing with the technical achievements, this is nothing compared to the innovation in the designs.

Characters: given that this is Pixar we're talking about, of course this provides us with three dimensional and loveable characters! Joy (Amy Poehler), Riley's head memory is pretty much what you'd expect as her main goal is to keep Riley as the same optimistic and happy girl despite all the changes going on in her life, although I will say that she can push it a bit too hard especially with Sadness despite her good intentions. Sadness (Phyllis Smith) can easily be qualified as the black sheep of Riley's emotions and is repressed by Joy, but she is surprisingly really important and her interactions with Joy as the pessimist and optimist being forced to work together can lead to some funny and emotionally deep moments. Anger (voiced by Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) may not contribute as much in the plot with Joy and Sadness, but they all have unique personalities like Anger being the hot-headed, Disgust as the snobby fashionista and Fear as the overtly cautious-neurotic and it is interesting to see how their actions affect Riley as they try to fill Joy's shoes in headquarters while obviously being incapable of doing so. Given that all of these emotions are controlling her, Riley is probably the most interesting character in this, as we see how her conflicting and out of control emotions react to how she deals with moving from Minnesota to San Francisco while Joy and Sadness are trying to get back to headquarters (and given that she's 11 & on the brink of puberty, it's done surprisingly accurately). As for her parents, they may not be the most interesting characters to know about compared to their daughter, although you could argue that they can be when you take into account her mother's head emotion is Sadness while her father's is Anger...Anyway, one final character I wanna quickly bring up is Bing Bong (Richard Kind), Riley's former imaginary friend. I'm not gonna lie, he kind of annoyed me at first with his goofy & over the top personality, but as the film progresses, it's understandable why he's like this along with a very surprising moment which really made me feel for him. And before I forget, I just want to mention that there isn't a single antagonist in this movie! Seriously, the conflict in this is actually much more realistic than just having a villain to make Riley's life miserable & even Anger isn't portrayed as a bad guy despite his, well, grumpy attitude. With amazing voice acting to complement the characters, they all manage to have their own form of development & a unique personality which makes them highly memorable.

Inside Out is most definitely one of the strongest Pixar films so far with an emotional story & innovative concept, amazing animation from the best in the business and loveable and developed characters both inside & out of the head! Given that Pixar had been going through somewhat of a 'dark age' recently, this definitely felt refreshing and had brought them back in form. I haven't seen The Good Dinosaur by the way, but judging the reviews, production troubles (including numerous delays, changing the director, direction the plot was going & even virtually the entire cast a few months before the release), & the plot itself, it doesn't really interest me as much despite the gorgeous animation (even if I don't think the character designs suit the mood the movie's going for at all). But still, I'm so glad this was the movie to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature & is actually my new favourite Pixar film outside of the Toy Story franchise!
Story: 10/10
Animation: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Overall: 10/10