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This is my second review in a row of a cell-shaded Dreamworks film, and the last cell-shaded animated film Dreamworks would ever do. At least as of this writing anyway. Basically, the story is Eris, the goddess of chaos (technically, it should be strife, but it's chaos in this film), was getting up to no good, and started causing trouble in the neighborhood. Due to this, Sinbad has to go on a grand adventure with local princess and mega-hottie, Marina.
I mean, the plot is mostly predictable, which is perhaps its biggest weakness, but it's still pretty entertaining, and the small twist at the climax is neat. A decent adventure film. Of course, still not on the level of Titan A.E. or Atlantis: The Lost Empire at all, but it's good. Beyond that, there are also two plot holes though that bug me a little bit. For one, Eris is a damn goddess. She doesn't even need to talk to Sinbad in order to get him to steal the Book of Peace. She can (and does) just stroll right in and get it while using a disguise to frame Sinbad for the crime. And then when Sinbad gets to her realm, what does she do? She plays with him and lets him go instead of utterly crushing him and Marina and guaranteeing her victory. I mean, c'mon, lady. You can do way better than that with the plans.
Having said that, it's clear that she sees something (or at least, think she sees something) in Sinbad that gets her hot and bothered, so she probably thought she could get a twofer by not just getting the prince beheaded and putting a country into discord and war, but also proving Sinbad is as dark as her. If so, that's kinda fair. She is the Greek goddess of strife after all, not Skynet. And Greek deities are known for being, uh... Very interested in humanity.
The second hole is not really a plot hole though so much as character inconsistencies. When we meet Sinbad, he's down bad to steal the Book of Peace and ransom it. Then the Kraken shows up. Then he tries to bail instead of helping his former friend. But then his ship gets trapped, so then he's like, "lol OK, fine." Then he kills the Kraken with the prince and then... Doesn't steal the Book because reasons. Ok, so skip forward a bit. Eris steals the Book and frames Sinbad for it. The prince claims the right of substitution to free Sinbad so Sinbad can steal back the Book of Peace. And thennnnn... He tries to run away again, thus proving that everyone else was right about him, but then Marina persuades him by stowing away aboard the ship and then paying him off. Ok. So let's skip forward again. Sinbad is now in Tartarus. Eris says he's a bad man. Sinbad says no. Eris says, "lol Bet you are," and boots his ass out without the Book. So after all that, Sinbad... Decides he's now a good man and returns to be executed. What???
Look, I know it's obviously good for the story that his character grows. That is not the issue. The issue though is the method in which they're showing said character growth. He's shown multiple times in the movie that despite everything, he cannot be trusted and even says the same, even when his friend's very life was on the line. Twice. And now suddenly at the end, he's a good man? Suddenly he cares? Sorry, but it's not believable considering his past actions in the movie.
Bitching aside though, I'd definitely see this movie if you haven't yet. But is it better than The Road to El Dorado... ? I'd say they're about equal. There are different things wrong with them, and the two movies have different goals with entirely different plots. Really, the only similarity between the two is that they're both animated. That's it. Either way though, I definitely don't think Dreamworks deserved getting hit as hard as it did for this movie or The Road to El Dorado.
I mean, the plot is mostly predictable, which is perhaps its biggest weakness, but it's still pretty entertaining, and the small twist at the climax is neat. A decent adventure film. Of course, still not on the level of Titan A.E. or Atlantis: The Lost Empire at all, but it's good. Beyond that, there are also two plot holes though that bug me a little bit. For one, Eris is a damn goddess. She doesn't even need to talk to Sinbad in order to get him to steal the Book of Peace. She can (and does) just stroll right in and get it while using a disguise to frame Sinbad for the crime. And then when Sinbad gets to her realm, what does she do? She plays with him and lets him go instead of utterly crushing him and Marina and guaranteeing her victory. I mean, c'mon, lady. You can do way better than that with the plans.
Having said that, it's clear that she sees something (or at least, think she sees something) in Sinbad that gets her hot and bothered, so she probably thought she could get a twofer by not just getting the prince beheaded and putting a country into discord and war, but also proving Sinbad is as dark as her. If so, that's kinda fair. She is the Greek goddess of strife after all, not Skynet. And Greek deities are known for being, uh... Very interested in humanity.
The second hole is not really a plot hole though so much as character inconsistencies. When we meet Sinbad, he's down bad to steal the Book of Peace and ransom it. Then the Kraken shows up. Then he tries to bail instead of helping his former friend. But then his ship gets trapped, so then he's like, "lol OK, fine." Then he kills the Kraken with the prince and then... Doesn't steal the Book because reasons. Ok, so skip forward a bit. Eris steals the Book and frames Sinbad for it. The prince claims the right of substitution to free Sinbad so Sinbad can steal back the Book of Peace. And thennnnn... He tries to run away again, thus proving that everyone else was right about him, but then Marina persuades him by stowing away aboard the ship and then paying him off. Ok. So let's skip forward again. Sinbad is now in Tartarus. Eris says he's a bad man. Sinbad says no. Eris says, "lol Bet you are," and boots his ass out without the Book. So after all that, Sinbad... Decides he's now a good man and returns to be executed. What???
Look, I know it's obviously good for the story that his character grows. That is not the issue. The issue though is the method in which they're showing said character growth. He's shown multiple times in the movie that despite everything, he cannot be trusted and even says the same, even when his friend's very life was on the line. Twice. And now suddenly at the end, he's a good man? Suddenly he cares? Sorry, but it's not believable considering his past actions in the movie.
Bitching aside though, I'd definitely see this movie if you haven't yet. But is it better than The Road to El Dorado... ? I'd say they're about equal. There are different things wrong with them, and the two movies have different goals with entirely different plots. Really, the only similarity between the two is that they're both animated. That's it. Either way though, I definitely don't think Dreamworks deserved getting hit as hard as it did for this movie or The Road to El Dorado.
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