Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)

Director: Tim Johnson, Patrick Gilmore
Writers: John Logan
Studio: Dreamworks Animation
Watched on: 19/02/2023

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
7		6	7	7	6

Sinbad. Pretty cool film. Obviously not perfect but that's what the state of the audience and the industry was at the time. But overall, a really great, very fun film. Has the typical romance storyline that ruins most fun films but it's just brief enough to ignore. But almost everything else was well done, executed nicely and came together for a solid end product. So the first thing to talk about is Eris and her amazing character acting. The way she flows in and out of states of being, from place to place, glides through the shadows, all of that comes together to make her an incredibly likable villain. I honestly think if they had gone all out with some chilling, creepy music, she would definitely have given kids nightmares. Naturally, it follows that the animation in this film is wonderful - for the most part. Right from the start, the film has really well animated (and choreographed and framed) action sequences. The very first fight scenes of Sinbad and then Proteus fighting multiple guys at the same time were excellent. It was a little bit disappointing that there was then nothing like that afterwards. But overall, the 2D animation was fluid and fun. And typical of the time, they included a loveable and very expressive pet companion. Which shows they absolutely had the capability to do the same for Eris's massive mythical beasts; unfortunately they didn't. Just like Treasure Planet, the early CG creatures have aged poorly. Fair enough, they were pushing boundaries for the medium but I can't say it looked good most of the time. What I can say though, is that it worked really well for when the beasts were in Eris's realm and their bodies were these ethereal, galaxy substances. Wasn't executed perfectly but definitely much better in concept than the normal creatures. So yeah, solid animation overall. The characters in the film are definitely a mixed bag. Obviously we have different views on gender and stuff now but as mentioned, the main female character, Marina, has a pretty stereotypical woman character's journey and is of course, mainly a love interest to the two main men in the movie. Fine, it's based on an old folk tale but I'm just as critical of the source tbh. Marina is a cool character with a lot of agency over herself and to be fair, her main character trait of wanting to explore the world does make the annoying little lovel triangle have a sensible resolution. Proteus is a very likeable character and does the honorable thing of letting a woman make a choice, which is pretty cool. Eris is fantastic but the rest are just kinda nothing.

The plot is nice and straightforward. All the trials and tribulations faced by the gang are actually created by the villain, so there isn't really any genuine conflict nor challenge but it serves its purpose of driving us through all the cool settings they want us to see. (Side note, the design of Republic City (it was actually called Syracuse lmao) was pretty sick). No major complaints, aside from the fake paradox of Eris's final gambit. Think the writers probably all knew that was a weak ending.

Storytelling was pretty strong. Lots of ideas communicated visually and some cool shots, especially in the action and chase scenes. I'm giving it a 7, although it's now been over 7 months since I watched it, so it's probably getting the benefit of the doubt because I found the film so fun.

In conclusion, yes I do consider this film to have massive value from an animation perspective and I think it's really cool in a similar way to Treasure Planet (does fall short though). However the lack of substance probably explains why this is more of a cult classic than just a classic. Glad I've seen it now/

Anstasia (1997)

Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman

Studio: Fox Animation Studios

Watched on: 11/09/2023

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Anastasia

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
7		4	5	7	6

Watching Anastasia properly for the first time (I'm sure the VHS got played in the background at my cousin's house many times through my childhood), I realised it's no wonder at all why the film did so well. It's magical, it's pretty and it rode the princess wave of the time incredibly well. I did find it a little bit strange to see an American depiction of Russia but obviously it's based around some real people. Also I don't know enough about history to say why it was nuts but the evil arch-wizard being called Rasputin did feel weird coming out of an American studio as well. Maybe it was just a common name in Russia, historically. Anyway, the film is really lovely and I'd highly recommend it to nostalgic milennials and anyone who likes a gorgeous setting.

That's actually where I have to start: the background art/design for the entire film was absolutely stunning. And I have to say it's the art and the design, because the backgrounds are so beautifully made, but the conception of the grand palace and it's massive halls make up a big part of how good it looks on screen. The filmmakers also did a great job of (what I think was) using contemporary Russian art and stylings in the film; my favourite example of this was the family portrait hanging up in the palace, with little baby Anastasia in it. The fancy balls felt magical and even some of the settings that only appear for a scene or two (like the European countryside, or even the view from under a tablecloth!) are really beautifully done. Even Paris! I loved how they styled everyone in the city and captured the idea of boujie paris so well and even topped it off with a fun little song.

Seriously, look how pretty these backgrounds are

Overall, the animation is really good. Nothing incredibly unique nor innovative but fantastic traditional animation, done the right way. Really great character acting and a great balance of exaggeration and realism (i.e. leaning heavily towards exaggeration) and although they went for a really sparse and simple approach with the line art (especially for faces), they still captured lost of details, like rolled-up sleeves, fur coats etc. One thing that really stood out to me was that they really did not shy away from animating hands. There were loads of complicated hand gestures, characters fiddling with props etc. and it all looked amazing. Also ther was a bit of CG stuff but that looked fine (not sure if it's remastered on Disney Plus or what but no real issues there). So yeah, great animation, as you'd expect from a Don Bluth classic.

The story is a bit odd. It works fine as a vehicle to carry you through the scenes and let the characters get into their songs. But it is a bit of a straight line. They want to do something, they try to do it, then something gets in the way, then they do it anyway. I totally get that this is a kids film though and actually aimed at an audience that had a totally different relationship to the screen to what kids have today but they definitely could have made the story a bit more interesting.

That also ties into the storytelling. And here, I just mean storytelling, so not even just visual storytelling. So firstly, we as the viewer know that 'Ania' is Anastasia, the lost Princess. So there's no curiosity and no tension. But then the film acts like we're all discovering her true identity together. So moments where she 'uncovers' things that suggest she might be the Princess just have no impact. Story-wise, I reckon it would be way more impactful to have us start the film in the orphanage and learn about the lost Princess slowly throughout the story as Ania goes out to find herself, but I actually get why they did it the other way, because it allowed for that amazing opening royal ball sequence. So yeah, odd way to literally tell the story but the visual storytelling was okay. Got the job done, nothing really striking and mostly pretty obvious. But no complaints.

The characters are pretty good. I think all of their designs are really brilliant, especially within that era. They might not all get the screentime they need to talk about the complex lives they'd had to live in post-Tsar Russia but they all had a tiny bit of depth to them. Like it would have been really easy to have Grand Duchess be jumping for joy when they arrived in Paris to meet her but instead, she was emotionally exhausted and combative. Dimitri is principled but also slimy, Anastasia is smart but self-aware and interesting (those two have that classic 'fiery' teen romance but can't hate on that too much). I even liked characters with small parts, like Sophie. Oh and Rasputin himself. Dark bastard he is. Whoever his key animator was did an amazing job. He's got that real sinister streak but also the quite funny dramatic flair. Thought he was excellent.

On a side note, two quick things about Rasputin's white bat sidekick, Bartok: 1.) I think Hank Azaria did pretty badly at his attempted Russian Accent, which came out sounding more like parody Dutch. 2.) The very last shot has a 'female' bat appear and woo Bartok and it was just such a weird unnecessary moment that shows some pretty standard deeply ingrained sexism in animation, with the female bat needing to be shown to be visibly female, so they obviously gave her massive eyelashes but then also pink fur (which is extra bizarre, because Bartok is presumably supposed to be Albino, so she's either also albino with eye shadow all over herself or like... erythristic?).

So overall, the film's pretty much what I expected. Really wonderful and pretty with not the best story but deservedly earned itself a spot as a classic.

One thing I almost forgot: Fuck me, that sleepwalking on the boat scene is insanely morbid! Definitely think that was a bit too far but it was very cool visually at least.