GazerRise Fantastic!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Wuchak I don't get why so many people pan this 1977 Sinbad adventure film, the third in a trilogy featuring Ray Harryhausen's special effects creations. The previous installments are 1958's "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and 1973's "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad."THE PLOT: Princess Farah's (Jane Seymour) brother, who's about to be crowned Caliph of the kingdom, is turned into a baboon by the envious sorceress Zenobia (Margaret Whiting) who wants her son to be Caliph instead (Kurt Christian). Sinbad (Patrick Wayne) escorts Farah and her baboon brother on a grand adventure to restore his humanity before Zenobia's son is crowned. The long quest includes meeting the wizard Melanthius (Patrick Troughton) and his beautiful daughter Dione (Taryn Power). They travel to arctic regions and along the way are exposed to all kinds of fantastical creatures and supernatural experiences.Sinbad adventures play like a Middle Eastern version of Conan the Barbarian, albeit with a slightly funner edge and a less dour protagonist. So, if you love Conan you'll likely appreciate all three Sinbad films. And even though I describe it as having a fun edge, don't think "Eye of the Tiger" is goofy. It's not. This is a serious Sinbad adventure, but the protagonists exude the joy and vitality of living.The items I demand in a Sinbad adventure are obvious: A good casting choice for Sinbad, a great adventure story & locations, a colorful assortment of likable characters & love-to-hate villains, beautiful women, and quality F/X work. "Eye of the Tiger" delivers in all these areas: Patrick Wayne is superb as the titular hero and IMO the best of the three actors who played the character in the trilogy (the others being Kerwin Mathews and John Phillip Law). I don't see why so many criticize him as "wooden" or somehow sub-par. He's perfect for the role and I'm bewildered as to why he didn't have a more stellar career. I know this is blasphemy to some, but I prefer him to his famous father. He's in the same masculine league as Charleton Heston and Burt Reynolds.The story is everything you'd want in a Sinbad yarn -- grand adventure on the high seas with intermittent supernatural elements. The locations are fabulous -- Jordan, Petra (Melanthius's lair), Malta and Spain. There's even an arctic sequence with snowy locations and fairly convincing studio sets.The characters are indeed colorful and well-cast. Whiting puts her heart & soul into her role as the witch with a capital "B" and Troughton is charismatic as the likable old magician.As for women, this is one of the highlights of the film as the young brunette Jane Seymour and blond Taryn Power (Tyrone's daughter) are breathtaking to behold in every scene they appear. The film's worth watching just for Jane & Taryn. As for Harryhausen's effects, they're pretty much the same as his work in his other films, e.g. "Clash of the Titans," "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Mysterious Island." It just comes down to whether or not you like the creature(s) in question. Nothing here is as good as his Medusa and skeleton gang in other films IMHO, but it's a matter of preference. I personally don't find the saber-tooth tiger very impressive, but who can deny the greatness of the troglodyte as a sympathetic animated character? Anyway, the F/X sequences are just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. They don't make or break the film. The story, characters and locations are what really matter.FINAL ANALYSIS: Don't listen to the critics! This is a very entertaining Sinbad adventure on all counts. It's main flaw is that it's too long for it's own good. Regardless, I have a good time whenever I see it and prefer it to the previous two films. Patrick Wayne is a great Sinbad, the story captures your attention, the locations are fabulous, and Jane Seymour & Taryn Power are delectable. It's at least on par with "The Golden Voyage," although I give "Eye" the edge.The film runs 113 minutes.GRADE: B

Neil Welch Harryhausen's crop of creations in this third and final entry in the Sinbad "series" are, perhaps the least effective of all of them (I think feathers and fur don't help), yet this film is maybe the strongest of them all in terms of story, character and emotion.And, while the creatures themselves may not be as effective as some, they are beautifully animated and, as usual, flawlessly integrated into the background plates. Plus both the baboon and Trog give performances of enormous emotional subtlety when you consider that they are essentially no more than rubber mouldings over a metal skeleton. There is no doubt that their creator is an artist of the highest order in a field where artists simply aren't recognised.

MartinHafer It would be easy to rip apart this film. After all, compared to the special effects of today this all looks very quaint and primitive. However, even with the obviously fake creatures made by Ray Harryhausen and the many fake looking props, there is a certain escapist charm about this film. So, if you can turn off that pesky brain and just relax and enjoy, you'll like "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger".the film has an interesting cast. Two children of very famous actors are in some of the leading roles--Patrick Wayne (son of John) plays Sinbad and Taryn Power (daughter of Tyrone) plays a lesser character, Dione. In addition, the queen of mini-series (Jane Seymour as the Princess) and an ex-Dr. Who (Patrick Troughton--as the smarty-pants scientist) round out the cast of good guys. On the side of evil is the snarly scene-chewing Margaret Whiting as Zenobia. She has apparently turned the Crown Prince into a baboon so that her own son can take the throne. However, there is a minuscule chance that Sinbad can somehow find a way to turn him back--but first he needs to find the legendary smarty-pants, the alchemist Melanthius (Troghton). Once Sinbad and his group of friends find the smarty dude (more on that later), they make there way towards the Arctic regions to find the power of the ancients and transform the baboon into his gold old self--especially since his sister refuses to marry Sinbad unless her brother is restored.The film is full of lots of action, grand vistas and silly Harryhausen stop-motion thingies. In many ways it's a throwback to older films (as most of his best work was from the 50s and 60s) and the style of film is much like an old Universal or RKO adventure film. Fun and silly---even if the handsome Wayne has all the charisma in this film as a piece of toast.why all the white folks? left Melanthius alone with dangerous witch

retrorocketx "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" is not as good as the other two Ray Harryhausen Sinbad movies. There are too many instances where events could play out really cool, yet they invariably fizzle. Given that this is the third installment of Sinbad by the same creative team, I expected more. The plot seems to wear out halfway through the movie, and important scenes are poorly executed. But can any movie featuring Ray Harryhausen's creatures and sexy Jane Seymour ever be truly bad? Of course not! I'm just frustrated that this movie missed being great, because it easily could have been. The storyline of the movie is acceptable, and some of it is directly lifted from an 1001 Nights story, which is a plus. A prince is cursed into baboon shape by a witch so a challenger for the throne (the witch's son) can take over the kingdom. The shapeshift will become permanent after a while. The sister of the prince hires Sinbad to sail to a foreign land to find a wizard to break the curse. The witch and her son pursue Sinbad to prevent the reversal of the shapeshift. At the end of the movie, the competitors end up at the north pole in the temple of a lost civilization, the last hope to cure the prince.Much of the plot follows standard elements found in the three Harryhausen Sinbad movies such as a race to a lost land and a shapeshifted/disfigured royal person. But that is okay. What does not work is that there are too many characters just tagging along with little to do. Sinbad is one of the characters left hanging, which is not a good sign for a movie with Sinbad in the title. Once Sinbad states (early in the film) that he cannot remove the curse but he knows someone who can, Sinbad exits center stage and the wizard becomes the driver of the plot. Jane Seymore visually dominates any scene she is in with her sexy princess outfit, but does little else. The witch's son and the wizards daughter must have some dramatic story potential, I'll figure out what it is some day, maybe.Basically, the heart and soul of the movie comes down to a duel between the wizard and the witch, as both ships race for the north pole. The witch (Margaret Whiting) is outrageous and bizarre, and has plenty of stop-motion creature sorcery at her disposal. The wizard (Patrick Troughton) has obscure knowledge and is wonderfully nutty. But this duel is hardly a battle of wits. Their antics actually make the movie kind of funny, not necessarily on purpose, but since they are the main focus for drama the whole tone of movie feels uncertain. The writers do not seem to grasp the central importance of these two characters, and the plot devolves into random encounters and padded scenes. It would have been great to have an ongoing duel of sorcery (and dynamation creatures) throughout the race to the pole, but this opportunity was missed. As always, the dynamation monsters are entertaining, but perhaps not as effectively presented in the dramatic parts of the story as they could have been. The minotaur is totally cool, but almost pointless; the walrus is totally pointless; the skeletons are okay but without any sense of why the witch could summon them (and then only once); the troglodyte looks great but is almost pointless; and the saber-toothed tiger and troglodyte fight (two dynamation creatures fighting at the climax is another staple feature in these Sinbad movies) is an awkward disappointment. The baboon is by far the best creature in the film. Harryhausen always manages to evoke personality from his creations, and the baboon-prince is one of his very best in terms of expression, emotion and presence. However, too much screen time is spent with this creature and the baboon ultimately adds drag to the film.In spite of my frustrations with the film, I've watched it several times and will undoubtedly watch it several more. There is something charming about a Ray Harryhausen movie, even one that misses the mark.