Sinbad of the Seven Seas

"Sinbad of the Seven Seas" its another great "Z" movie from the director Enzo G. Castellari, "Sinbad of the seven seas" its an Italian fantasy a muscle-bound Sinbad (Lou Ferrigno) and his sailors cross the seas to recover the magic stones and help a young prince regain his throne battling it out with a powerful, wicked wizard Jaffar (John Steiner). The lack of money its clearly in the movie, the acting its terrible..well, its entertaining and makes laugh, its a 5 o'clock fantasy flick...

If you like this one, i recommend:

"Hercules in the Haunted World" ( Mario Bava, Franco Prosperi); "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger"(Sam Wanamaker) and "Clash of the Titans"(because of special effects of Ray Harryhausen) .

It takes talent to make a good movie. You have to have good everything to make it happen--actors, plot, script, directing, etc. It takes just as much talent to screw up every single aspect of a movie, while trying to do your best. This is exactly what "Sinbad" achieves. Cheesy fights; awful, unnatural (ie, hilarious) dialogue; and poor acting all combine to bring the word "appalling" to mind.

This movie is not a painful bad, but a funny bad, best enjoyed with buddies. Do not pass up a chance to watch this!

This film begins with a mother reading a bedtime story to her young daughter about the adventures of a brave sailor named "Sinbad" (played by Lou Ferrigno). As the story goes, Sinbad and his shipmates are bringing "Prince Ali" (Roland Wybenga) to Basra so that he can marry "Princess Alina" (Alessandra Martines). However, just before they get there the evil sorcerer "Jaffar" (John Steiner) decides to overthrow the "Caliph of Basra" (Donald Hodson) by casting an evil spell which creates chaos and destruction upon the city thereby leaving him in total control. To that extent, upon their arrival there Sinbad and his crew are barely able to escape with their lives and upon doing so they immediately set sail in a effort to recover the four sacred gems of Basra which they will need to help rectify the situation. Now rather than reveal any more. I will just say that this film had a good storyline but it was completely ruined by the simplistic format, incompetent direction, imbecilic script, and some really horrendous acting. Likewise, having Lou Ferrigno so badly miscast in the lead role certainly didn't help matters. Admittedly, it did have several beautiful actresses like Melonee Rodgers (as the Amazon Queen "Farida"), Stefania Girolami ("Kyra"), Teagan Clive ("Soukra") and the aforementioned Alessandra Martines. Yet despite that fact it wasn't enough to significantly affect the overall picture. It was just that bad.

An awesomely ripped Lou Ferrigno headlines here as the eponymous hero in this visually lavish fantasy flick brought to us by the ever reliable Enzo G.Castellari.

Sinbad's mission is to brave numerous perils in order to rescue a beautiful princess from the clutches of an evil wizard named Jaffar who has taken over the kingdom of Basra by dark magical means.

Also along for the adventure are Sinbad's crew who are comprised of a mighty viking, a philosophical samurai warrior, a dashing prince who is betrothed to the captive princess, a bald chef and a dwarf named Poochi(!) Along the way this brave band of heroes find themselves up against undead armies, rock monsters, seductive Amazonians and a slimy ogre plus in the finale, big Lou comes up against his own clone!!!

Approach this in the right frame of mind and you should have a good time, after all it's entirely harmless fun in much the same vein as films such as Labyrinth etc.

Certainly the film does have far higher production values than most Italian films of the eighties with some beautifully sumptuous sets and costumes on display throughout. Added to this there's a good assemble of B-Movie stars; Big Lou, Romano Puppo (sadly relegated to a very minor role) and of course the ever wonderful John Steiner who is clearly having a ball with his material here as the delightfully hissable Jaffar.

Unfortunately, there are a number of factors which do seriously drag the film down however. For instance, a few of the characters (most notably Lou) have been entirely overdubbed with irritating voice overs - quite why this was the case, I have no idea.

By far the most damning criticism I have for the film though is the intrusive and annoying narrative that accompanies (and incessantly interjects upon!) the proceedings throughout. You see, the basis for the film is that everything taking place on screen is actually a bedtime story being read to a little girl by her mother. And wouldn't you know it - the mother's voice is yet another infuriating overdub!!!

Still, to be fair and looking past these failings, this is actually a fairly enjoyable watch. If you like a spot of swashbuckling fantasy and enjoy films such as The Princess Bride and the aforementioned Labyrinth then this may well be right up your street.

TV's Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferrigno's fourth in a series of Italian made sword and sandal flicks he starred in during the 1980s. Sinbad succeeded two Hercules films and one titled, The Seven Magnificent Gladiators. He reprised roles played by US musclemen, such as Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott, who worked for Italian studios in the early 60s making loads of sword and sandal flicks. In fact, Lou's efforts along with other flicks such as Conan, the Deathstalker series and Lee Horsley's Sword And The Sorcerer were part of an 80s' revival of the 60s' sword and sandal/sorcery genre.

This version of Sinbad was apparently intended for TV but never made it. Beefed up special effects grace this movie version. However, any Sinbad film has to be compared to the three gems made by Ray Harryhausen, the most successful of which was The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad in 1973. Ray's meticulously worked stop motion special effects leave those in Sinbad Of The Seven Seas standing, and that's the point; this film is so wooden. The plot calls for Sinbad to bring home some special stones so that his pal the Prince can marry his beloved Princess who is being held by an evil wizard (John Steiner). He sets sail with a crew that includes a Viking and a Samurai warrior and overcomes such adversities as a laser beam shooting monster and soldiers that rise from the dead. His last feat finds him wrestling himself . See this if you like Lou Ferrigno (he still looks great and has let his curly hair grow out Afro style) and/or sword and sandal pics - just don't expect to be riveted to your seat.