Just about every trick in the book – including one called Dynamation, i.e. the animation of assorted monsters, vultures, skeletons, etc – has been used to bring a vivid sort of realism to the various and terrifying hazards which Sinbad encounters on his voyage and in his battle with Sokurah the magician. Add to this a love story, interrupted when the princess Parisa is shrunk to inch-size by the magician, and what emerges is a bright, noisy package.
Kerwin Mathews makes a pleasant Sinbad, acting the part with more restraint than bravura; Kathryn Grant is pretty as the princess; Torin Thatcher has a fittingly evil look as the magician; Richard Eyer is cute as the Genie; Alec Mango has dignity as the Caliph.
But this isn’t the sort of film in which performances matter much. It’s primarily entertainment for the eye, and the action moves swiftly and almost without interruption. Ray Harryhausen, who was responsible for visual effects, emerges as the hero of this piece.
