Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is a 2003 American animated/traditional animation/computer animation adventure comedy crossover film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures, using traditional animation with some computer animation. It was directed by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson, and written by John Logan.
It covers the story of Sinbad (voiced by Brad Pitt), Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Hayden Panettiere, a pirate who travels the sea to recover the lost Book of Peace from Eris (voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer) to save his childhood friend, Prince Proteus (voiced by Joseph Fiennes), from accepting Sinbad's death sentence.
Grossing $80.7 million on a $60 million budget, Sinbad is considered a box office bomb. DreamWorks suffered a $125 million loss on a string of films in 2003, which nearly bankrupted the company and caused it to abandon traditional animation in favor of computer animation.[3]
Plot[]
Sinbad and his pirate crew attempt to steal the magical "Book of Peace" and hold it for ransom as one last job before retiring to Fiji. Sinbad is surprised to see it is being protected while on board to Syracuse, Sicily by Prince Proteus of Syracuse. Proteus was once Sinbad's best friend as a child and he tells him if it ever meant anything he can prove it. Sinbad tries to steal the book anyway, but is prevented when Cetus attacks the ship. The two work together to fight off Cetus and for a moment reaffirm their bond. Just when it seems the beast is defeated, Sinbad is dragged off the ship. Proteus goes to save Sinbad, but he is stopped by his crew.
Drawn underwater by Cetus, Sinbad is saved by the beautiful Goddess of Discord, Eris, who offers him any boon he desires in exchange for the Book of Peace. Sinbad and his crew go to Syracuse to steal the Book, but leave without doing so. Anticipating this, Eris impersonates Sinbad and steals the Book. Sinbad is sentenced to death, whereupon Proteus sends Sinbad to retrieve the Book instead, placing himself as a hostage, and Proteus' fiancée Lady Marina goes to make sure that Sinbad succeeds. To prevent them from succeeding, Eris sends a group of mythical sirens, who entrance and seduce the men aboard Sinbad's ship with their hypnotic singing voices, but do not affect Marina, who pilots the ship to safety. The Goddess of Discord later sends a Roc which captures Marina, but she is rescued by Sinbad.
After these and other incidents, Sinbad and Marina talk in a brief moment of peace - Marina reveals that she's always dreamed of a life on the sea, and Sinbad reveals that he distanced himself from Proteus 10 years earlier because he loved Marina. They suddenly then reach and enter Eris' realm where she reveals that her plan was to maneuver Proteus into Sinbad's place, leaving Syracuse without an heir, and agrees to surrender the Book of Peace only if Sinbad truthfully tells whether he will return to Syracuse to accept blame and be executed if he does not get the Book. She gives him her word that she will honour the deal, making it unbreakable even for a god. When he answers that he will return, Eris calls him a liar, and returns him and Marina to the mortal world. Ashamed, Sinbad admits the Goddess of Discord is right, truly believing deep down that he is a selfish, black-hearted liar.
In Syracuse, the time allotted to Sinbad has elapsed. Proteus readies himself to be beheaded, but at the last minute, Sinbad appears and takes his place. An enraged Eris appears suddenly and saves Sinbad by shattering the executioner's sword to pieces. Sinbad, shocked, realizes that this was still part of her test and that he has beaten her by proving his answer to be true after all. Eris is furious but cannot go back on her word and gives the book to Sinbad, reforming herself. With the true culprit revealed, Sinbad is pardoned for the crime of stealing the book and is now well-respected.
With the Book restored to Syracuse, Sinbad and his crew prepare to leave on another voyage, leaving Marina in Syracuse. Unbeknownst to him, Proteus sees that Marina has fallen deeply in love with Sinbad and life on the sea and releases her from their engagement, sending her to join Sinbad's ship. Marina surprises Sinbad by revealing her presence on the ship just as it begins to sail, and the two share a kiss. Now together, they and the crew set out on another long voyage as the ship sails into the sunset.
Voice cast[]
- Brad Pitt as Sinbad
- Dave Foley as Flik, a courageous but clumsy inventor ant wanting to make a difference.
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Princess Atta, Queen's nervous elder daughter and Flik's love interest.
- Catherine Zeta-Jones as Lady Marina
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Eris
- Joseph Fiennes as Prince Proteus
- Dennis Haysbert as Kale
- Adriano Giannini as Rat
- Timothy West as King Dymas
- Jim Cummings as Luca
- Conrad Vernon as Jed
- Kevin Spacey as Hopper, the cynical and hot-tempered leader of the grasshopper gang oppressing the ants.
- Hayden Panettiere as Dot, Queen's younger daughter and Flik's good friend.
- Phyllis Diller as The Queen, Atta and Dot's elderly mother, who is training Atta to succeed her.
- Richard Kind as Molt, Hopper's dimwitted yet well-mannered younger brother.
- David Hyde Pierce as Slim, a stick bug clown who often becomes a stand-in for stick-like props.
- Joe Ranft as Heimlich, a gluttonous, German-accented green caterpillar clown who desires to be a butterfly.
- Denis Leary as Francis, a hot-tempered male ladybug clown who is frequently mistaken for a female and becomes a "den mother" to the Blueberry Scouts.
- Jonathan Harris as Manny, an elderly, English-accented praying mantis magician who is Gypsy's husband.
- Madeline Kahn as Gypsy, a moth who is Manny's wife, and his lovely assistant in the magic acts.
- Bonnie Hunt as Rosie, a black widow spider who is Dim's "tamer".
- Michael McShane as Tuck and Roll, twin pillbug performers from Hungary who speak in gibberish and act as cannonballs and dancers.
- John Ratzenberger as P.T. Flea, the ringmaster of the circus troupe.
- Brad Garrett as Dim, a blue childlike rhinoceros beetle that plays the "ferocious beast".
- Roddy McDowall as Mr. Soil, the ant colony's resident thespian.
- Edie McClurg as Dr. Flora, the ant colony's doctor.
- Alex Rocco as Thorny, a small, deep-voiced ant who is Atta's assistant.
- David Ossman as Cornelius, a very old ant with a walking stick.
- David Lander as Thumper, an insane grasshopper who is Hopper's "enforcer".
- Rodger Bumpass as Harry Mosquito
- Ashley Tisdale as the leader of the Blueberry Scouts, a troop of ant children that Dot belongs to.
- Jan Rabson and Carlos Alazraqui as Axle and Loco, a duo of grasshoppers from Hopper's gang.
- Rabson also voices another grasshopper while Alazraqui voices an ant that becomes "lost" when a leaf falls on the ant line.
- Bob Bergen as Aphie, the Queen's pet aphid.
- Jack Angel as Thud, a horsefly and bodyguard to the Fly Brothers.
- Patrick Pinney as a bug in the bar and a grasshopper from Hopper's gang.
- Rachel Davey, Brad Hall, Jeff Pidgeon, and Phil Proctor as Hopper's gang members.
Production[]
Development[]
Shortly after co-writing Aladdin (1992), screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio came up with the idea of adapting the story of Sinbad the Sailor in the vein of the story of Damon and Pythias before settling on a love triangle.[4] They wrote a treatment that was inspired by screwball romantic comedy films in which Sinbad was depicted as a reserved apprentice mapmaker who joins Peri, a free-spirited female smuggler, on an adventure and fall in love.[5][6] In July 1992, Disney had announced they were adapting the story into a potential animated feature.[7]
Shortly after writing Gladiator (2000), John Logan was approached by Jeffrey Katzenberg to write the script for an animated film. When he was offered the story of Sinbad, Logan researched the multiple tales of the character before settling on depicting the Greek and Roman versions. He described his first draft script as "very complex, the relationships were very adult – it was too intense in terms of the drama for the audience that this movie was aimed at."[8]
Casting[]
Russell Crowe was originally going to voice Sinbad, but he dropped out due to scheduling problems.[9] He was replaced by Brad Pitt, who wanted to make a film his nieces and nephews could see. He explained: "They can't get into my movies. People's heads getting cut off, and all that."[9] Pitt had already tried to narrate DreamWorks' previous animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, but "it didn't work," with Matt Damon taking over the role.[9] Pitt's purist intentions worried him that his Missourian accent would not be suitable for his Middle Eastern character.[9] Despite that, the film-makers persuaded him that his accent would lighten the mood.[9]
Michelle Pfeiffer, who voices Eris, the goddess of chaos, had struggles with finding the character's villainies. Initially the character was "too sexual," then she lacked fun. After the third rewrite, Pfeiffer called Jeffrey Katzenberg and told him "You know, you really can fire me," but he assured her that this was just part of the process.[9]
Animation[]
In January 2001, it was reported that DreamWorks Animation would completely transfer their animation workflow into using the Linux operating system. Previously, their animation and rendering software had used Silicon Graphics Image servers and workstations, but as their hardware began to show slowness, DreamWorks began looking for an alternate platform for superior optimal performance in order to save hardware costs.[10][11] In 2002, they decided to partner with Hewlett-Packard for a three-year deal for which they used their dual-processor HP workstations and ProLiant servers running Red Hat Linux software.[10][12][13] Starting with Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), they had replaced its entire render farm with x86-based Linux servers.[11]
With Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, it was the first DreamWorks Animation production to completely utilized Linux software, in which more than 250 workstations were used.[10] Starting with storyboards, the artists first sketched on paper to visualize the scene which are later edited into an animatic. For the character animation, the rough character sketches are passed through the ToonShooter software, which digitized the sketches. From that point, the animators can easily integrate the animation into existing scenes.[11] Production software lead Derek Chan explained, "ToonShooter is an internal tool we wrote for Linux. It captures low resolution 640 x 480 line art that the artists use to time the film."[14] The animated characters were then digitally colored using the Linux software application, InkAndPaint.[14]
For the visual effects, DreamWorks Animation had used Autodesk Maya to create water effects. However, the rendering was found to be too photorealistic, in which senior software engineer for advanced R&D future films Galen Gornowicz sought to modify the effects to closely match the movie's visual development renderings.[14] Craig Ring, who served as digital supervisor on the film, sought four major approaches to water used in the film. The approaches were to composite ripple distortion over the painted backgrounds; create fluid simulation; develop a rapid slashing technique used to create a surface and then send ripples through the surface; and better integrate the 3D visual effects with stylized, hand drawn splashes.[15]
Release[]
Marketing[]
A PC game based on the film was released by Atari, who worked closely with one of the film's directors, Patrick Gilmore. It was released before the VHS and DVD release of the film.[16] Burger King released six promotional toys at the time of the film's release, and each toy came with a "Constellation Card"[17] Hasbro Inc. produced a series of Sinbad figures as part of its G.I. JOE action figure brand.[18] The figures were 12" tall and came with a mythical monster.[19]
Home media[]
The film was released on DVD and VHS on November 18, 2003.[20] The DVD included a six-minute interactive short animated film Cyclops Island, featuring an encounter with the eponymous Cyclops.[21]
Cyclops Island[]
Cyclops Island (also known as Sinbad and the Cyclops Island) is a traditionally animated interactive short film that acts as a sequel to Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, taking place shortly after the events of the previous film.
Instead of travelling to Fiji, Sinbad and his crew decide to spend their vacation on the tropical island of Krakatoa. While attempting to find a source of fresh water on the island, Marina and Spike run into a tribe of Cyclops who they have to defeat with the help of Sinbad, Kale and Rat. When Sinbad dislodges a large boulder during the fight, a volcano erupts and the island goes down in flames. Marina then suggests looking for a nicer destination for their next holiday, such as Pompeii.
While watching the short film on DVD, the viewer can choose to follow different characters to see different angles of the same story. The viewer can follow Sinbad, the duo of Kale and Rat, Marina, or Spike. Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Haysbert and Adriano Giannini all reprised their roles from the original film. On VHS releases, the short film takes place after the movie ends before the credits roll and is placed in its entirety.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 45% of its critics gave positive reviews, based on 125 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Competent, but not magical."[22] Metacritic gave the film a 48/100 approval rating based on 33 reviews.[23] However, Roger Ebert gave the film 3Template:Frac stars and concluded that, "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is another worthy entry in the recent renaissance of animation, and in the summer that has already given us Finding Nemo, it's a reminder that animation is the most liberating of movie genres, freed of gravity, plausibility, and even the matters of lighting and focus. There is no way that Syracuse could exist outside animation, and as we watch it, we are sailing over the edge of the human imagination".[24]
Praise went to Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer's voice performances but criticism went to the CGI animation and storyline. That the film removes the story from its Arabic context and places it in a Greek setting earned it some criticism. Jack Shaheen, a critic of Hollywood's portrayal of Arabs, believed that "the studio feared financial and possibly political hardships if they made the film's hero Arab", and claimed that "If no attempt is made to challenge negative stereotypes about Arabs, the misperceptions continue. It's regrettable that the opportunity wasn't taken to change them, especially in the minds of young people". At one point, Shaheen asked Katzenberg to include some references to Arabic culture in the film. According to Shaheen: "He didn't seem surprised that I mentioned it, which presumably means that it was discussed early on in the development of the film."[25]
Box office[]
On the film's opening weekend, the film earned $6,874,477 for a $2,227 average from 3,086 theaters, and $10,056,980 since its Wednesday start. It reached sixth place at the box office and faced early competition to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Finding Nemo, and Hulk. The week after release, the similar Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl premiered, eventually becoming the third most successful film of the year. Sinbad declined 37% in its second week to $4,310,834 for a $1,396 average from 3,086 theaters, finishing seventh. The film closed on October 9, 2003, after earning $26,483,452 in the United States and Canada and $54,284,432 overseas, for a worldwide total of $80,767,884.[2]
DreamWorks Animation suffered a $125 million loss on other projects that weren't offset by this film, leading Katzenberg to comment, "I think the idea of a traditional story being told using traditional animation is likely a thing of the past."[3][26]
Video game[]
A video game based on the film, titled Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, was released on October 21, 2003.[27] Published by Atari and developed by Small Rockets, it was released for PC.[28]
Soundtrack[]
All music composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, except as noted.
<td align="right" colspan="Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[".">| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Let the Games Begin" | 3:04 | |
| 2. | "The Book of Peace" | 1:41 | |
| 3. | "The Sea Monster" | 3:32 | |
| 4. | "Sinbad Overboard" | 3:27 | |
| 5. | "Syracuse" | 1:16 | |
| 6. | "Proteus Proposes" | 1:12 | |
| 7. | "Eris Steals the Book" | 1:53 | |
| 8. | "Lighting Lanterns" | 1:29 | |
| 9. | "The Stowaway" | 2:35 | |
| 10. | "Setting Sail" | 1:40 | |
| 11. | "Sirens" | 3:22 | |
| 12. | "Chipped Paint" | 2:52 | |
| 13. | "The Giant Fish" | 1:05 | |
| 14. | "Surfing" | 3:04 | |
| 15. | "The Roc" | 2:00 | |
| 16. | "Heroics" | 2:11 | |
| 17. | "Rescue!" | 2:18 | |
| 18. | "Is It the Shore or the Sea?" | 3:28 | |
| 19. | "Tartarus" | 10:12 | |
| 20. | "Marina's Love / Proteus' Execution" | 2:02 | |
| 21. | "Sinbad Returns and Eris Pays Up" | 7:45 | |
| 22. | "Into the Sunset / End Credits" | 2:22 | |
| 1:04:30 |
Notes[]
1 In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures[29] and transferred to 20th Century Fox before reverting to Universal Studios in 2018.
References[]
- ↑ Clarke, Seán (23 July 2003). "Why Hollywood drew a veil over Sinbad's Arab roots". https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/jul/23/iraq.world.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sinbad.htm. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "DreamWorks Sale Sounds Wake-Up Call for Indie Films", December 17, 2005. Retrieved on September 11, 2013. “The company nearly went bankrupt twice, Geffen said during a panel discussion in New York this year, adding that when the animated film "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" flopped in 2003, the resulting $125-million loss nearly sank his company.”
- ↑ Rossio, Terry. "The One Hundred Million Dollar Mistake". http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp47.100.Million.Mistake.html.
- ↑ "Sinbad: 2/8/94 Treatment". http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp37-xtras/wp37x.SINBAD.html.
- ↑ Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (April 27, 2013). "Interview: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio" (Interview). Interviewed by MJ Simpson. Blogger. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
- ↑ "'Odyssey,' Sinbad, Pocahontas Getting Disney Treatment", Los Angeles Daily News, Chicago Tribune, July 2, 1992.
- ↑ Scott B. (July 1, 2003). "An Interview with John Logan". https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/07/01/an-interview-with-john-logan.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Preview", April 25, 2003.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Galli, Peter. "Linux Plays Starring Role in Sinbad", July 1, 2003.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Butcher, Matt. "The stallion and the penguin: DreamWorks uses Linux to create new animated film", April 24, 2002.
- ↑ Perez, Juan Carol. "Sinbad and Linux brave the high seas", July 1, 2003.
- ↑ Shankland, Stephen. "DreamWorks switches to HP, Linux", January 30, 2002.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Rowe, Robin. "Linux Dreamworks Redux", May 28, 2002.
- ↑ Desowitz, Bill. "'Sinbad' Sets Sail on a New Journey into Water Surfaces", July 16, 2003.
- ↑ DreamWorks SKG. "Atari Brings the Action of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas to the Home PC; New PC Game To Be Based on Upcoming Major Motion Picture", May 12, 2003. Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
- ↑ "Sinbad Sails His Way Into Burger King". Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
- ↑ "DreamWorks, Hasbro in 'Sinbad' Toy Deal", June 10, 2002. Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
- ↑ DreamWorks SKG. "DreamWorks SKG and Hasbro Team Up for Action-Packed G.I. JOE Figures Based On The New Animated Feature Property, 'Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas(TM)'", June 10, 2002. Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
- ↑ Ball, Ryan. "Sinbad Sails Home", November 18, 2003. Retrieved on November 15, 2013.
- ↑ Simon, Ben. "Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas", November 10, 2003. Retrieved on October 23, 2012.
- ↑ "Sinbad - Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sinbad_legend_of_the_seven_seas/. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
- ↑ "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/sinbad-legend-of-the-seven-seas. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger. "Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas", July 2, 2003. Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
- ↑ Clarke, Sean. "Printing the legend", July 23, 2003. Retrieved on October 24, 2012.
- ↑ M. Holson, Laura. "Animated Film Is Latest Title To Run Aground At DreamWorks", July 21, 2003. Retrieved on November 4, 2012.
- ↑ Scott, Jonathan (October 21, 2003). "Sinbad Sails Into Stores". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/10/21/sinbad-sails-into-stores. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ Krause, Staci (January 23, 2004). "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Review". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/01/23/sinbad-legend-of-the-seven-seas-review. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ "DreamWorks Animation Q2 Earnings Fall Short of Estimates, SEC Investigation Revealed", Variety, July 29, 2014. Retrieved on July 30, 2014.
External links[]
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