Sinbad Of The Seven
Seas (1989)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C-
Lou Ferrigno is a very likable guy, which is why even
after attempts at other hero roles and a lame attempt to replace him with CG
animation in Ang Lee’s horrific Hulk feature film, he is still liked and
still remembered as the one and only Hulk.
Nevertheless, he did try to be Hercules and Sinbad, but eventually was
lured back to be Hulk in more TV films that were at least as good as his
theatrical features, which does not say much.
Playing Hercules makes sense, but when the guys who ran Cannon Films
tried to make him Sinbad in veteran Enzo G. Castellari’s Sinbad Of The Seven
Seas (1989), they still dubbed his voice with someone who could never have
had Lou’s body and no one went to see it.
Taking on the evil Jaffar, which worked much better in the
recent animated Sinbad from Disney, you wonder why Ferrigno just did not
run over and smack him around for ten minutes.
However, this is a bad movie and even Lou’s might cannot overcome lame
writing, very bad visual effects, phony sets and a sense of magic that is just
plain dumb. When Columbia Pictures did
what are considered still the best live action Sinbad films to date, they had
the stop motion animation genius of Ray Harryhausen. Too bad the producers here could not have found more talent on
that end. At least Lou got his
paycheck, we hope.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 is soft and shows its
age, though the process shots and other dated effects make this print look
worse, something digital high definition could not even fix. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is flat and dull,
and when Ferrigno’s dubber kicks in, the sound is too forward and phony. The only extra is an unexciting
trailer. Maybe if they do that threatened
Hulk sequel, they could dump the CG with Ang Lee and get Ferrigno
back. It’s better than the Hulk looking
like Shrek, which is almost how bad this film is.
- Nicholas Sheffo
