John-Rhys-Davies Movie Reviews

Added Dec 2003. Check out the 2003 Dreamworks SINBAD movie with brad pitt instead. Our family gave that one 5 stars.

I like this movie, and it shows that Disney isn't the only animation company in the world. I need more independent films like this. The graphics remind me of PlayStation 2, more specifically the game "Pirates: Legend of the Black Kat" because it's about a female pirate. It's a great alternative to Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within, which is too depressing, although Sinbad doesn't have as excellent graphics. It might not have the best story in the world, but it's good to watch Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists every once in a while. Get it if you like independent animation.

Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists offers just a taste of what the new and improved animated world has in store for us. This is the first full-length feature of its kind, a '3D motion capture' feature. Simply defined, motion capture is the taking of real actors and applying digitally-created motion to their animated likenesses, in essence 'capturing' the likeness of real life.

The technique may be new, but the storyline of Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists is familiar territory, especially for animated features - in a kingdom far, far away lives Princess Serena (voice of Jennifer Hale) who must rescue her father, King Akron (voice of Leonard Nimoy) from the evil clutches of a mysterious man, Baraka, who has washed up on their shores. When Baraka enters the king's home, it is under false pretences, as he is tricking the King and his daughter who do not realize until it is too late. On her own for the first time, the princess enlists the help of the reluctant young (and of course strapping) Sinbad (voice of Brendan Fraser) to help her go to the end of the world - to the Veil of Mists - where all the answers to helping her father lie.

Although the plot is far from original, the 3D animation alone is worth watching. Most of the movie takes place on or beside the ocean, which is beautifully created, and perhaps the movie's strongest animation asset. The Veil of Mists is a real eye candy treat, coming complete with talking sea creatures and cooperative flying mushrooms.

One might wonder why - if the goal of the new animation is to make things as lifelike as possible - do they bother making animated features at all. Perhaps it is because ultimately the world of animation will go beyond what humans can do in live-action films, and as a result, only animation can fulfill the deepest desires and imaginations of movie fans both young and old.

One thing is for sure. With the onset of computer and DVD game mania, the animation boom is sure to reach a growing audience. Although technology will surely surpass Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists in short order, this movie will always have the distinction of being the first of its kind.
-Chetan

Added Dec 2003. Check out the 2003 Dreamworks SINBAD movie with brad pitt instead. Our family gave that one 5 stars.

I like this movie, and it shows that Disney isn't the only animation company in the world. I need more independent films like this. The graphics remind me of PlayStation 2, more specifically the game "Pirates: Legend of the Black Kat" because it's about a female pirate. It's a great alternative to Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within, which is too depressing, although Sinbad doesn't have as excellent graphics. It might not have the best story in the world, but it's good to watch Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists every once in a while. Get it if you like independent animation.

Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists offers just a taste of what the new and improved animated world has in store for us. This is the first full-length feature of its kind, a '3D motion capture' feature. Simply defined, motion capture is the taking of real actors and applying digitally-created motion to their animated likenesses, in essence 'capturing' the likeness of real life.

The technique may be new, but the storyline of Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists is familiar territory, especially for animated features - in a kingdom far, far away lives Princess Serena (voice of Jennifer Hale) who must rescue her father, King Akron (voice of Leonard Nimoy) from the evil clutches of a mysterious man, Baraka, who has washed up on their shores. When Baraka enters the king's home, it is under false pretences, as he is tricking the King and his daughter who do not realize until it is too late. On her own for the first time, the princess enlists the help of the reluctant young (and of course strapping) Sinbad (voice of Brendan Fraser) to help her go to the end of the world - to the Veil of Mists - where all the answers to helping her father lie.

Although the plot is far from original, the 3D animation alone is worth watching. Most of the movie takes place on or beside the ocean, which is beautifully created, and perhaps the movie's strongest animation asset. The Veil of Mists is a real eye candy treat, coming complete with talking sea creatures and cooperative flying mushrooms.

One might wonder why - if the goal of the new animation is to make things as lifelike as possible - do they bother making animated features at all. Perhaps it is because ultimately the world of animation will go beyond what humans can do in live-action films, and as a result, only animation can fulfill the deepest desires and imaginations of movie fans both young and old.

One thing is for sure. With the onset of computer and DVD game mania, the animation boom is sure to reach a growing audience. Although technology will surely surpass Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists in short order, this movie will always have the distinction of being the first of its kind.
-Chetan

FURTHER, his chest muscles hardly rippled. They were big chest muscles, but he never flexed them (if he could).

email me: nbs124@bigfoot.com

As for the movie, well, let me tell you. In the Olympics they won't let a 150 pound man wrestle against a 170 pound man because it just isn't a fair match. But in the movies, one drunken stumblebum private eye armed with a BB gun can overcome all of the following:

1. Several corrupt INS officials

2. The Mexican border federales.

3. The world's richest man and several doctors, who are running a scam to use illegal immigrants as unwilling heart and liver donors.

4. The world's richest man's connections, which "go so high up the ladder God can't see the top"

5. Thugs who look like a cross between Dolph Lundgren and Andre the Giant, and are better armed than the Iraqi army.

6. Treacherous girlfriends.

7. Incompetent associates.

8. Sarcastic bartenders.

Very realistic movie.

Stacy Keach plays, or maybe I should say overplays, the world's richest man, and he says that ripping hearts out of living victims is OK because:

* They are doing it for a good cause, to give the gift of life to senior members of the Republican Party and other equally important members of society.

* The Aztecs did it, and these victims are descended from the Aztecs, so they are culturally prepared for it.

OK, fair enough. I was having some problem with it, but then when he explained the Aztec thing, I could relate to it.

As for the movie, well, let me tell you. In the Olympics they won't let a 150 pound man wrestle against a 170 pound man because it just isn't a fair match. But in the movies, one drunken stumblebum private eye armed with a BB gun can overcome all of the following:

1. Several corrupt INS officials

2. The Mexican border federales.

3. The world's richest man and several doctors, who are running a scam to use illegal immigrants as unwilling heart and liver donors.

4. The world's richest man's connections, which "go so high up the ladder God can't see the top"

5. Thugs who look like a cross between Dolph Lundgren and Andre the Giant, and are better armed than the Iraqi army.

6. Treacherous girlfriends.

7. Incompetent associates.

8. Sarcastic bartenders.

Very realistic movie.

Stacy Keach plays, or maybe I should say overplays, the world's richest man, and he says that ripping hearts out of living victims is OK because:

* They are doing it for a good cause, to give the gift of life to senior members of the Republican Party and other equally important members of society.

* The Aztecs did it, and these victims are descended from the Aztecs, so they are culturally prepared for it.

OK, fair enough. I was having some problem with it, but then when he explained the Aztec thing, I could relate to it.

Despite it being made a few years before Jurrassic Park, I still think the quality is far superior. The plot is about two rival scientists set out for the Lost World and find it threatened with destruction by sinister oil prospectors. If you liked, or didn't liked, or even hated the Lost World or any movies about dinosaurs, you will no matter love this one! You will change your perspective on the cinematography of past movies, and will think that "Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" was a graphically mediocre and suspenseless movie.