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(PG) "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" is a huge disappointment simply because the idea of an animated Sinbad movie is so promising. Unfortunately, in an ill-advised attempt to (as the press kit puts it) "take this rich mythology and reinvent it in a way that would make it a compelling story for a 21st-century audience"), writer John Logan has turned a great idea into a blandly generic exercise that is a Sinbad film in name only. (A real Sinbad film, for example, probably wouldn’t have the main character actually saying at one point "Who’s bad? Sin-bad!") This time, our hero (voiced by Brad Pitt, whose mushy voice is simply not suited for voiceover work) is off on a quest to retrieve the Book of Peace, which has fallen into the hands of Eris (Michelle Pfeiffer), an goddess type who comes off as a bad imitation of Ursula from "The Little Mermaid". Along the way, there are unexciting fight sequences, unexciting battle-of-the-sexes sparring between Sinbad and stowaway Marina (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and, inevitably, an adorable animal sidekick-this time a dog named Spike. (Insert lawsuit joke here.)

For people who grew up watching the Sinbad films made by Ray Harryhausen, they will be disappointed by both the lack of imagination, the weirdly inappropriate adult-oriented humor that would seem more at home in "South Park", (At one point, during a deep-freeze, one shirtless character is advised to "Get a shirt on before you poke someone’s eye out!" and I can’t even describe what the entrance to Eris’ lair looks like in a family newspaper.) Even more crushing is the fact that this is a Sinbad film that ends not with a glorious battle but with Sinbad Learning a Valuable Lesson straight out of a 1970’s Saturday morning cartoon. There is a great animated Sinbad movie to be made but unfortunately, this one is simply not it.

CREDITS: Starring: Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert, Joseph Fiennes. Directed by: Tim Johnson, Patrick Gilmore. Produced by: Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mireille Soria, John Wells. Written by: John Logan. Distributor: Dreamworks.

(unrated) Another literary character almost as familiar as Sinbad, the legendary vampire Dracula, makes his umpteenth screen appearance in Guy Maddin’s "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary" and the result is one of the best adaptations of Bram Stoker’s book ever committed to film. Not a straightforward version of the story, the film is actually a version of the story as interpreted by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet without dialogue and performed to the music of Gustav Mahler. It sounds incredibly pretentious but in the hands of Maddin (the Canadian surrealist behind such quirky films as "Careful" and the stunning short "The Heart of the World"), the result is a visually extraordinary fever dream in black-and-white (with the occasional drop of red) that actually comes closer to the hallucinatory energy of Stoker’s original work than most of the other previous attempts. The dancers (especially Zhang Wei-Qiang as Dracula) are all marvelously expressive in their roles and even viewers weary of the idea of another vampire film will be surprised at some of the twists that Maddin delivers. Over the years, there have been few vampire-related films that are truly great-the short list would include the original "Nosferatu", the Hammer "Horror of Dracula" and Francis Coppola’s operatic whack at "Dracula"-but Maddin’s masterpiece definitely deserves a place among them

CREDITS: Starring Zhang Wei-Qiang, Tara Birtwhistle and CindyMarie Small. Directed by Guy Maddin. Produced by Vonnie Von Helmolt, Mark Godden and Guy Maddin. A Zeitgeist release. Horror. Unrated. Running time: 72 min.

Copyright © 2003 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.