Excellent but underrated film

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Gaudy and Cheesy, but Charming and Colorful Fantasy aimed directly at the Children's Matinée. This is an Outrageously Ambitious (for its minuscule budget) Fun-Fest that is Energetic and almost Every Scene is Punctuated with Chintzy SFX and Puppetry with a Background of Candy-Colored Costumes and Sets.The Small and Confined Studio is Loaded and Crammed with Wild Wonderment and Claustrophobic Calamity. It is one of those that is Fondly Remembered by Youngsters who were Entertained in Theatres and on TV.Never Reaching the Artistry of Ray Harryhausen's Signature Series and had No Hope of Achieving Anything Near the Respect or Money Making Ability of other Similar Movies that were Popular at the Time, it made up for it with Audacity and Flaunted its Limitations Front and Center for Everyone to Ogle.Guy Williams (TV's "Zorro" and "Lost in Space") seems to be having Fun, Frolicing through the Staged Fantasyland and Racing to Rescue the Princess. There are Villains about and Monsters to be Slain and Everyone, including the Audience, is having a Grand Ol' Time while it is all Unreeling.

Admittedly, nostalgia is coloring this review, since I remember it fondly from my childhood. Who could forget the giant fist in the tower, trying to crush Sinbad as he tries to stab the evil ruler's satin pillow of a heart? Or Sindbad climbing a six foot thick diameter rope? We looked for years for the "Sinbad" movie with the magician who lengthens his arm, and hit upon it by chance one day. Who knew there was a Sindbad movie among the later Sinbad movies?Sort of like the cheesy space movies that preceded the earth shattering Sci Fi classic, Star Wars, you have to suspend your sense of disbelief, not fixate on the fact that the special effects are not lifelike. Just try to remember what it was like, having fun watching a movie on Saturday, like when you were eight years old, and lucky enough to get money and a ride to the movies. This is an antidote to movies with computer special effects overload, like Transformers. Back to the age of innocence? Maybe not, but still good clean fun.

You can't take films like this as art. I choose to watch them on a Saturday or Sunday morning, because that's the type of film I remember being taken to as a child. Had this been not so obviously cheap, I would have been a lot tougher on it, so I can go into these with the intention of having a good time, maybe a laugh or two at its expense, but fill the need of why I watch these sword and sandal films on occasion in the first place.Once again, there is an evil man on the throne of a fictional country, upsurbing the throne from the rightful ruler with the intent of marrying his daughter who is really in love with the hero. Guy Williams of "Lost in Space" fame is the hero who is first visited by the princess in the form of a bird. Man-eating birds attack carrying boulders, capsize the ship, sending Sindbad and his men to shore to deal with the nasty villain (who is in possession of a magical ring) and ultimately head to the tower surrounded by a spooky forest filled with dangerous traps. The goal is to get to the upsurber's protected heart which prevents him from being killed if stabbed. It is here where the hero faces (only briefly) a mystical creature which actually looks like a tree with eye-filled branches and obviously not of the same expense as those found in Ray Harryhausen's adventure fantasies.Nevertheless, this is still a fun reminder of the kinds of films we had long before someone started doing special effects via a computer. So grab some popcorn, sit back and re-visit an era of movies that could be silly yet ultimately delightful fun.

For what it is worth, the Arabic is best transliterated as As-Sindibaad Al-Bahri, therefore Sindibad or Sindbad not Sinbad, so the name of the main character in this film is MORE accurate then the other "Sinbad" movies not less. The classic translation of the Arabian Nights remains that of Sir Richard F. Burton, who uses Sindibad. The primary problem with Captain Sindbad is that the special effects are awful even for the time that it was made. The acting is, overall, good. Guy Williams is a better actor then most of the other Sinbads and is a much better swordsman. (He actually could fence, not up to Basil Rathbone, who was superb, but much better then the average.) The plot is much better then usual and certainly as good as that of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. It would be interesting to see this film with new effects sequences inserted over the originals.