All things considered, '7th Voyage of Sinbad' is an entertaining movie

RACHEL BREWER, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 22, 2002

Vintage videos

- "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958, G): The first in a series of "Sinbad" movies, "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" is truly one of the first fantasy films made. When the evil magician Sokuruh (Torin Thatcher) shrinks Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) down to about 5 inches tall, her fiance, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews), will stop at nothing to return her to a normal size.

Sinbad, Sokuruh and a crew of convicts set off to the island of Colossa. There, Sinbad has to get a piece of Roc eggshell because it's the one thing that can restore Parisa. A Roc is a giant, two-headed bird.

But Rocs aren't the only thing Sinbad has to deal with; there also is a dragon, a bunch of angry Cyclops and a sword-wielding skeleton. With the help of a friendly genie, Sinbad eludes the monsters, gets Parisa restored and defeats Sokuruh.

Surprisingly, this movie wasn't that bad, considering when it was made. With the worst special effects you'll ever see and the cheesiest lines you'll ever hear, you'll enjoy this movie for its comedic value if nothing else.

Yes, things look fake and we've obviously come a long way, but considering when the movie was made the special effects aren't that bad. Despite the fact that "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" isn't at all like modern movies, something about it draws you in and keeps you interested until the end of the movie.

This movie can be rented at Tumwater Video and Video 1.

Recently released rentals

- "The Musketeer" (2001, PG-13): "The Musketeer" is loosely based on Dumas' "The Three Musketeers." It focuses on D'Artagnan, who becomes a musketeer to seek revenge against Febre (Tim Roth) for murdering his parents.

D'Artagnan travels to Paris to join the musketeers. Once there he falls in love with Francesca (Mena Suvari), rescues the abducted queen (Catherine Deneuve) and revives the discouraged musketeers. The musketeers were being forced apart by the scheming Cardinal Richelieu (Stephan Rea). Richelieu wanted to discredit the king, while Febre wanted to kill the queen to start war with England. D'Artagnan, of course, stops both of them. All of this leads up to D'Artagnan and Febre's inevitable meeting, which takes place on a bunch of teetering ladders.

Considering this is an action movie, there wasn't that much action. The whole movie led up to the final showdown between D'Artagnan and Febre.

Surprisingly, D'Artagnan killed Febre within five minutes, with no problems whatsoever. I've never seen an action movie resolve itself that quickly or easily. There were some parts of the movie that were amusing, even if they didn't make you laugh.

The story was interesting, but it wasn't written very well and the characters weren't well developed. Chambers wasn't very good at delivering his lines and at times he seemed bored with his character. But, despite flaws, "The Musketeer" is a fairly enjoyable movie.

Unfortunately, it failed to answer one of the world's most perplexing questions: Why do musketeers fight with swords?

This movie can be rented at Blockbuster Video in Tumwater, both Blockbusters in Lacey, and Tumwater Video.

Rachel Brewer is a junior at Black Hills High School.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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