Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

This topic contains:

• details about Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas' classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 29 June 2003.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message
• overall comments

A synopsis of the story

This new tale of Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas begins when Sinbad and his cutthroat pirate crew attack another ship for treasure. The treasure turns out to be the Book of Peace which Prince Porteus is returning to his home town of Syracuse. The Book is a valuable treasure that has protected Syracuse and its citizens for over one thousand years. It turns out that Porteus and Sinbad were childhood friends who went their separate ways and haven’t seen each other for ten years. However, that doesn’t prevent Sinbad from fighting Porteus for the Book. Meanwhile Eris, the goddess of chaos, also desires the Book as she wishes to turn the whole Earth into chaos. She creates a huge sea monster to attack the ship also. Porteus and Sinbad join forces to fight the monster which they manage to force back into the ocean but it takes Sinbad with it. Eris promises Sinbad the world if he will steal the Book which he agrees to do.

Sinbad arrives at Syracuse to find the Book returned to its rightful place and there he meets with Marina who is promised to Porteus. Marina is the reason that Sinbad left Syracuse ten years earlier as he realised then that he loved her. Eris decides not to wait for Sinbad but transforms herself into him and steals the Book herself. Sinbad is charged with the theft and sentenced to death, but his friend Porteus who believes that he didn’t steal the Book, offers himself in his place to give Sinbad a chance to verify his story. Sinbad has ten days to find the book and return it or Porteus will die. Sinbad is free to go and is determined to sail away to Fiji, however Marina has stowed away on the boat and manages to persuade Sinbad to go to Tartarus to retrieve the Book.

The adventure continues with many hazardous incidents and Eris continually tries to thwart their journey. They finally arrive at their destination and Eris presents Sinbad with a moral dilemma when she tests him with a question which he must answer truthfully. If he answers truthfully he will get the Book back; if not he has to return to Syracuse to his death. The question is “will he return to Syracuse without the Book?” This is a hard question for Sinbad and a decision only he can make.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is quite a bit of glamorised violence in this movie as it is performed by Sinbad who is seen as a hero, including:

• the pirates attack Porteus’ ship and fight the men with swords and knives
• Sinbad himself kicks and attacks many men
• Sinbad fights Porteus for the Book
• Sinbad and Porteus attack the sea monster with long poles
• Sinbad punches one of his men when he tells him to be courteous
• Sinbad and Marina shout and throw things at each other
• A large white bird attacks the men and grabs Marina in its claws; the bird is very vicious and almost swallows her
• Porteus and Sinbad both almost have their heads chopped off

Material that may scare children

Under seven

Children in this age bracket are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

There is much in this movie that would scare children in this age group. In addition to the violent scenes above the following would also scare young children:

• Eris is a large, evil goddess who can change shape and size
• The sea monster is a huge dragon-like creature with tentacles and large yellow eyes; it also breathes slimy liquid over its victims
• Tartarus is a place where legend says no souls return from, and is full of dead men’s bones and lost souls.
• The journey to Tartarus is treacherous and the boat nearly gets shipwrecked several times.
• Eris bewitches the men who fall into a trance and are unconcerned by the danger.
• Eerie shipwrecks are passed on the way
• The crew think they are standing on an island which turns out to be a huge monster with large eyes.
• Realm of chaos is filled with: shifting sands; armies of dead soldiers and shipwrecks that appear and disappear; large scorpion creatures.

Over the age of seven

Children aged seven to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened. Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Children over the age of seven would probably be able to discern that this is only a fantasy movie and would not be scared.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references.

Nudity and sexual activity

Sinbad’s pants are torn revealing a bare buttock.

Use of substances

There is no drug or alcohol use however when Eris bewitches the men they appear drugged.

Coarse language

There is no coarse language.

The movie's message

The take home message is that good triumphs over evil and that however hard it is to make a decision, the right choice is always the best choice.

Values parents may wish to encourage include:

• friendship to the extent that one would sacrifice his or her own life for a friend
• loyalty
• courage
• selflessness
• equal gender roles—Marina is a modern assertive female.

Values parents may wish to discourage include:

• violence and aggression
• cowardice.

Overall comments

This is a swashbuckling, adventure yarn that is a mixture of Arab legend and Greek mythology which can be enjoyed by both adults and older children. The action doesn’t stop from start to finish. There are moral issues here too where Sinbad is twice confronted between doing what’s best for himself and helping his friend. Both times he eventually decides to help his friend to his own detriment. The animation is quite well done and the characters well played by Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer.