It may have looked OK in an alternate reality where Star Wars and Alien did not happen, but 3 or 4 years after episode IV and 2 years after the 8th passenger, these jerky stop-motion scenes were not an excuse for a movie anymore. Plus you can find movies of the same era with far, far better effects stop motion scenes: krull, the dark crystal, never-ending story. Even the saber-toting robots of starcrash :) - not even speaking of the snow creatures in star wars V.
I don't blame the special effect guys, rather the script writer who obviously failed to take into account - or thought he could cope with - the technical limitations. Look at Krull for instance, they did use stop motion with a spider in its web, and the result was very good. Now try the same with flying horses or vultures and you get nothing but jerky puppets unable to blend with the background as a result. Back in 1963 it was a revolution in special effect when they blended actors and puppets into the same pictures in Jason and the argonauts. Looks like 20 years were not enough to solve the gamma correction problem, and frankly better show the puppets and the actors in different frames than have a brightly lit guy over a blue screen blend with a jerky two-headed wolf that looks like it was filmed under the moonlight.
Now for the plot. Unfortunately the movie is built around the special effects. Would it have had some decent story to tell, I wouldn't have minded so much the poor visuals. I could even have forgiven the blatant R2D2 rip-off for the owl (I wonder if Lucas sued them for that?). Mythology-wise, they seemingly picked their way through a reader's digest selection of various myths, with the Macbeth witches and the kraken as guest stars.
OK, so we've got bad pictures and a bad plot so far. The actors maybe? Well this bunch of pretty famous people sure must have had a lot of bills to pay, for judging from the heart they put into their roles it's not out of love for the script they played in this movie. At least Andromeda is quite pretty, including when she cries - a good thing since she does that a lot. But was the showing of her breasts and buttocks an attempt to make the movie worth viewing for teenagers?
To sum it up, this movie was a complete disappointment. I give it a 3 for the Andromeda cutie and the funny old geezer that accompanies the rather bland hero through this uninspiring quest. I would advise to watch the original Jason and the argonauts instead, it is far better.
I don't blame the special effect guys, rather the script writer who obviously failed to take into account - or thought he could cope with - the technical limitations. Look at Krull for instance, they did use stop motion with a spider in its web, and the result was very good. Now try the same with flying horses or vultures and you get nothing but jerky puppets unable to blend with the background as a result. Back in 1963 it was a revolution in special effect when they blended actors and puppets into the same pictures in Jason and the argonauts. Looks like 20 years were not enough to solve the gamma correction problem, and frankly better show the puppets and the actors in different frames than have a brightly lit guy over a blue screen blend with a jerky two-headed wolf that looks like it was filmed under the moonlight.
Now for the plot. Unfortunately the movie is built around the special effects. Would it have had some decent story to tell, I wouldn't have minded so much the poor visuals. I could even have forgiven the blatant R2D2 rip-off for the owl (I wonder if Lucas sued them for that?). Mythology-wise, they seemingly picked their way through a reader's digest selection of various myths, with the Macbeth witches and the kraken as guest stars.
OK, so we've got bad pictures and a bad plot so far. The actors maybe? Well this bunch of pretty famous people sure must have had a lot of bills to pay, for judging from the heart they put into their roles it's not out of love for the script they played in this movie. At least Andromeda is quite pretty, including when she cries - a good thing since she does that a lot. But was the showing of her breasts and buttocks an attempt to make the movie worth viewing for teenagers?
To sum it up, this movie was a complete disappointment. I give it a 3 for the Andromeda cutie and the funny old geezer that accompanies the rather bland hero through this uninspiring quest. I would advise to watch the original Jason and the argonauts instead, it is far better.