A Persian sailor named Sinbad is on a quest to find the magical legendary Book of Peace, a mysterious artifact that Eris, the Greek wicked goddess of chaos, has ultimately framed him for stealing! If he fails on this quest, his childhood friend Prince Proteus of Syracuse will take Sindbad’s death penalty, while Eris gains a desired foothold of power in the world of mortals.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is an American animated comedy adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures, using traditional animation with some computer animation. It was directed by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson, and written by John Logan.
It covers the story of Sinbad (voiced by Brad Pitt), a pirate who travels the sea to recover the lost Book of Peace from Eris (voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer) to save his childhood friend, Prince Proteus (voiced by Joseph Fiennes), from accepting Sinbad’s death sentence. It was released on July 2, 2003 to mixed reviews. Despite recouping its $60 million production budget, the film was a box office bomb. This forced DreamWorks Animation, which suffered a $125 million loss on the film, to abandon traditional animation at the time.
About the Story
Sinbad and his pirate crew attempt to steal the magical “Book of Peace” while it travels to Syracuse, Sicily, protected by Proteus. Proteus was once Sinbad’s best friend as a child and he tells him if it ever meant anything he can prove it. Sinbad tries to steal the book anyway, but is prevented when Cetus attacks the ship. The two work together to fight off Cetus and for a moment reaffirm their bond. Just when it seems the beast is defeated, Sinbad is dragged off the ship. Proteus goes to save Sinbad, but he is stopped by his crew.
Drawn underwater by Cetus, Sinbad is saved by Eris, the beautiful Goddess of Discord, who offers him any boon he desires in exchange for the Book of Peace. Sinbad and his crew go to Syracuse to steal the Book, but leave without doing so. Anticipating this, Eris impersonates Sinbad and steals the Book. Sinbad is sentenced to death, whereupon Proteus sends Sinbad to retrieve the Book instead, placing himself as hostage, and Proteus’ fiancée Marina goes to make sure that Sinbad succeeds. To prevent them from succeeding, Eris sends a group of mythical sirens, who entrance and seduce the men aboard Sinbad’s ship with their hypnotic singing voices, but do not affect Marina, who pilots the ship to safety. Eris later sends a Roc which captures Marina, but she is rescued by Sinbad.
After these and other incidents, Sinbad and Marina enter Eris’ realm, where she reveals that her plan was to maneuver Proteus into Sinbad’s place, leaving Syracuse without an heir, and agrees to surrender the Book of Peace only if Sinbad truthfully tells whether he will return to Syracuse to accept blame and be executed. She gives him her word that she will honour the deal, making it unbreakable even for a god. When he answers that he will return, Eris calls him a liar, and returns him and Marina to the mortal world. Ashamed, Sinbad admits Eris is right, truly believing deep down that he is a selfish liar.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Directed by: Tim Johnson, Patrick Gilmore
Starring: Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joseph Fiennes, Timothy West, Adriano Giannini, Raman Hui, Jim Cummings, Conrad Vernon
Screenplay by: John Logan
Production Design by: Raymond Zibach
Film Editing by: Tom Finan
Art Direction by: Seth Engstrom, David James
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
MPAA Rating: PG for adventure action, some mild sensuality and brief language.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date; July 2, 2003
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