The amazing stop motion of Ray Harryhausen against the world of greek mythology, kind of.
The characters are all incredibly rigid, even for a Greek myth, the story of Persueus get's a makeover, that takes the hero throughout the world of greek myths...(read more) , he meets the Fates, Zeus, Medusa, and the Kraken, and even gets a golden mechanical owl.
It's maybe the last great adventure film, without CG or some form of "modern" special effects. But that's making a mountain of a molehill, when most imediately it's just childhood favorite. My grandmother showed me this and "The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad", another Harryhausen classic, and this just makes me all warm and fuzzy.
I can safely say this is the cheesyist, best movie ever. The special effects made me laugh but I enjoyed watching it thought. It's one of those movies you watch with your friends and are like I have no idea if I should like this or not.
This is an interesting adaption of Greek Mythology... the animation is absolutely awful which is to be expected... and the acting was decent at best. But if you love mythology like I do, you will probably enjoy it enough.
Where the Gods help determine the fate of the people - this movie takes you on a magical ride filled with mythical creatures and more than one scene that will have you holding your breath til it's over. The basic concept that good conquers evil is seen here in a movie that you will enjoy from start to finish!
The title sounds a bit like a group of Yorkshiremen in a pub, arguing about who should buy the next round! The real star of this film is Ray Harryhausen's brilliant stop-motion fx work.
The movie Ray Harryhausen is perhaps best known for is JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, so it should not be surprising that after a decade of working on Sinbad pictures, the master of stop-motion animation returned to the Greek mythology universe. Here, in what proved to be his final movie is the story of Perseus and Andromeda in an all-star cast extravaganza.
Of course, even though this movie has perhaps one of the most impressive cast list of any Harryhausen movie, the true star here is the special effects. And in a world that is now dominated with computer-generated effects, the stop-motion Kraken or Pegasus look a little dated now, but I think that that is part of their charm.
There's something almost TOO perfect about CGI effects (though there are exceptions like the truly terrible parasurfing scene in 2002's DIE ANOTHER DAY), and the rather obvious two-headed dog and the snake-haired Medusa in this picture have a certain charm to them that is lost in today's cinema.
Yet, it would be remiss not to mention the cast of this movie. A relative unknown at the time the movie was made who went on to fame in TV's L.A. LAW and is possibly best known to audiences today as the villainous Aaron Echolls on VERONICA MARS is Harry Hamlin.
Joining Hamlin is some inspired casting in the parts of the Greek Gods. Who better to play Zeus than theater and film great Laurence Olivier and is there anyone more suited to play the Goddess of Love Aphrodite than former Bond girl (and Hamlin's real-life partner at the time) Ursula Andress. Rounding out the Gods is the famed British actress Maggie Smith who plays the sea goddess Thetis.
The movie starts with the only daughter of Acrisius (Danae) and her son Perseus being set adrift to die for her having a baby out of wedlock. Of course the father is Zeus and so he has the coffin in which Danae and Perseus were placed guided safely to a far away shore.
Years later a grown-up Perseus goes to sleep on the shore and wakes to find himself far away in the center of an amphitheater. There he meets the friendly playwright Ammon (played by screen great Burgess Meredith) and (understandably) falls in love with the princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker).
Unfortunately for Perseus, the princess had been engaged to Thetis' son, before he was punished for his cruelty by Zeus by being disfigured and banished to the swamps. Soon Perseus Is on a series of quests to tame the flying horse Pegasus, defeat and capture the head of Medusa and solving a series of riddles, all with the help of Zeus and the opposition of Thetis.
Of course the plot, which is actually comprised of several myths woven together, is simply a backdrop on which to feature all the incredible effects of Harryhausen and his team. All are very impressive, even the rather obtrusive and silly mechanical owl (which I found annoying as a child, and still find annoying today).
At the time of the release Harryhausen granted an interview with the British magazine Starburst in which he addressed his interest in mythology at the expense of science fiction (which was all the rage at that time in the wake of 1977's STAR WARS). Simply put, Harryhausen posited that science fiction would only be impressive for a set amount of time, whereas fantasy is timeless. I subscribe to this view. Harryhausen also talked about the sometimes very tedious nature of stop-motion saying that there were some days when he just couldn't face working on a couple of seconds of Kraken footage.
I loved this movie as a kid, even had the lunchbox. The effects are laughable by todays standards, but still worthy of a higher rating. Beebo the mechanical owl was my favorite character. I wouldn't mind seeing a remake.
I spent so many days playing hookie from school and watching this with my mom. This is the best movie to watch while sitting on the couch in your pajamas and eating ice cream. The owl...priceless. And (hm, I hope if my 9th grade English teacher is reading she averts her eyes...) I think I actually remembered the stories of Greek mythology better in high school because of this movie. And the claymation. Dear god there's claymation. Fantastic.
Ok, alot of people have seen this, and some haven't. As I've told all of my 'metalhead' friends, "You know 'Creeping Death' by Metallica?" That song is inspired by a scene in this movie.
Used to gawk at this movie and say "Wow, everything is so cool." Twenty years later, realized: So sad that Harryhausen's stopmotion final movie ended up with one puzzled-looking dude thinking he's a believeable Perseus (goes to show, even when you're as handsome as a 'Greek God' it doesn't mean you can act like one). Apart from Medusa, Laurence Olivier, and one youthful Prof. McGonagall, everybody else is forgettable (well, except for the Andromeda chick for the guys). And how did a Kraken turns into a "sea-monkey" I can never understand. Stars given only because its Harryhausen's
Dude OMG! This was like 1981 and Star Wars was made in the 70's and it was like a 100 times better! This movie was so cheap they didn't even add a third head on Cerberus.
I LOVED this as a kid, but decades later it's a bit dated. Even though Ray Harryhausen's effects kind of expired next to the ILM effects from Star Wars and others from the same era, the shoddy set design and the generally (with a few exceptions of course) lame acting accentuate Clash of the Titans' many flaws I still love it. I'd recommend Jason and the Argonauts (which suffers from many of the same flaws that Clash of the Titans does, but with Jason they just don't seem as obvious) over this any day of the week.
One of the b best heroic adventure movies ever, really beautiful to watch, never draining, just enjoy and admire and be one them in the near future. This is what you call cinema.
lmao! I remember this as a kid and loving it. I know that I would have a different point of view now, but just the fact of its cheesiness I'll continue to give it some credit.
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