Jason And The Argonauts (1963)

Jason and the Argonauts, released in 1963 is a loose film adaptation of the myths of Jason and his crew the Argonauts as they quest for the Golden Fleece. This film has become a cult classic, especially remembered for the amazing stop-motion special effects of the master Ray Harryhousen. The film strays quite far from the actual myth of Jason and the Argonauts, and though is a great film, it is actually not very true to its source material. Many of the events were changed, or omitted completely. Even though the film differs greatly from the myths, it is still a great film, and definitely worth the watch. This is one case where I am not going to criticize the film for being so different from the source material, because of how well the film was done. The real star of the film is the amazing stop-motion special effects by the legendary special effects artist Ray Harryhousen. Some of the memorable effects include the fight scene with the skeletons at the end, as well as the great effects of giant Talos, and the hydra. There were also some great effects where the Gods were giant in size, and Jason is filmed in a smaller scale creating a beautiful effect. This is one of my favourite films, as far as special effects go, it is right up there with the original King Kong. What is even more impressive than how great the effects look is, the sheer amount of work that goes into creating these types of effects, where there might be upwards of 90 single images in a few seconds of film. I love these practical effects, and I hope this art-form doesn't end up dying, and being replaced by cheaper, and fake look digital effects. It actually saddens me when I show a film like this to people, and they say that the events look silly or cheesy, because I see so much beauty and art in these practical effects. Tom Hanks once said at the academy awards that he considered this the greatest film of all-time, and though I might not go that far, but I would definitely place it among one of the greatest special effects in a film. This film is definitely a great classic, and one that I have always loved and will continue to love re-watching in the future. The story itself is one of the great adventures in literature, and even if it isn't faithful to the source material, it still has this great epic feel to it. Though I will admit that it doesn't live up to the full epicness of the Myth that it is based on, but there are constraints of time and resources that would make a telling of the myth in its original form really hard and expensive to do. I will say this, Jason And The Argonauts is a great introduction into Greek Mythology, and definitely helped to spark an interest in mythology among many viewers. I remember watching this in school and writing papers comparing and contrasting it, and I remembered loving it (this review will not be on of those compare and contrast papers though). The casting of the film was also well done, and I feel that all of the actors brought to life wonderfully their character. The sets were also well done, and really set the mood and feel of the film, it looked exactly how I pictured the settings when reading mythology as a kid. The effects are all absolutely amazing. Just over all, it is an amazing film, and well deserving of its amazing place history. Would I recommend this film? Yes, I do feel like this is a must see film, and should be on every film lover's must-see list. This is a film that helped to inspire my love of fantasy and Greek mythology, and I hope that it continues to inspire future generations as well. I know that some people fail to see the magic in these types of special effects, but please try to see how amazing these look and the work that went into them, and the fact that these were all created by hand. These were done long before the convenience of digital effects existed, and these effects helped to bring to life tales that otherwise would have been impossible. This film is pure magic to me, and is a great example of why Ray Harryhousen is one of the greatest special effects artists in the history of film. Also consider that the effects in this film also inspired later directors like Sam Rami, as he would use the skeleton battle scene, and the harpies, as inspirations for his film Army of Darkness. So if you ever get a chance to watch this classic film, don't miss that opportunity.