Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I rented this one summer after seeing some clips on TV and was pleasantly surprised. Stop motion animated creatures, Greek mythology, adventure, action, some likable characters, gods and demigods, and fantasy. If you're tired of those overrated sci-fi films of today and want a good old-fashioned fantasy movie, or if you want to watch a movie about Greek mythology, this should be on your to-do list. This and Clash of the Titans (the original) are the best Ray Harryhausen films, and the best movies on Greek mythology. This was probably the inspiration for the Percy Jackson books, though there were probably other factors too. But like I said, watch it!

The main reason for watching this movie of course is the outstanding work of master animator Ray Harryhausen which includes some of his most memorable creations pitted against Greek hero Jason as he strives to capture the famous Golden Fleece from the other end of the world. In fact, it wouldn't be too far wrong to say Harryhausen's clay-mation constructs act better than many of the human flesh and bone characters they're pitted against here.Amongst the creations are two bothersome Harpies, a giant statue of ancient Titan Thetis which comes dramatically to life, the six-headed Hydra which guards the precious fleece and of course at the climax, the skeleton army born of the Hydra's teeth. These scenes form the highlights of the film, even if the Argonauts don't appear to interact with them too naturally. It's a pity that the production couldn't have enlisted better actors for the main roles, but the poor dubbing of almost all the lead parts doesn't help either. Todd Armstrong as Jason and Nancy Kovack as Medea are as wooden as the Hera figurehead on the front of the Argo with the only half-decent acting coming from British stalwarts, speaking in their own accents too, Laurence Naismith and future Dr Who, Patrick Troughton.The story's not quite as I remember it either (was Hercules an Argonaut?), but the episodic tale sails along nicely enough from one dangerous situation to another. Harryhausen's excellent work does show up other production flaws elsewhere in the movie, especially with some poor back-projection work. The dialogue too was fairly lame throughout, likewise the fight scenes, but it's the special effects which make this film worth watching.

I hate writing reviews based upon other people's comments and prefer to write my own, but for some reason there is so much negativity around this movie I simply felt obliged to give a positive review. I absolutely love this film, and is once of all time favourites. I love the special effects, I love the story line. I will say the acting quality in the film isn't the greatest, to be honest its a little poor which takes a star away. I would have liked to see more of Hercules character, but still its the story that matters to be and its solid. The modern special effects spoil some of the films, so its nice to watch older films with more believable effects. If you like your Greek mythology don't mind watching a classic Black and White film, you will love this, please just overlook the acting quality!

Ray Harryhausen was the master of stop-motion special effects. Although he seemed to just get better with time, this is nonetheless one of the best films of the bunch, a thoroughly enjoyable drama with interesting moments of mythical creature action. Bernard Herrmann wrote a brassy score for this film while off duty from Hitchcock. Producer Schneer's and Harryhausen's goal was not a faithful rendition of the Greek myth, but a Hollywood action spectacle, and at that, they succeeded. The story takes many liberties with the original myth, such as the seven-headed hydra Jason fights to get the golden fleece. One liberty it does not take is politically correctness: the Greeks are white, no 'token women' join the Argonauts, and that is just fine.The general story holds true to the myth: Pelias steals the throne of Thessaly and puts all but one contender to death - Jason. To return to his rightful throne, Jason, with aid of the Goddess Hera, obtains the Golden fleece of Colchis, accompanied by the trusty band of Argonauts through many adventures, and marries the pagan sorceress Medea. Many adventures ensue throughout, such as saving Phineas from the harpies, squeezing past the Symplegade rocks (no dove in the film ). Much is also left out, some of which can be seen in the more recent miniseries, and much is added to make for more stop-motion spectacle.The special effects are a bit rickety as all stop-motion animation is, but they often interact very well with the human characters. For example, the skeleton fighting scene has not been topped by any modern efforts, whereas the hydra scene has a lot of sword stabbing at thin air and little engagement. Before faulting the film for that, consider Obi Wan Kenobi fighting droids and drones in Star Wars Episode I: so many years later, so much CGI money, and the interactivity is less than Harryhausen's fighting skeleton's scene. The drones fall and get cut apart without really seeming to put up a fight; and boy, do they miss a lot for machinery that should have millisecond response time."Jason" is not perfect: the acting is often wooden, many fight scenes look very staged, and the story occasionally bogs down. So it stays at the level of a grand Saturday matinée, of which Indiana Jones many years later reflected the best spirit also, with an archaeologist hunting myths, instead of the myths themselves.