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A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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!

Curious about the movie I gave it a try. Having in mind that it was filmed in 1963 I have to admit that the visual effects were not that bad. However, all the rest were awful. Casting was bad, music terrible but the worst was the scenario. I am still trying to understand the reason that they changed the story of argonauts in order to produce something more boring and less related to the actual story. As a Greek I can only feel sorry for the ignorance of people who produced this movie... Maybe back in its time the special effect were impressive, but nowadays even reserving space on the trash bin is a lot for this movie ... To the producers I have to say sorry for being cruel and rude but you were much more guys by filming this.

The film holds just about as much magic today as it did when I first saw it about fifty years ago. Another way of saying it would be that the movie brings you all the way back to when you were a kid and became awed at the spectacle of a giant bronze statue come to life, blue demon harpies attacking a blind man, or skeleton warriors come to life to battle the crew of the Argo. Back then, I wouldn't have known the first thing about Ray Harryhausen, but his genius at producing special effects have become legendary, during a time when CGI simply didn't exist. I still marvel at the patience and fortitude necessary to produce those claymation effects, filmed frame by frame with infinitesimal changes to the models to produce the desired results. Simply extraordinary.The story progresses under the watchful eyes of Olympian gods and goddesses, and as such, the story is a neat introduction to mythological characters like Zeus and Hera. I thought the story dropped the ball though when Poseidon wasn't mentioned by name as the savior of the Argonauts at the Clashing Rocks. Another thing that seemed odd to me was the idea that Hercules looked pretty much like any other run of the mill Greek as part of the crew. I wouldn't have expected Steve Reeves or Gordon Scott, but actor Nigel Green appeared just a bit too ordinary to be one of the world's strongest men. But then again, it was Todd Armstrong's show in the title role of Jason, so you wouldn't want to have him upstaged by a champion bodybuilder.Apparently the film was situated in a way to follow up with a sequel; Jason never made it back to Thessaly to confront Pelias (Douglas Wilmer), and Zeus's (Nial MacGinnis) words to Hera (Honor Blackman) went by the wayside at the end of the story when he said "Let us continue the game another day." But even so, the picture stands as a decent fantasy adventure for fans of the genre, with special effects that hold up more than a half century since the movie was made.

Okay, you simply can't rate it by 21st century standards - that would make no sense. Okay, it has a cheeky, cheesy quality that would look bad in today's films, but that's part of its magic. I must have seen thousands of movies since that glorious today in 1963 (or was it 1964, I wasn't into dates at that age) and I've probably forgotten at least ninety-five percent of them, but this one is burned into my memory. Obviously, Ray Harryhausen is the one reason for its greatness. I'm so glad the DVD came with an interview with the great man. This is one of those films that launched a thousand imitations, but none of them could touch it.