Week 6 (July 26 – Aug 1) – Generic Cartoon Tapes
“Every day is Saturday Morning at this Jo-Ann Fabric. Every space is liminal in Sylvester’s head (hand-drawn for PS1)” – Scumbalina
Princess Serena (Jennifer Hale) finds the mysterious sorcerer Baraka (Leonard Nimoy) washed up on the shore and offers him shelter within the palace walls. While he initially impresses King Chandra (John Rhys-Davies) with exotic potions, his true intentions are revealed when he casts a dark spell to swap bodies with the King. With Baraka usurping the throne and throwing the real King Chandra into a deep dungeon cell, Serena escapes the palace carrying a vital page torn from Baraka’s own spellbook.
Desperate to save her kingdom, she enlists the help of the legendary, swashbuckling sailor Sinbad (Brendan Fraser). Despite a rocky, testy start to their partnership, the pair set sail for the mysterious, uncharted realm known only as Beyond the Veil of Mists in search of the ancient magic needed to defeat Baraka, restore the rightful king and lift the curse.
Released theatrically in January 2000, Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists holds a fascinating, historical footnote in digital filmmaking. Produced by the Indian software company Pentafour—primarily known for computer games—it stands as the first full-length feature film to utilize full-body motion capture technology. This ambitious indie production was attempting to digitize the physical movements of live-action actors onto animated models, serving as a fascinating precursor to modern performance capture.
It still looks like shit.
I should say something nice.
Unlike many Hollywood adaptations of Middle Eastern folklore that defaulted to whitewashed casts, this English-language Indian production uniquely incorporated ethnically realistic facial designs for its Arabian Nights mythological background, offering a distinct visual flavor to its character models. You also get Frank Welker and Jim Cummings in the cast.
This made $29,000 in five theaters.
Who could those people who went to see it have been? And how whelmed were they?
