Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

TheLittleSongbird For the past month or so Russian fantasy films have really captivated me. Sadko certainly did that with me. Sadly the dubbed version(named The Magic Voyage of Sinbad) is one that should never have happened, it is absurdest rather than magical and replaces any thrills or wonder with unintentional humour and dullness. The Russian original(Sadko) has that sense of fun and magic, there is a little too much talk and the acting did seem a little stiff at times. However, it looks wonderful, the sets and costumes are eye-catching, the special effects have a sweep and charm to them and the colour just leaps out at you in a thrilling dazzle. The music is similarly beautiful, very like Rimsky-Korsakov, and the Russian Folk Dancing is both energetic and magnetic in how it is performed and choreographed. The story has the fun, thrill and wonder you'd hope for in a fantasy film and done in a way to captivate children and adults alike. The characters are like out of a fairy-tale but not done in a bland way. There is some stiffness in the acting sure, but there is also a certain nobility too especially in the titular role that matches the characters very well. In conclusion, I liked it very much but I do absolutely agree with those who say the original Russian version is the one to see. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Bill357 I've only seen the dubbed version so I'm relying on that alone to write my review.The Magic Voyage Of Sinbad (Sadko to the purists) is a mildly interesting relic of Soviet propaganda film-making, mixing Marxist philosophies with children's fairy stories.Sinbad returns home, having gave away a fortune, looking a bit like Lenin in a blonde wig and finding the merchants rich and fat while the rest of the city remains poor and hungry, deviating from the west in that usually the poor people in these types of movies are being subjected to harsh taxation by the state.Nowhere is it stated how these fat cat merchants got so rich selling to people with no money nor does it matter. They're the villain that needs to be straightened out by Lenin/Sadko/Sinbad.After outsmarting the capitalists and giving away all their wares, the now brainwashed merchants are portrayed as happy only to have a smiling Lenin take one last dig, "Stupid merchants".Sadko then embarks on a quest to spread Communism and find the "bird of happiness" only to find treacherous, warmongering, inferiors that reject enlightenment, inhabiting the outside world.One thing I find very ironic is the racist portrayal of Indians from the supposedly enlightened Soviet Communists, the USSR having formally outlawed racism.In the end Sinbad/Lenin/Sadko realizes that the bird of happiness (religion) does not exist and orders the ships home. They then drop their blue sails and hoist the red ones while Lenin changes from a gray cape to a crimson one, essentially wrapping himself in the Soviet flag!

Woodyanders Brave and noble sailer Sinbad (the hopelessly wooden Sergei Stolyarov, who sports a wicked pointy Van Dyke beatnik beard) wants to bring happiness to the poor people in his land. When he discovers out that giving folks money and material goods doesn't do the trick, Sinbad decides to go on a perilous journey to find the fabled Blue Bird of Happiness. Boy, does this radically doctored American version of a popular Russian fantasy film possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as an amusingly inane yukfest: we've got stiff acting, cruddy dubbing, ripe narration, an agonizingly poky pace, a drawn-out and meandering narrative (it takes over thirty minutes for Sinbad to finally embark on his quest!), infrequent and ineptly staged action scenes, a few inspired goofy touches (you gotta love Sinbad's laughing horse and the creepy singing bird lady), laughably lousy (not so) special effects, and a groan-inducing cornball climactic message. This honey hits its gloriously gut-busting campy zenith when Sinbad swims underwater and pays a visit to the legendary kingdom of Atlantis, which comes complete with a hearty king and a bitchy queen, a giant cheesy puppet octopus, and an equally tacky hand puppet catfish. Another hilarious sequence occurs when various foolhardy souls participate in a test to prove they got the correct tough stuff to be members of Sinbad's crew: Most of these dudes take a slug of hard liquor and get punched in the chest by Sinbad while one especially crazy guy wrestles a bear! And let's not forget the cringeworthy moment with Sinbad forlornly warbling a horrendous song next to a lake. An absolute kitschy hoot.

bensonmum2 I'll skip the normal plot synopsis and get right to it. Besides, anything I could write about the plot would hardly matter as the American bastardization of Sadko that I watched appears to bear only a passing resemblance to either the original Russian movie or the classic Russian folktale on which it was based. First off, I wonder whose bright idea it was to turn the character named Sadko into Sinbad. Let's see, Sadko is a poor Russian musician – Sinbad is an adventurous Middle-Eastern sailor. A lot of similarity there, huh? Secondly, I really have to wonder if the Russian version of the movie included anything about a quest for a bird of happiness. I say this because in the end the bird hardly seems to matter at all. It's almost as if the idea of the bird was added to the American version to give some sort of justification for "Sinbad" going to sea.Beyond the problems of Americanizing this Russian movie, I have problems with the bits of the original Sadko that seep through. As I stated in my recent review of The Sword and the Dragon (aka Ilya Muromets), I'm not a fan of this style of Russian movie or acting. "The Sword and the Dragon seemed to be filled with such broad overacting that it became absurd. I realize that the movie was made over 50 years ago in the Soviet Union. I understand that the movie is filled with messages and other pro-worker propaganda. And I appreciate the importance of the film as a relic of the communist system. But none of that means I have to actually like the movie." If you change the title of the movie, this quote accurately reflects my feelings on The Magic Voyage of Sinbad. And even though I realize that my appreciation of the movie might be improved if I were to have the opportunity to see the original film, I doubt the change would be drastic.Like many others, I saw The Magic Voyage of Sinbad through Mystery Science Theater 3000. I enjoyed this episode much more than the previously mentioned The Sword and the Dragon episode. Overall, some very funny riffs. I'll give episode #505 a 4/5 on my MST3K rating scale.