The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Arabian Nights Adventures
One of the classic films from cult stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen, an Arabian Nights fantasy where Harryhausen’s creations are quite wondrous
Mythic and Magical Creatures
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Marvel Comics Martial Arts Superhero
The Marvel onslaught continues with the resurrection of a martial artist superhero character from the 1970s, which becomes an energised action vehicle
Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
Comic-Book Superhero
Shazam! was one of the more enjoyable DCEU superhero offerings, placing a light-hearted spin on the superheroics. This is the sequel
Sherlock Gnomes (2018)
Animation/Talking Garden Gnomes Adventures
Sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet, which retold Shakespeare with garden gnomes. This for some reason adds a garden gnome Sherlock Holmes to the mix. The high speed whirring you hear is probably Arthur Conan Doyle rotating in his grave,
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
Arabian Nights Adventure
The third of Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films, this came out the same year as Star Wars and Harryhauden’s stop-motion animated creatures look much more flat in comparison
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000)
Arabian Nights Adventure/Animation
An early CGI animated film conducted on a cut-price budget that tells further adventures of Sinbad
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Arabian Nights Adventure/Animation
DreamWorks animated Sinbad adventure by the numbers that seems to go out of its way to tell a Sinbad story divorced of its Islamic cultural background
The Smurfs 2 (2013)
Cute Blue-Skinned Creatures
The first film was vaguely passable but this is an agonising piece of commercial product that has reduced everything to lazy slapstick sequences, cutsie laughs and smartass lines played for the single-digit age groups
The Smurfs (2011)
Cute Blue-Skinned Creatures
Live-action version of the popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. In its favour, it is at least slickly polished and comes with far less in the way of irritating smartass humour that one expected
Smurfs (2025)
Animation/Cute Blue-Skinned Creatures
An animated revival of The Smurfs. This was greeted with a very divided reception. With a massive celebrity voice line-up packed into almost any corner of the film the casting director can manage
Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1976)
Animation/Cute Blue-Skinned Creatures
Animated film based on the original Belgian Smurfs comics made prior to the hit of the Hanna-Barbera series.
Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)
Animation/Cute Blue-Skinned Creatures
For their third Smurfs film, Sony have dispensed with the live-action/CGi animation mix of the previous two films and made a wholly animated film. Its’ the Smurfs in their more natural element but the film is never more than 3D eye candy for the moppet audiences
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Secret World of Magical Creatures
Film version of a popular series of children’s books that has a good deal of fun bringing to life a secret world of trolls and goblins
Spirited Away (2001)
Anime/Afterlife Bathhouse
One of the masterpieces of Hayao Miyazaki, a gentle, beautiful work of anime set in an afterlife bathhouse where Miyazaki’s range of extraordinary creatures and quiet tenderness finds something that Western fantasy rarely ever comes near
Stardust (2007)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
Matthew Vaughn adapts a Neil Gaiman book in this undeniably appealing fantasy that comes with a story of epical sweep that vies between fantastic imagination and broad humour
Thale (2012)
Mysterious Girl/Mythic Creature
Fascinating Norwegian film about the discovery of a mysterious girl who it gradually becomes apparent is not human … The first 20 minutes are a superb piece of scene-setting but the rest of the film consists of not much more than people sitting around a cellar waiting for something to happen
The Thief of Baghdad (1961)
Arabian Nights Adventure
Dull remake of the classic Arabian Nights film that casts Steve Reeves and tries to make it into a Hercules peplum adventure
U (2006)
Animation/Talking Animal Frolics
A likeable and colourful French animated film
Ulysses (1954)
Greek Myth Adventure
Lavishly made Greek myth adventure, an adaptation of The Odyssey with Kirk Douglas as Ulysses/Odysseus
Unico (1981)
Anime/Young Unicorn Boy's Adventures
aka The Fantastic Adventures of Unico Japan. 1981. Crew Director – Toshio Hirata, Screenplay – Masaki Tsuji, Based on a Story by Osamu Tezuka, Producer – Shintaro Tsuji, Music – Ryo Kitayama, Art Direction – Akio Sugino. Production Company – Sanrio. Plot The gods are jealous of the young unicorn boy Unico who can bring […]
Upworld (1991)
Cop and Gnome Partner
The most bizarre of the variants on the buddy cop film that came out after Lethal Weapon in which Anthony Michael Hall is partnered with a gnome. Directed by makeup effects man Stan Winston and an embarrassment to all involved
The Watchers (2024)
Mysterious Creatures in the Woods
M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana directs a film of her own. Say what you will about nepotism, it is a really good film
Witchslayer Gretl (2012)
Faiirytale Adaptation
A low-budget film that prefigures the big-budget Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters in turning the fairytale brother and sister into witchslayers
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1984)
Sword and Sorcery
A painfully cheap entry in the 1980s fad for sword and sorcery films.
Wrath of the Titans (2012)
Greek Mythology Adventure
Sequel to the Clash of the Titans remake. Much the same as before except with bigger monsters and more explosions … flash and spectacle that washes over you with all the substance of the light from a disco ball