Jason and the Argonauts: B+ Movie Edition

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9.7
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9.8(8)
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9.8(8)
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Overall rating
 
9.8
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10.0
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Enjoyment
 
10.0
Video & Audio Quality:

Excellent. Didn't notice any blocking, the picture was sharp, the grain is still there, and the audio track (I listened to the 5.1 track) was good.

Video Editing:

No visual errors, and I could follow it all without any odd continuity issues.

Audio Editing:

No weird cut-offs in the music, folly, or dialogue were heard.

The Movie:

I won't dive too deep into its plot, other than say that it's a bit thin and characterization is weak. It's not too much of an issue because the plot serves its purpose. You'll be watching this for Talos, the hydra, and all the other monsters, and not for the talky bits. The changes that TSM's edits have made to the plot and its acting will need a little more opinion from me, though.

I agree with TSM changes to Acastus. A villain that takes the opportunity to thin out the Argo's numbers when his own life is in peril is a bit of a "too silly to win" kind of villain. A good change there. I also prefer Medea leaving with Jason because of treason and visions instead of love. Makes her less naive, and besides that, the romance between the pair of them up to that point wasn't there to support her love bombing the poor sap.

There is a charm to witnessing a lead and his love interest that are so poorly dubbed you'd think they were extras in a spaghetti western. The actor dubbing Jason's lines is either excited when he should be chill and chill when he should be excited. Medea's dubber sounds bored, and that's at odds with what I'm seeing. It's been a while since I've seen the studio cut, but I'm curious how funny the casts' acting was before TSM's edits toned them down. It's a big plus that there are no more awkward pauses, especially when Jason is chatting with the gods

Pacing and enjoyment:

Neither too slow nor too fast. It sails by at a comfortable pace.

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Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I can't find any fault with this edit as it improves substantially on the original film without losing anything in the process. The film feels smoother and tighter with, what must have been, a large number of micro edits. The improvement in the stop motion is also really impressive and brings the film a bit more up to date (even if the dialogue gives away its age). Overall a very impressive edit and I don't know why anybody would go back to the original after seeing this.

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Yes
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Digital
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Overall rating
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
I've always considered 'Jason and the Argonauts' to be a fun enough movie, but the reality of watching it never quite lives up to the movie I recall in my head. While 'Jason' is a really excellent showcase of Ray Harryhausen's stop motion work... its pacing and performances haven't aged well.

Well now The Scribbling Man has assembled the film as I thought I knew it. What once felt like plotty filler in between effects sequences, now actually feels like momentum building. And all without betraying it's status as a fanedit. The cuts and the pacing feel genuine. I love how the effects blossom as the movie goes along, starting with the awakening of Talos all the way through to the battle with the Hydra. It's funny, for all the warranted hype surrounding the skeleton battle - and the fact that I've seen the film 2 or 3 times before - I guess I was so wrapped up in the story this time that I forgot the film ended on that sequence. Perhaps it's because these sword and sandals fantasies tend to blur together for me, or perhaps because I was so taken by The Scribbling Man's work smoothing out the stop motion, especially on the seven-headed Hydra sequence, which feels like it would be the grand finale in any other film.

And it's The Scribbling Man's smoothing of the stop motion which brings this fanedit to the next level. The effects now feel so natural without taking anything away from the great work Harrhausen did. This honestly feels like an excellent tribute to the man and I think if the technology had existed he would have utilized whatever he could to achieve smoother motion, much like the "go-motion" effect that Phil Tippet perfected in films like Robocop 2 and Willow. Props to the Scribbbling man for isolating the stop motion creatures so his tweaks didn't ruin the movement of the other elements in the shot.

All in all this film is blast. Going forward, it will not only be replacing the original as my go-to version, but I will likely be going back to this edit more than I would the theatrical cut. Amazing job.

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Yes
Format Watched
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Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Really loved this edit, this will now be my preferred way of watching this film.
Cutting the film to an hour thirty really does help the film! While keeping all scenes to the point in terms of dialogue.
10/10. Made one of my fav harryhausen films even better!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
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Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I'm a lifelong fan of Harryhausen films and have seen Jason and the Argonauts dozens of times over the years. It's a fantastic classic Fantasy Adventure! As soon as I read the description for this fan edit, I knew I had to check it out!

In short: EXCELLENT!!

I knew going in that the trims to the movie were extensive, but watching it is impossible to tell and as someone who's seen this movie so many times even I couldn't spot any of the edits. The work done here to tighten up the editing and smooth out some of the already excellent stop-motion effects are, to my eyes, invisible. And, IMO, that's one high accomplishment! It was only reading through the cut list afterwards that I really came to understand just how much was actually trimmed, and even the biggest change to the narrative - Medea no longer confessing her love for Jason - was so superbly removed that I never noticed it was missing. If I have any nitpick, it's my personal distaste for fan edits altering the title but I'm far too happy with this edit to dock even one point for that.

A great companion piece to original theatrical cut, and one I highly recommend!

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Yes
Owner's reply January 23, 2022

Glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to review. Much appreciated :)

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