I'm a big fan of all those type of movies, especially Jason And The Argonauts. I really think the stop motion animation was something quite remarkable, and it still looks amazing today. It's painstaking work, and I appreciate watching it in action. I couldn't give a toss about CGI. It hardly ever impresses me as much. And it definitely won't look anywhere near as impressive as Ray Harryhausen 's work in years to come. We'll all be laughing at it.
I also love the old stop motion of R.H., and have endeavored to see (collect?)
all of them that I can - Beast from 20k Fathoms, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Jason & The Argonauts, Valley of the Gwangi, etc. Love that stuff, and you never really hear about anyone else doing it - even from that era
I'd say Jason and the Eye of the Tiger were probably my favorites. It does take a great deal of appreciation for what was required to do the work back then.
I was actually really into mythology when it came out, and still never liked it.
Plus, Harry Hamlin just plain fails.
I think that last part plays a key effect in someone not liking it. There WAS a good dose of soap opera acting to it, though most of us appreciate the concept and the vintage special effects. The story itself, meh....didn't care for it all that much myself. To that point, I even disliked the pegasus immensely, and the bit with Calibos....though the scopion fight, the Kraken, etc...all good stuff. Not deep, just enjoyable.
Harry Hamlin (and some of the other 'big name actors')....not so much.
And I agree, making models for stop-motion animation is a dying (dead?) art. CG, still in its infancy, looks shit. Plus, only Japanese people can make respectable CG at all.
There are still some uses for stop motion, or more accurately the use of small scale models (meaning static, or minimal motion scenes).....not so much though for any characters or action sequences, since CGI is the 'new hotness'
There is a sick cycle at work wherein studious spent a bunch of money for the technology, and need to spread that cost to as many films as they can...and that also allows them to work on refining the art of CGI, but it is a slow progression and becomes too commonplace with today's movies
It seems they're remaking everything these days (have they run out of ideas?!?)
Yes, yes they have