Western Animation / Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

"What could be more perfect than this? A noble prince, a priceless treasure and a black-hearted thief. Oh, this is going to be fun..."

— Eris

The final traditionally-animated DreamWorks Animation film, a Lighter and Softer re-imagining of the famous Sinbad stories, making use of a transitional blend between traditional and 3-D computer animation.

Charming pirate captain Sinbad (voiced by Brad Pitt) is on a quest to steal the legendary Book of Peace and take it for ransom. However, when he attacks the ship carrying The Book, he runs into his childhood friend Proteus (Joseph Fiennes) who is responsible for the book's safety. They are suddenly attacked by a Sea Monster — sent by Eris (Michelle Pfeiffer), the Goddess of Discord, who has her own plans for the Book — and they team up to kill it. After nearly drowning in the ordeal, Sinbad is approached by Eris herself, who strikes a deal with him to steal the Book of Peace, in return for which he gets all the riches in the world.

However, Eris then steals the Book herself and frames Sinbad for the robbery, getting him arrested and sentenced to execution. Proteus takes Sinbad's place in prison, pleading to the Council that Sinbad be allowed to prove his innocence by stealing the Book back from Eris. If Sinbad fails or does not return, Proteus offers himself to be executed instead.

Accompanied by his loyal first mate Kale (Dennis Haysbert) and the rest of the faithful crew and Proteus' fiancée, Marina (Catherine Zeta-Jones) - who is along to make sure Sinbad keeps his end of the deal - our hero must now journey past the edges of the Earth and into Tartarus, Eris's Realm of Chaos, to retrieve the book and return before Proteus' execution.

The film made use of the same blend of 2D and 3D animation seen in Disney's Treasure Planet (released a year earlier), mixing traditionally animated characters with CGI-created creatures, objects, and backgrounds in 3D. It flopped at the box office, the second DreamWorks movie to do so (after The Road to El Dorado), and the studio thereafter wholeheartedly embraced computer animation. It has nonetheless developed a solid cult following (as has Treasure Planet).

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Film provides examples of:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: All of the monsters, most of the ships and all of that water. In addition, a few props (the doors, Spike's personal catapult) and some of the buildings are CG rather than traditionally animated.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Sinbad's knife pierces the stone floor when it is simply dropped. He also uses them to climb up an icy mountain.
• Accidental Kiss: Marina falls on Sinbad's lips during the Sirens' attack. She immediately punches him thereafter.

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted. Marina didn't start falling in love with Sinbad until after he showed his bravery, loyalty, and quick wit.
• Ambiguously Brown: All of the crew, really. Some look Greek, some Arabic, some Asian. Rat looks Hispanic, but he actually speaks Italian.
• An Ice Bird: The Roc, which manages to turn a sunny island paradise into a frozen tundra simply by showing up.
• And the Adventure Continues: Marina joins Sinbad and his crew. Not only realizing her dream and affirming her love with Sinbad, but going on more harrowing adventures with them. It's also a Sailing Into The Sunset ending.
• Animalistic Abominations: Pretty much all of Eris's pets, but special mention goes to Cetus and the Roc. It should be noted that these are actually Eris's pet constellations.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Kale doesn't buy Sinbad's story of his encounter with Eris. After saving a boat with a magical book inside from a gigantic sea monster. Though, it might have helped if Sinbad had not opted to describe the encounter as, "Eris has a thing for me and invited me back to her place.")
• Arranged Marriage: Marina was brought to Syracuse 10 years earlier to prepare for her and Proteus's marriage. It gets worse when it's revealed that Sinbad left because of it, and Sinbad and Marina start falling for each other. In the end, Proteus decides to cancel their marriage after realizing this.
• Artifact of Hope: The Book of Peace is a magical book that is treasured by the people of Syracuse. While the Book is definitely magic, it's never elaborated what the book actually does beyond "upholding balance and allowing peace to blossom." All we know is that it brings prosperity to Syracuse, and when Eris closed it, cracks began to form across the city.
• Artistic Licence – Geography: The climax in Syracuse has the sun setting over the sea as a backdrop. This is despite the real Syracuse facing the sea on its east side, meaning that they can see the sun rising from the sea but not setting.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Happens at least three times during the course of the film. Four if you count Eris' pets.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Kale manages to block a sword with his teeth, before using it to toss the attacker overboard, throwing back his head with enough force to pull his opponent (still holding the hilt) along with it over the railing.
• Bash Brothers: Sinbad and Proteus against Cetus.
• Batman Gambit: Eris's Evil Plan relies entirely on manipulating first Proteus's nobility (that he will stake his own life to give Sinbad a chance to retrieve the Book of Peace) and then Sinbad's selfishness (that he will let Proteus die to save his own skin). She has the former completely pegged and only narrowly misjudges the latter.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Sinbad and Marina have tons of it. Exemplified in their argument after she saves them from the Sirens, and again on the island which turns out to be a giant fish.
• Betty and Veronica: With Proteus as Betty and Sinbad as Veronica for Marina. Sinbad gets the girl, and the pair even get Proteus's blessings.

• Big Entrance: Eris shows up during Sinbad's execution and Heroic Sacrifice. Said entrance involves the clouds spiraling into a tornado, creating a waterspout, and Eris emerging from the mist in a fifty-foot version of herself.
• Big Friendly Dog: Spike. His way up helping in the opening fight scene? Attacking a crew member... by licking his face.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Whatever Rat says in Italian.
  • In the Norwegian dub, when Kale is enthralled by the sirens and says "We will speak of love," the word he uses in Norwegian is an old-fashioned word for "lovemaking".

• Boring Return Journey: After Sinbad has spent the majority of the film traveling to Tartarus to confront the goddess Eris (overcoming numerous obstacles set out by the aforementioned goddess), his return journey to Syracuse is apparently instantaneous. However, Eris has not actually been defeated yet, and while her loss or victory depends more on Sinbad's decision than anything else, she still has every reason to try to prevent him from getting there. On the other hand, if she were to do so, she would be breaking her word (since her interference would prevent Sinbad from proving whether or not he lied in answer to her question), so her hands were fairly tied. This as much as Sinbad's actual decision may have contributed to why she is so angry during her Big Entrance.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
  Marina: [perusing Sinbad's stuff] Stolen from Venezia... From Pompeii... [holds up a bejeweled bra] And from a brothel in Syracuse.
  —
  Sinbad: A sword at my throat, at my chest, at my—
  Random Sailor In Background: PICKLES AND EGGS!
  Sinbad: [Beat] You get the idea.
  —
  Sinbad: Think of the beaches.
  Kale: Beautiful, if you like mosquitoes.
  Sinbad: Think of the sun.
  Kale: It's monsoon season.
  Sinbad: Oh, then the women.
  Kale: They're cannibals, Sinbad.
  Sinbad: Exactly.
• Brick Joke: Sinbad shows Marina her new room, the food locker which is stocked with nothing but "pickles, eggs and PICKLES!"
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Sinbad plainly stating that he met Eris, Goddess of Chaos, and wants him to meet her in Tartarus.
  • Poor Sinbad just couldn't catch a break when stating he had nothing to do with the Book's theft. Sadly, only Proteus believes him (and even he wasn't convinced at first until Sinbad gave a genuine response).
• Cast of Snowflakes: In spite of not having a large cast, each one is intricately designed and recognizable.
• Chekhov's Gun: Sinbad's dagger, and Eris mentioning she has to keep her word when it is given.
• Childhood Friends: Sinbad and Proteus; Proteus evidently saved Sinbad from some thugs when they were young. Their friendship faded somewhat when Sinbad left so as not to have to deal with the woman he fell in love with marrying his best friend, but they still have quite the rapport even after being separated for years.
• Classical Cyclops: A deleted scene shows Sinbad and his crew being attacked by cyclopses. The DVD includes the scene with a "choose your own adventure"-esque feature that lets the viewer choose which character's point-of-view they want to see the scene from.
• Collective Death Glare: After Marina saves Sinbad and his crew from a siren attack, she jokingly asks him if he still believes that a ship is no place for a woman. To everyone's surprise, Sinbad doubles down and says that he still does, pointing to the damage she did to the ship while she was piloting it as to why. The entirety of Sinbad's crew glare at him for being an Ungrateful Bastard, but it isn't until his own dog joins in that he reluctantly thanks Marina for saving them all.
• Cosmic Keystone: The Book of Peace. When open, it maintains the weather (and the buildings) in Syracuse. When closed, the Sun doesn't rise and the city crumbles. Eris also implies she might be able to use it to remake the world in the style of Tartarus.
• Cosmopolitan Council: Of the non-evil, non-plot important variety — the Delegation of the Twelve Cities are in Syracuse to await the arrival of the Book of Peace. King Dymas rules Syracuse (see Shining City), which is Byzantine. Marina is from Thrace. Of the other eleven delegates, one looks Nordic, two look distinctly Asian, two look distinctly African, one looks vaguely Byzantine, one looks Egyptian, and one looks vaguely Arabian.
• Covered in Gunge: The Cetus sea monster gets a loaded cannon as a snack, courtesy of Sinbad, who expects that to kill it. All it does, though, is cause the monster a bit of unhappy belly. In response, it pukes up gallons and gallons of green slime on Sinbad and Proteus. It also pukes up a previously swallowed soldier who only has the "ew" reaction for a second before it is overtaken by his rage at having been swallowed in the first place.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sinbad, much of the time.
  Sinbad: ( while climbing the ice cliff) Oh, she couldn't see the bird? Everyone else saw it. It's as big as a freakin' ship! Marina? Marina's looking the other way!
  • Marina too. After she calls out the various repairs the ship needs, and he enumerates all the places they'll have to travel through and hazards they'll have to navigate to get the replacements:
  Sinbad: That's an awful long way, and it'll be very, very dangerous.
  Marina: Don't worry, I'll protect you.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Marina.
• Destroyer Deity: Eris the goddess of discord is kept in check by the Book of Peace, a MacGuffin that Sinbad must recapture from her realm. Otherwise, Eris will sunder civilization and plunge humanity into gloom, misery, anguish and death, just For the Evulz.
• Determinator: The one random crew member who after being swallowed alive by Cetus, is spat back out again, and takes only a second or two to get his bearings before screaming in rage and running right back towards the monster.
  Sinbad: (to Proteus) Give that guy a raise.
• Devil, but No God: The capricious and malicious Eris, the Goddess of Chaos seems to be the only deity around. There a brief mention of "the gods" but its not clarified who they are and why they don't interfere with Eris. Originally a good god was going to appear to force Eris to honor her deal to Sinbad, but was removed due to not adding anything to the scene.
• Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: Near the end, Eris gives her word she'll give the book back to Sinbad if he were to correctly pass her test; he has to answer honestly if he would go back to save Proteus, whether or not he got the book. He says yes, but Eris accuses him of lying and throws him out. A quick Heroic BSoD later, he comes in to stop Proteus's execution and willingly take his place, to honor the sacrifice his friend gave to him. Eris is pissed, but Sinbad remembers what she said and calls out that she gave her word before, forcing her to return the book and let him live.

• Driving Question: "Are you a thief or a hero?" Sinbad comes down on the side of hero.
• Dual Wielding: Sinbad does it with swords.
• Dude Magnet: Marina. She gets the attention from Sinbad's crew, Proteus, and before it was revealed, Sinbad.
• Eldritch Location:
  • The Dragon's Teeth, lair of the sirens, has ships somehow impaled on rock spires, and ends with a vortex of water that defies gravity.
  • Tartarus, where reality is completely out to lunch.
• Ethereal Choir: In the theme for Syracuse/the Book of Peace.
• Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Spike, after Sinbad's cruel treatment of Marina.
• Evil Laugh: Michelle Pfeiffer has a delicious one as Eris.
• Evil Overlooker: Eris towers in the background of the poster, looming over the heroes.
• Evil Plan: Near the end, Sinbad figures out Eris's goal. Kill off Syracuse's heir and thereby cause a succession crisis: guaranteed discord.
• Evil Slinks: It would be less effort to count the times when Eris is not slinking. The bathtub scene may be the only inst—nope, her hair still slinks in that scene.
  • The water sirens also slink by dint of being made of water.
• Extended Disarming: When Sinbad's crew gets to the party at Syracuse, they have to remove their weapons. Kale and Rat leave their knives, then Jed starts unloading his arsenal of knives, swords, claws, grenades, crossbows, arrows, a massive grappling hook launcher... When Sinbad and crew leave, he's still unloading equipment.
  Kale: Jed, pack it up.
  Jed: What?! B-But I-I-I...I just put the...aww, man! (gathers up his weapons in his arms and follows the crew out the door)
• Eye Contact as Proof: After the Book of Peace is stolen, Sinbad is imprisoned on suspicion of having taken it. When his former friend Proteus confronts Sinbad on whether he took it, Sinbad looks him straight in the eye and says no. This is enough to convince Proteus to believe Sinbad's innocence, and take his sentence in his stead while Sinbad is ordered to retrieve the Book.
• Fan Disservice: When the sirens come out to seduce Sinbad and his crew, one of members takes off his shirt and revealing that he's basically a skeleton underneath.
• Fanservice: Downplayed with the sirens. According to the makers, they are naked, but the water animation of them makes it difficult to tell. It's more obvious if you go through it frame-by-frame.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Conversed; Sinbad and Proteus.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Eris outright flirts Sinbad when she's on-screen with him, says "It's a date" when he tells her he will bring her the Book of Peace and states he's cute. When telling his crew about his meeting with her, Sinbad is under the belief she has a crush on him.
• Foreshadowing: The island Sinbad and his crew arrives has suspiciously aquatic-looking flora, with trees that resemble openly-feeding sea anemones, fungi that resemble coral reefs, and a smattering of barnacle-like protrusions on the ground.
• Flat World: Sinbad and crew discover this to be the case when they reach the gates of Tartarus (causing one of Those Two Guys to have to cough up money for their Side Bet.) Although to judge by the way the gate looks in relation to the water when Marina and Sinbad are returned from Tartarus, and that the ship is back in the water just fine, this was likely all an illusion of Eris's.
• Frameup: After Sinbad agrees to steal the Book of Peace for her, but chickens out upon seeing Marina, Eris steals it instead and uses his knife to point the finger at him. Oh, and creates a doppelganger of him out of chaos for her to literally step into and puppetmaster.
• Friends Turned Romantic Rivals: Proteus and Sinbad were boyhood buddies growing up in Syracuse, Sicily. But Proteus is a prince, the heir apparent to the throne of Syracuse, and betrothed to the lovely Marina. Since Sinbad cannot hang out at court nor woo fair Marina, he goes to sea, to become a renowned adventurer and buccaneer. However, Sinbad is willing to risk life and limb to recover the MacGuffin from the wicked goddess Eris, and Marina accompanies Sinbad (initially as a stowaway). Proteus gets the MacGuffin back, and Marina sails off with Sinbad and his slobbery dog.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Not to mention that the 'flyer' of Fiji has a topless woman.
• Genre Throwback: To the monster-filled fantasy-adventure films of special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, combining hand-drawn animation with CG creatures and environments in a similar manner to how he combined live-action actors and sets with stop-motion creatures. Harryhausen had even produced his own Sinbad films.
• Giant Flyer: The Roc, of the Death from Above variety.
• Gourmet Pet Food: The dog throwing up reveals that it ate carrots at some point, despite it and its owners having been in the sea for a while; vegetables are an extremely rare treat for sailors.
• Graceful Loser: Proteus in the love triangle; at the end of the film he gently encourages Marina to go with Sinbad rather than holding her to their engagement to marry.
  • Eris too, oddly enough... though being metaphysically bound to keep her sworn word may have something to do with it.

• Hartman Hips: Marina is noticeably curvy.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Sinbad and his mates are more like anti-heroes, but they're still good-hearted men and really value Spike.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Sinbad and Proteus were and still are best friends with each other.
  • Kale and Sinbad are this given their interactions with one another and the fact Kale is the only crew member to know about Sinbad's feeling for Marina before it was revealed.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: It was Eris herself who told Sinbad that the gods were bound once they had given their word.
• Honor Before Reason: King Dymas tries to get his son Proteus to escape. However, Proteus refuses because he knows that it'll only cause trouble and ruin Sinbad's honor.
• Hot Goddess: Thy name is Eris.
• Humanoid Abominations: The Sirens. They're roughly woman-shaped, but they're made of water.
• I Gave My Word: As a Goddess, Eris is bound to this, whether she likes it or not. Sinbad too, which is why she was so pissed at the end.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Played With: In this case, lying is the most relevant. Because he told the truth, Eris has to give the book back.
  Eris: You're a selfish, unprincipled liar!
  Sinbad: Wait a minute. I didn't lie.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Proteus.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Cetus takes TWO MASTS TO THE HEAD.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: "Who's bad? Sinbad!"
• Indy Ploy: Sinbad's scheme to fly the ship out past the edge of the world. Also, using the angler fish to cut down their travel time by a huge amount.
• In Name Only: As they appeared in The Arabian Nights, Sinbad's stories were set around Arabian/Chinese cities populated with Muslims and told of the sailor's seven (mis)adventures that made him a rich man. This movie throws it all out in favor of a Mediterranean setting populated with Arabs and Byzantines and tells of the pirate's (mis)adventures as he learns the true meaning of friendship and love. So... Yeah. There's a guy named Sinbad, there's a boat, and there's a giant bird. There are Chinese and an Arab among the crew, though.
  • To be fair, the roc and the island that turns out to be a gigantic fish are taken from the original Sinbad stories.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Brad Pitt as Sinbad. Just look at him—no difference whatsoever.
• Invincible Villain: Eris, considering she's a goddess playing a game among mortals. None of the heroes even entertain the notion of fighting her directly since they know it's impossible.
• It's All About Me: Sinbad at first, he cares for his friends but ultimately still looks out for himself. Character Development helps him grow out of this.
• It Has Been an Honor: "Gentlemen, it's been a privilege robbing with you."
• Karma Houdini: Eris gets away with all the trouble she's caused to Syracuse, Proteus, and Sinbad. Justified since she's a goddess and humans can't easily punish her. Also Downplayed; Eris may not get truly punished for her crimes, but she still gets humiliated by Sinbad in front of an entire city.
• Left the Background Music On: Marina wonders what that sound is...

• Leitmotif: Eris has one. Tut-tut-tun-tun! with a One-Woman Wail at the end of the second set of bars.
  • Sinbad also has a particularly badass piratey-sounding one, which kicks in every time he carries out an Indy Ploy.
  • And in the scene where Eris disguises as Sinbad to steal the Book of Peace, the two Leitmotifs dance together and intertwine.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Marina (both literally and figuratively).
• Like an Old Married Couple: Sinbad and Marina instantly fall into this once she sneaks on board the ship.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • This gets averted in that even though you know main characters (usually) don't die in a children's animated feature, it's really hard not to hold your breath when that sword is one freakin' inch from decapitating Sinbad.
  • In-universe version. Sinbad sets off for Fiji with no guilt instead of questing for the book because he believes Proteus's father would never let them execute his son. And he's right... but Proteus refuses to leave.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Proteus. Lampshaded by Sinbad, when he tells him to get a haircut.
• Loveable Rogue: Sinbad, of course.
• Love at First Sight: The whole reason Sinbad left his life with Proteus was because he instantly fell in love with Marina, who was brought in to be Proteus's wife.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: Eris, unsurprisingly.
  Eris: Enough talking! Time for some screaming...
• MacGuffin: The Book of Peace. Big time. What, exactly, it does beyond "upholding balance and allowing peace to blossom" is never elaborated upon, and even Eris only steals the book to cause a succession crisis in Syracuse, thereby sowing discord and strife. Which has nothing whatsoever to do with the Book's incredibly vague magic powers.
• Meaningful Echo: Eris seems to love stealing lines from Sinbad and his crew. Right after Rat comments on the simplicity of robbing the dinner guests, Eris uses his same line of "This is just too easy." She also steals Sinbad's "Lucky for you I have places to go, things to do (destroy), stuff to steal" spiel.
• Meaningful Name: Marina means sea. Also, Proteus means changeable—while he himself doesn't change, it's because of him that Sinbad becomes a hero and Marina, going along on the journey to make sure he keeps his word, discovers her true calling.
• Missing Mom: Where's Proteus's mother?
• Mistaken For Seduction: A conversation between Sinbad and Marina:

  Marina: Look, clearly, I can't appeal to your honour. But I have other ways of convincing you.
  Sinbad: glances down [hopeful] Really?

• Moment Killer: Spike in the last shot of the film interrupts The Big Damn Kiss, no less.
• The Mountains of Illinois: The film depicts the city of Syracuse with its buildings clinging to towering cliffs more like the fjords of Norway than the east coast of Sicily. The real city only has a few gentle hills.
• Naked People Are Funny: After the kerfuffle with the Sirens, Sinbad has a hole in his pants showing half his butt.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast
  Rat: Tartarus, from which no sailor ever returns. The Tartarus of Lost Souls, where they grind your bones and pickle your spleen and—
  Sinbad: No, Rat, this is the nice Tartarus. With lots of beaches and drinks, y'know, with the little umbrellas?
• Nice Guy: Proteus defines the trope. See Graceful Loser above.
• No-Sell: The sirens' song doesn't affect Marina as she is a woman. Meaning, if she hadn't decided to stow away, Sinbad and his crew would have been killed by the first challenge they met after leaving Syracuse.
• Oh, Crap!: Everyone gets one when Eris shows up at the end. There's also one when the crew discovers they're on a giant fish instead of an island (courtesy of its eye opening underneath them.)
• Ominous Owl: The Roc. While most portrayals go for it looking like an eagle or vulture, this one goes for it looking like a giant, terrifying snowy owl.
• One-Woman Wail: The introduction to the Sirens' Song. It then transforms into Ethereal Choir.
• Only Sane Man: Kale shows strong shades of this on Sinbad's crew.
  • Later, he shares this title with Marina, both before and after she becomes an official part of the crew.
• Our Monsters Are Different: Boy howdy, although this is more readily apparent in the production sketches (which are by the same fellow who designed the dragons in How to Train Your Dragon and can be seen on the DVD.) Cetus looks like a combination of everything in the fisherman's platter. The Roc looks a bit more owlish than usual and can run about on all fours like a vampire bat. The Cyclops, had they appeared in the film, would have either been crab-men or fish-people.
• Our Sirens Are Different: Sirens are water elementals.
• Papa Wolf: Proteus's father has his most trusted guards bribe some of the other guards so that his son can escape.
• Parental Bonus: When Marina is in Sinbad's cabin:
  Marina: Clearly I can't appeal to your sense of honour. But I have other ways of convincing you.
  Sinbad: Really?
  [Sinbad glances up and down on her.]
  Sinbad: Uh.. Just how do you expect to do that?
  Marina: By speaking your language. *pulls out giant diamond*'
• The Power of Friendship and The Power of Love: The only things Eris can't control or predict; while she knew Proteus would give his life for Sinbad and that Sinbad was romantically interested in Marina, she refused to believe Sinbad could ever return the favor for Proteus or that his feelings for Marina would inspire him to do the right thing.
  • The filmmakers acknowledged that the element of Proteus offering himself to be executed in Sinbad's place and trusting Sinbad with his life was taken from the Greek story of Damon and Pythias.
• Plot-Triggering Book: The Book of Peace is a magical tome that sustains and protects Syracuse. When Eris, goddess of discord, escapes with it, Sinbad goes asea to recover this book. Sinbad goes on a Clear My Name mission since he was framed for the theft. Eris toys with him, proposing a Riddle Me This with the Book of Peace as the prize.
• Prehensile Hair: Eris's hair never stops moving. Ever. This is actually a great indicator of who she is: Adjustable, incomprehensible, and impalpable as smoke. In one word, chaotic.
• Protective Charm: The Book of Peace seems to be one of these, judging by the glowing aura/field it projects over and around Syracuse, and the way earthquakes, dark clouds, and cracks in the buildings are incited when Eris steals it.
• Race Against the Clock: Sinbad is given ten days to recover the Book of Peace and return it to Syracuse before Proteus is executed in his stead.
• Reality Warper: Eris. Justified because she's a goddess, and double justified because she's a chaos goddess.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: Eris gives Sinbad two, one in Tartarus and one right after she spares him from death in Syracuse.
• Red Is Heroic: Sinbad's color scheme is red and despite his many faults, he's still a good guy at heart.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Done not so subtly with Proteus and Sinbad. They even dress in blue and red clothing!
• Rescue Romance: Marina seems to realize she's in love with Sinbad after he saves her from the Roc.
• The Reveal: We don't know what caused Sinbad and Proteus to fall out until the beginning of the third act when Sinbad reveals he saw Proteus meet Marina at the dock for their arranged marriage. Rather than stay and resent his best friend, Sinbad chose to to leave.
• Roc Birds: The movie features a rather creative take on the Roc — depicted as one of Eris's "pets", the Roc is a giant, owl-like monster that can control ice. Its mere arrival on the island the crew shows up on changes it from a tropical paradise to a snowy tundra in seconds. Additionally, it's given claws on its wings not unlike those of a bat or a pterosaur, and it briefly uses those claws to crawl around with.
• Sadistic Choice: "So, if you don't get the Book... will you go back to die?"
• Sadly Mythtaken: A couple minor examples...
  • Tartarus wasn't ruled by Eris. Technically, Tartarus governed himself, as he was a deity in his own right, but he was also, essentially, a subdivision of the Underworld, one where those who were wicked in life were subjected to ironic punishments—effectively, Tartarus was the Greek equivalent to Hell. Additionally, Tartarus was said to be the primordial personification of the abyss/underground, making the depiction of it as an area that may contain the planet Earth itself a bit... off (granted, he was also an Eldritch Abomination so ordinary physics might not apply).
  • Eris herself was not exactly the goddess of chaos so much as she was the goddess of strife and disharmony, though these can be considered things that either stem from chaos or cause it. That one is particularly noticeable because she actually calls herself the goddess of discord in her first conversation with Sinbad, a much more suiting name.
• Sand Is Water: In Tartarus. Justified by the whole chaos thing.

• Secret Test of Character: Eris' deal with Sinbad, where she promised to return the book only if Sinbad was honest about returning to Syracuse in the scenario he failed to get the book. Unlike most other examples of this trope in other media, Sinbad already knew from the start that it was a test of his character. What he doesn't know was how long this test was going to be. When Eris called out Sinbad for being a liar and left him empty-handed, he initially admitted Eris was right about his character. Believing that he failed the test, he mustered up his courage and returned to face his execution. At the very last moment, Eris stopped the execution, annoyed that Sinbad actually did what he had promised, therefore forcing her to honor her deal and return the book.
• Shapeshifter Showoff Session: The first time that Sinbad meets Eris, the goddess of discord, she attempts to inveigle him into absconding with the Book of Peace for her. Part of her pitch involves showboating her transformative powers: she's like an inky mist that moves at eyeblink speed, and changes size from normal woman into giant goddess. Though suitably impressed, Sinbad nevertheless declines her offer.
• Shapeshifting: Eris, who is able to change her appearance when it suits her best.
• Shield Surf: Sinbad and Marina make liberal use of this during their escape from the Roc.
• Shining City: The Royal City of Syracuse; filled with gleaming white, red domed buildings and spires, built upon and among impossibly high Ghibli Hills, which are all connected by elegant walkways. There is even an elevated canal for ships, linking the seas with the Royal Palace. King Dymas is surely one of the most under-appreciated city-building kings in the history of fiction. It's a shame that we only see it for a few minutes of the movie, though.
• Side Bet: Those Two Guys in Sinbad's crew have this down to a Running Gag. They bet on everything. Special mention goes to when the ship reaches the edge of the world:
  "Pay up! It's flat!"
• Single-Target Sexuality:
  • Lampshaded by Eris in regards to Proteus's feelings for his fiancé, Marina.
  • Sinbad practically admits that Marina is the only woman he ever fell in love with.
• Sinister Nudity: One of the hazards that Sinbad and crew must face is the Dragon's Teeth: a region of jagged rocks where numerous ships have crashed and lay derelict and rotting. Not helping are some naiads, essentially nude mermaids made of seawater that lull the men aboard Sinbad's ship into a stupor. Any crew that pays no attention to steering the ship is bound to smash into the jagged rocks, where the naiads can claim the booty with ease.
• Sinister Scimitar: The executioner uses a scimitar with a yelman to decapitate Sinbad, but in the end he does not succeed due to Eris's intervention.
• Siren Song: One of the hazards that Sinbad and crew must traverse is the Dragon's Teeth, where many ships lie ruined and rotting. The derelict hulls are also home to water nymphs, who are succubi made of water. They sing to Sinbad's crew, and they become lulled by the sound to the point of incapacity. Fortunately, Marina is aboard, and she takes the helm to keep the ship afloat.
• Sizeshifter: Eris is able to go from normal size to massive whenever she feels like it.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Marina and Sinbad. They quite literally resort to throwing things at each other during an argument.
• Smurfette Principle: After Proteus lets Marina forget about their engagement, Marina becomes the only female member of Sinbad's crew.
• Somewhere, an Ornithologist Is Crying: For some reason, the giant ice roc has five toes and clawed fingers on its wings. But it may be justified because the roc isn't a normal bird.
• Statuesque Stunner: Exaggerated. Even at her shortest, Eris is still looking down at Sinbad. When introduced, she's looking down at the Earth.
• Stealth Pun: Eris's reference to "Skeptical times" has a much deeper meaning when you realize she's most likely talking about Greek skeptical philosophy, which questions humanity's abilities to know anything about the world and even questioning the existence of gods like Eris.
• Survival Through Self-Sacrifice: As he faces the prospect of failing his mission, the goddess Eris asks Sinbad whether he'll return to Syracuse to be executed for failure or abandon his friend, who'd stayed behind as collateral to be executed in his place. When he says he'll go back, she calls him a liar and casts him out without the MacGuffin he'd come for. He returns to Syracuse anyway, so Eris, bound by her word, shatters the executioner's sword at the last moment and awards him the MacGuffin for telling the truth.

• Those Two Guys: Jin and Li, who are forever placing bets.
• Threesome Subtext: There is some rather heavy subtext between Sinbad, Marina, and Proteus. While Marina is canonically involved with both Sinbad and Proteus, the two men bear no jealousy towards each other. Proteus blindly trusts Sinbad to save his life, and they spend a lot of time embracing and staring into each other's eyes. Really, the only reason Proteus couldn't follow them to sea was because of his duties.
• Turtle Island: The island they come across after escaping the Sirens is actually a giant angler fish, complete with giant glowing lure.

• Villains Act, Heroes React: Other than Marina choosing to join Sinbad on his journey to make sure he keeps his word, almost everything which happens in the movie is either due to Eris's direct involvement or the creatures she sends to harass and attack Sinbad, with the heroes then having to react to it all. (And that sole choice of Marina's actually turns out to be a big part of why she loses.) This is to the film's benefit, since she is a superb villain.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Sinbad and his crew.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Rat and Kale. Mostly Kale.
  Sinbad: Oh, get a shirt on, before you poke someone's eye out!
• Waterfall into the Abyss: Appears at the Edge of the World.
• Wham Line:
  Sinbad: One day a ship came in with [Proteus's] future on board... it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
  Marina: What was on the ship?
  Sinbad: .... you.
  • Also the Armor-Piercing Question seen above under Sadistic Choice. And the follow-up when Sinbad realizes he didn't lie. "Wasn't there something about being 'bound for all eternity'?"
• What the Hell, Hero?: Eris gives one to Sinbad about his unheroic actions.
  Eris: Proteus isn't even in his grave yet, and you're moving in on his girl!
• What You Are in the Dark: What drives the climax of the film. Eris was betting everything that, given his freedom and the girl he loves most, Sinbad is a ruthless pirate who wouldn't blink at leaving an estranged friend behind to die. She's proven wrong when Sinbad willingly returns home and accepts the blame for Eris's crimes, fully expecting to be executed.
• World-Healing Wave: When the Book of Peace is restored to Syracuse.
  • Preceded by a World-Wrecking Wave when Eris steals and shuts the Book. It's unknown whether the World-Wrecking Wave was caused by the Book being shut or Eris herself.
• Wowing Cthulhu: Eris, the Goddess of Discord, halts the execution of Sinbad because he correctly answered her question: "Would you forfeit your life to save your friend?" At first, Eris had called him a liar, declaring Sinbad too selfish to be so noble. However, when he returns to Syracuse empty-handed, Sinbad accepts blame for the theft of the MacGuffin, vindicating his answer. Eris seems poised to squash Sinbad like a bug, but instead accedes the MacGuffin, because Even Evil Has Standards.

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