YMMV / Clash of the Titans (1981)

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Andromeda's feelings towards Calibos, her ex betrothed. When Perseus asks Andromeda at their engagement party whether she loved Calibos, she says she never truly loved him. Is she telling the truth? Calibos seems to be under the impression she once loved him, though he could be biased. Andromeda tells Perseus she admired Calibos' looks and daring when she was young, which could indicate she was infatuated with him, only to later become disenchanted when she realized his true nature. It's also possible she didn't truly want to marry him even before he was cursed and this provided her with a way to break it off.
• Award Snub: Despite the film being notable for its stop-motion special effects, the picture was not Academy Award nominated for either Make-up or Visual Effects; the competitors in the latter category were Dragonslayer — which notably used innovative, smoother-looking "go-motion" technology (essentially computer-controlled rod puppetry, which allows for motion blur giving a more realistic appearance)— and winner Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Awesome Music: The whole score by Laurence Rosenthal is suitably heroic for the last hurrah of Greek mythology on the big screen for decades.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Calibos. Some like him as a villain and think he's got a good design. Others feel a romantic rival for Andromeda wasn't needed (which completely ignores the existence of Phineus from the original story).
  • Bubo. Some viewers think he's annoying, feels out of place compared to the rest of the movie, and exists purely to appeal to kids in the way that so many other Robot Buddy characters of the turn of the '80s did. That said, many fans enjoy the little clockwork critter for his cute factor and point out he actually does the most heroic deeds aside from Perseus: helping fend off the cannibalistic Stygian Witches, going alone to free Pegasus from Calibos's men, going on ahead of Perseus to distract the Kraken long enough for he and Pegasus to arrive with Medusa's head — and lastly, retrieving said head after Perseus nearly loses it in the ocean! Many fans were actually outraged by his Remake Cameo in the 2010 film when he was just thrown around like scrap by Sam Worthington's Perseus.
• Designated Villain: Medusa has never done anything wrong in her entire life, and just wants to be left alone in a place no one could find her. That doesn't stop people from all over the world apparently hunting her down and trying to kill her to get her head, even though they have to enter the Underworld to do it.
• Ham and Cheese: Burgess Meredith as Ammon. A reviewer even said he acts as if he's in a Mel Brooks movie. Partially justified, as Ammon is a theatre actor. Theatricality is expected of him!
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • An episode of Downton Abbey has Lady Mary telling the story of Perseus and Andromeda, to the surprise of her grandmother the Dowager Countess Violet. Violet is played by... Dame Maggie Smith, aka Thetis! What's more is that Violet expresses shock at the fact that Andromeda was chained naked to the rock — and in this movie Andromeda gets Adaptational Modesty, wearing a dress during the sacrifice.
  • The fight scenes against the Titans becomes even more amusing when you find out about Attack on Titan. Heck, it even has an arc of the same name.
• Memetic Mutation: "Release the Kraken!"
• Narm Charm: The film runs on it. There are many scenes that come off as cheesy and melodramatic, with some actors really hamming it up. But for a lot of viewers this just adds to the movie's charms.
• One-Scene Wonder: Medusa has just eight minutes of screen time, yet (after the Kraken) she's the thing most people remember the movie for. It's been pointed out that most millennials owe their knowledge of Medusa in general to this film. Likewise she appeared far more in popular culture after the film was made.
• Special Effect Failure: The Stop Motion is mostly effective. The bluescreen isn't (Poseidon opening the gates being the worst offender), nor is the vulture that comes to Andromeda's room. Rumor has it that Ray Harryhausen himself viewed his work on this film as some of his weaker stuff.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: You feel like you're watching a different movie when you see the scenes with the deities on Olympus. Not surprising given they're played by renowned Thespians like Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The scene with Medusa is probably Harryhausen's best work. If it doesn't look that impressive to you, consider how hard it is to get the highlights cast by flickering torches right when they're being cast on something created by stop motion animation! Even today, more than 40 years later, special effects experts the world over are in awe of what Harryhausen accomplished with that scene.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: As it was made in the 1980s (well, 1979 actually), you'd be shocked at some nudity in a PG-rated film. There's a full frontal scene of Danae breastfeeding an infant Perseus, she and a child Perseus are shown fully nude from behind while walking on a beach together, and Andromeda is later shown fully nude from behind and from the side as well while being bathed and dressed. Keep in mind that the PG-13 rating wasn't invented yet and there wasn't as much of an aversion to women's breasts at the time, unlike now. In Canada the movie got a 14A rating and in the UK it has a 12. And that's not counting the Family-Unfriendly Violence, such as Medusa's rather bloody decapitation in addition to the nightmarish elements such as the demonic-looking half-faun Calibos, Medusa, the Kraken, the skeletal Charon, and the ominous undertones of the story..

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