All Movie Guide

The eschewing of modern optical effects techniques in favor of the classic stop-motion animation work of special effects legend Ray Harryhausen was a delightful highlight of this action adventure that attempted to give Greek mythology the Star Wars (1977) treatment. Harry Hamlin stars as Perseus, a mortal who, due to the interference of the mighty God Zeus (Laurence Olivier), finds himself in the city of Joppa, far away from his island home. There, he falls in love with Andromeda (Judi Bowker), an imprisoned princess. To free her, win her hand, and thus half of the kingdom, Perseus solves a riddle, but Joppa's enraged ruler orders Andromeda fed to the Kraken, a towering sea monster that's the last of the powerful Titans. In his quest to save Andromeda, Perseus must endure a series of trials with the help of the winged horse Pegasus and a friendly playwright, Ammon (Burgess Meredith). His ultimate goal is to secure the head of the grotesque Gorgon named Medusa and use it to turn the Kraken into stone, but dangers await, including the hideously deformed Calibos (Neil McCarthy). Karl Williams

All Movie Guide

Clash of the Titans was supposed to be a throwback to the sword and sandal epics of previous decades, but most viewers just wanted to throw it back. The stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen is a little jarring for viewers accustomed to state-of-the-art visuals -- in fact, after this last outing as head of special effects, his peculiar genius was no longer considered viable. But its appearance is not what does the movie in, because Harryhausen's creations, especially a snake-haired Medusa, are as imaginative as they are erratic. It's the humans stacked up against these visual curiosities that are lacking, notably a wooden Harry Hamlin as Perseus. They make the gaps between monsters slow and stultifying, seeming to add countless minutes to an already yawn-inducing two hours. At the time this was released in 1981, the audience for fantasy was being siphoned off by the Star Wars saga and just getting involved in Indiana Jones. There was no place for reheated leftovers like Clash of the Titans, which could have been a lot tastier with a better cast and more adventuresome storytelling. Derek Armstrong

Product Details

• UPC: 012569513723
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español, Portugais, Japanese
• Time: 1:58:00
• Sales Rank: 996

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