What If Jason and the Argonauts Had Smoother Stop-Motion?

What if the 1963 movie Jason of the Argonauts had smoother stop-motion animation for its effects scenes made by the famous Ray Harryhausen? I used an AI program to interpolate the scene to a higher frame rate to see what that would look like.

You liked a similar video I did about 1933's King Kong, so I thought I'd do a sequel of sorts. What do you think of the results?

✨ Programs used:

I'm #captrobau and I like to make interesting videos about AI. Don't forget to like this video and subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos like this. I regularly upload AI upscaling examples, reviews/tutorials for AI software and more.

[Fickets]

The original of the statue works so well because that’s how I’d imagine a bronze statue to move like.

[derianardor]

Makes you realize just how impressive this movie was when it came out. It's really not bad even on original form

[YarolYarol]

The Skeletons looked better, but there's something about the jerkiness of the bronze statue in the original framerate that made it more menacing.

[maxencedworaczek]

Proof that an active understanding of the rules of animation is more important than frames per second. Ray Harryhausen was really a great.

[jim]

I remember a documentary years and years ago, where Ray H. intentionally made the Bronze statue move kinda herky jerky to show that he was in fact made of metal. Both look great, but I prefer the original tbh.

[richardzryd]

The original bronze statue was intentionally made to have stilted animation in order to simulate metal having a tough time deforming in order to move. Ray even expressed his frustration with executives that couldn't understand this.

[bombomos]

I'm glad the "it must have been the wind" line started with this classic

[airdriver]

I'm 69 years old and first saw Jason and the Argonauts when I was a little kid and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. I guess that I might be just an old guy, but Ray Harryhausen was the man. Nothing needs to be changed and why would you?

[MVP_MAGAZINE]

Funnily enough it’s the slightly jerky animation that gives its the terrifyingly timeless appeal

[TheArtofGuitar]

Trying to imagine the effort and time that went into making the original. Damn!

[lapinakawaii]

My God, the special effects of this movie are incredible for being from '63

[GeneralTantzu]

The slightly unnatural movement of the monsters is what makes them so great and distinct.

[MrPresidentGeek]

The smoother effects kind of look neat, but, at the same time, it makes the creatures look more like they aren't actually there.

[felphero]

I know this was supposed to show how video software technology can improve stuff, but damn this just made appreciate the original more. I can't imagine how much insane work and effort they had to put into this

[forestcitytrivia]

Before Star Wars THIS was the movie that blew people's minds.

Harryhausen is a legend.

[bachelorchownowwithflavor]

It is a testament to Harryhausen's genius that the higher frame rate really doesn't make the animation look any better.

[colbyneblett]

The original shots of that statue still hold up. I can only imagine how impressive that was back then.

[MemeMan]

the skeleton movement was actually pretty good in both original and 8X

[qownson]

The statue is so terrifying. What a cool scene!

[Foudedanse]

The second that statue turns his head is terrifying at any speed.