Trying way too hard to be an epic

Rating: 3/10 (27 October 2007)

Movies are made in the spirit of their times. I always felt the original 1962 version of this story, "The 300 Spartans," suffered a bit too much from a forced cold war, communists vs. free world analogy. But then, it was 1962.
"300," on the other hand, is made with that modern day Hollywood belief that better special effects make better movies.
This is a movie trying too hard to be an epic. No one can simply say lines, they have to make pronouncements. No shot is finished until some (needless) computer generated graphics are used. No character development is needed, just give this guy some lobster claws for hands and call it good.
The tale of the 300 Spartans is classic and some of the magic of that story makes it through here. But modern day Hollywood has become so good at creating special effects that they forget about the basics of storytelling: plot and character. Give me the original 1962 movie, faults and all, over this over-wrought remake any day.