History YMMV / ClashOfTheTitans

!!The 1981 original
* AllStarCast: Zigzagged. The Olympian Gods were all portrayed by actors who were, at the time, A-list in Britain, the most well known being Laurence Olivier. Almost everyone else in the film wasn't as well known.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: Calibos. Some like him as a villain and think he's got a good design. Others feel as if a romantic rival for Andromeda wasn't needed, especially as he doesn't exist ''anywhere'' in mythology.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The whole score.
* DesignatedVillain: Medusa has [[TheWoobie 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 [[IncrediblyLamePun goddamn]] Underworld'' to do it.
* FridgeLogic: See [[HeadScratchers/ClashOfTheTitans here]].
* HamAndCheese: Burgess Meredith as Ammon. [[http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1497 A reviewer]] even said he acts as if he's in a Creator/MelBrooks movie. Partially justified, as Ammon is a theater actor. Theatricality is expected of him.
* HilariousInHindsight: An episode of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' has Lady Mary telling the story of Perseus and Andromeda, to the surprise of her grandmother the Dowager Countess Violet. Violet is played by...Maggie Smith. 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 AdaptationalModesty, wearing a dress during the sacrifice.
* OneSceneWonder: Medusa has just eight minutes of screen time, yet she's the thing most people remember the movie for. It's been pointed out that most millenials owe their knowledge of Medusa in general to this film. Likewise she appeared far more in popular culture after the film was made.
* MemeticMutation: Release the Kraken!
* TheScrappy: Bubo the tin owl, who most people think exists purely to appeal to kids. [[{{Irony}} Though ironically enough, he actually does the most heroic deeds aside from Perseus. Such as helping fend off cannibalistic 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]].
* SoBadItsGood: It's generally considered to be quite cheesy and with some dated effects. However it does have a nostalgic glee for those who grew up with it. The fact that it has the likes of Maggie Smith, Ursula Andress and Laurence Olivier as the Gods helps too.
* SpecialEffectFailure: The stop-motion is mostly effective. The bluescreen isn't (Poseidon opening the gates being the worst offender). Also the vulture that comes to Andromeda's room. Rumour has it that Harryhausen himself viewed his work on this film as some of his weaker stuff.
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7W-oPhY48 The scene with Medusa]] is probably Ray'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 30 years later, special effects experts the world over are in ''awe'' of what RayHarryhausen accomplished in that scene.
* WhatAnIdiot: Queen Cassiopeia, for comparing her daughter's beauty to Goddess Thetis right when she's standing right '''''under''''' her statue.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: As it was made in the 1980s, you'd be shocked at some nudity in a PG rated film. There's a full frontal scene of Danae (though she's only breast feeding) and Andromeda is later shown fully nude from behind. Notably the remake has a higher rating and doesn't feature any nudity.

!!The 2010 remake and sequel
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: When Medusa has [[spoiler:the Djinn]] in her grasp and [[spoiler:can't kill him]] is she having an OhCrap moment or is she just surprised and relieved that someone [[spoiler:isn't turning to stone when she looks at them.]]
* AntiClimaxBoss: The minotaur was beaten surprisingly quickly.
* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Medusa is portrayed as a TragicMonster rather than the DesignatedVillain she is in the original. While also becoming a lot more blood thirsty and malicious.
** The sequel finally pairs Perseus and Andromeda.
* {{Anvilicious}}: Alright, Mr. Leterrier, we get it. Men don't need gods. Is it really necessary to remind us of that every ten minutes though?
* BetterOnDVD: Watching without the bad 3-D conversion the theatrical release makes for a better viewing experience.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** If you've never seen the original you might be asking yourself what a futuristic robotic owl is doing laying in the bottom of a trunk in ancient Greece. The owl actually ''is'' [[AluminumChristmasTrees in several myths]], as a gift given to Athena by Hephaestus.
** The conversation that young Perseus has with Spyros about his anxieties regarding the new baby and Spyros not being his biological father. It has no bearing on the plot except to set up a character who is killed a few scenes later without so much as a single line. It makes more sense with the original ending where Perseus rejects Zeus and says that his real father is a dead fisherman (the moral being that blood ties mean nothing without a familial bond). But with that plot point dropped, it does seem a tad random.
** In the sequel there are a couple of times in the Labyrinth where Andromeda thinks she sees Korrina walking around and Perseus sees Helius. There is a line from Hephaestus referencing possible hallucinations - but it's not drawn attention to that much. Also when Perseus is separated from the others, he's attacked by a minotaur. After he kills it, it's not mentioned again and there are no other monsters put as obstacles in the Labyrinth.
* CriticalResearchFailure: The Chimera has wings, which would have been cool but misses out one ''important'' bit of the myth: the reason Bellerophon had to go through all the trouble of capturing Pegasus so he can ''fly above'' the monster, safe from its flames and fangs. ''This would, quite logically, not work if the Chimera could fly.'' The filmmakers clearly went for RuleOfCool.
* DesignatedVillain: Medusa again, with a deeply tragic backstory. Io even seems to think she deserves pity. Of course, she's more of a means to end to defeat the ''real'' villain, but still. Although here she's shown to be far more malevolent than her counterpart in the 80s version - where she appears to take great delight in killing the soldiers, and cackles whenever she successfully scares them.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Alexa Davalos's Andromeda. Despite the InternetBackdraft from fans of the original, when the first trailer was released - response to Andromeda's "have you see what's happening out there?" was very positive.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** LiamNeeson [[{{Film/Taken}} is the one in danger in the sequel.]]
** Rosamund Pike and Lily James star as friends in the sequel. Pike had already played Jane Bennett in the 2005 version of ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice''. James would eventually play Jane's younger sister Lizzie...in ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies''.
* InternetBackdraft: Perseus having a buzzcut, anachronistic for Ancient Greece, was really criticised by a lot of viewers. Presumably this is the reason his hair is longer in the sequel.
* MemeticMutation: "''RELEASE THE '''KRAKEN'''!''"
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** From the first film we have a pre-''Film/TheHobbit'' Luke Evans as Apollo.
** The second film has John Bell, who would go on to join Luke Evans in ''Film/TheHobbit''.
** It also has Lily James as Korrina.
* TheScrappy: Io is this to fans of the original, for being Perseus's love interest instead of Andromeda. What's more is that Alexa Davalos's performance as the latter was one of the things fans reacted positively to, so Io being the love interest left a bad taste in fans' mouths - especially with the news that she was shot as a platonic figure to Perseus at first and then retconned into being a love interest.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: While the special effects in the film were pretty much VisualEffectsOfAwesome, the half-assed converted 3D conversion certainly applies.
* StrangledByTheRedString:
** The alternate ending from the Blu-Ray is closer to the original in that Perseus and Andromeda fall in love... even though they barely share screentime together due to Andromeda being DemotedToExtra, Perseus is a DarkerAndEdgier hero than the "motivated by love" original, and the rest of the movie builds up a different love interest in Io. This is due to ExecutiveMeddling finding Io as a better love interest, cutting most of Andromeda's scenes and re-editing Io from a platonic figure to a romantic one.
** In the sequel Perseus and Andromeda kiss at the end. They hadn't really had much in the way of romantic development, aside from clear tension when they first meet again. In the movie's defence it's entirely a MaybeEverAfter situation. Likewise a third film was planned, but eventually dropped. So presumably the romance would have been developed a lot more in that.
* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Could be caused with the CriticalDissonance.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** [[spoiler: Poseidon]], who dies fairly early in ''Wrath of the Titans''.
** Poor Bubo, often regarded as TheScrappy is reduced to a cameo, and a rather callously offhanded one at that.
--> '''Perseus''': (''pulls Bubo out of a box full of junk'') What's that.
--> '''Warrior''': Just leave it.
** Loads of characters had bigger roles that were cut down in editing. Apollo and Athena played a big part in the plot, scheming against Zeus. In the final film, Apollo only gets a couple of lines in the first council scene and Athena is DemotedToExtra. Likewise Alexa Davalos delivers a good performance as Andromeda. But most of her scenes were cut. She at least gets a larger role in the sequel.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: There were times when it felt it they were setting up to deliver the message "just because they're your children/you created them doesn't justify abusing them," but it never happened.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zeus is this in the final cut of the first film. This is primarily due to him being an antagonist initially but ExecutiveMeddling trying to make him more heroic. So he has an abrupt change of heart and decides to help Perseus. This is after he's already ordered the Kraken on Argos and it's said he raped Perseus's mother.
* WhatAnIdiot: And to think...if Hades hadn't gone out of his way to be a dick by [[spoiler:killing Perseus's family]], he would have been able to pull of his plan to seize power without a hitch.
** If the Harpy that stole the bag with Medusa's head in it had say, dropped it in the sea, or fed it to the Kraken, Hades would have won straight off.
*** They could have turned right around and, you know, used it on Perseus. Just saying.
*** Feeding it to the Kraken is not a good idea. It would have petrified the monster from the inside out when his gastric fluids dissolved the bag.
*** Only if the Kraken had eyes inside its stomach. You need to ''look'' at Medusa's head for it to work.
*** The Kraken has ExtraEyes in its head, why not [[BodyHorror in its stomach]]?
** If Perseus had just gone with Zeus when he asked him to in the sequel, he probably could have stopped Ares and Hades from imprisoning Zeus in the first place. What's worse is that he makes a big deal out of not leaving his son's side...and then five minutes later, leaves his son's side and a Chimera attacks his village, nearly killing the both of them. [[SarcasmMode Brilliant, Perseus. Brilliant.]]
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Painfully averted with the slapped on 3D, but the Kraken looked ''freaking awesome''. It's a shame he was only there for less than five minutes. For those watching the film in 2D however, the CGI is exceptional.
** The sequel's special effects are spectacular, most notably Kronos, who's essentially a walking volcano of death and destruction. He's truly a sight to behold.
* WagTheDirector: It has been revealed that there's a significantly different edit that has a plotline much closer to classical mythology. The reason why it wasn't released is unclear, but there are indications that Sam Worthington or the executives successfully argued that it wouldn't be entertaining to children.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The scene with Medusa is probably Ray's best work.

* BaseBreaker: Calibos. Some like him as a villain and think he's got a good design. Others feel as if a romantic rival for Andromeda wasn't needed, especially as he doesn't exist ''anywhere'' in mythology.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The Chimera has wings, which would have been cool but misses out one ''important'' bit of the myth: the reason Bellerophon had to go through all the trouble of capturing Pegasus so he can ''fly above'' the monster, safe from its flames and fangs. '''This would, quite logically, not work if the Chimera could fly.'' The filmmakers clearly went for RuleOfCool.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: When Medusa has [[spoiler:the Djinn]] in her grasp and [[spoiler:can't kill him]] is she having an OhCrap moment or is she relieved that someone [[spoiler:isn't turning to stone.]]

* {{Anvilicious}}: Alright, Mr. Leterrier, we get it. Men don't need gods. Is it really necessary to remind us of that every ten minutes though? On the other hand, perhaps its just a bad case of the studio thinking ViewersAreMorons.

* HamAndCheese: Burgess Meredith as Ammon. [[http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1497 A reviewer]] even said he acts as if he's in a Creator/MelBrooks movie.
** Partially justified, as Ammon is a theater actor. Theatricality is expected of him.

* MemeticMutation: Release the Kraken!
* SpecialEffectFailure: The stop-motion is mostly effective. The bluescreen isn't (Poseidon opening the gates being the worst offender).

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: If you've never seen the original you might be asking yourself what a futuristic robotic owl is doing laying in the bottom of a trunk in ancient Greece. The owl actually ''is'' [[AluminumChristmasTrees in several myths]], as a gift given to Athena by Hephaestus.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The Chimera has wings, which would have been cool but misses out one ''important'' bit of the myth: the reason Bellerophon had to go through all the trouble of capturing Pegasus so he can ''fly above'' the monster, safe from its flames and fangs. '''This would, quite logically, not work if the Chimera could fly.'''
** Well, maybe Pegasus could fly faster and/or higher than the Chimera. It still counting. And don't forget, it would make the battle [[RuleOfCool more exciting]].

** Rosamund Pike and Lily James star as friends in the sequel. Pike had already played Jane Bennett in the 2005 version of ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice''. James would eventually play Jane's younger sister Lizzie...in ''Literature/PridePrejudiceAndZombies''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler: Poseidon]], who dies fairly early in ''Wrath of the Titans''.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: If you've never seen the original you might be asking yourself what a futuristic robotic owl is doing laying in the bottom of a trunk in ancient Greece.
** Either way ''greatly'' [[BreakingTheFourthWall stressing the Fourth Wall]] and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.
*** Actually OlderThanYouThink: the futuristic robotic owl is actually mentioned in Greek myths (I don't recall if it is in the myth of Perseus or others) as a creation of Hephaestus gifted to Athena. And if you think the greeks where ahead of their time with the robo-owl wait till you find out about the two female assistants Hephaestus made for himself, out of chromed steel.
** The conversation that young Perseus has with Spyros about his anxieties regarding the new baby and Spyros not being his biological father. It has no bearing on the plot except to set up a character who is killed a few scenes later without so much as a single line. You really have to wonder why they bothered with either one.
** In the sequel, when Perseus, Andromeda, and Aginor enter Tartarus, Andromeda thinks she sees Korrina, the soldier who [[TooDumbToLive prayed to Ares]], walking around, while Perseus appears to see his son, Helius. Unless I'm missing something here, what was that all about?
*** Hallucinations - Hephaestus mentioned the greatest traps were mental and not physical.
** The minotaur as well. It turns up, gets killed and is never mentioned again.

* DesignatedVillain: Medusa again, with a deeply tragic backstory. Io even seems to think she deserves pity. Of course, she's more of a means to end to defeat the ''real'' villain, but still.

* StrangledByTheRedString: The alternate ending from the Blu-Ray is closer to the original in that Perseus and Andromeda fall in love... even though they barely share screentime together due to Andromeda being DemotedToExtra, Perseus is a DarkerAndEdgier hero than the "motivated by love" original, and the rest of the movie builds up a different love interest in Io.
** This is due to ExecutiveMeddling. The original cut of the film had more development in Perseus and Andromeda's romance with Io and Perseus being LikeBrotherAndSister. Perseus's original motivation to save Andromeda was more to make a point that nobody should have to die for the Gods that was edited to being about getting to Hades instead. The studio had several scenes reshot to add in romantic moments between Perseus and Io as well as cutting down Andromeda's screen time. Andromeda's first scene does show some of the hints of the original romance, from her interaction with Perseus.

* HilariousInHindsight: LiamNeeson [[{{Film/Taken}} is the one in danger in the sequel.]]

** The sequel's special effects are spectacular, most notably Kronos, who's essentially a walking volcano of death and destruction. He's truly a sight to behold.