Matt Zoller Seitz on Jason and the Argonauts:

I don’t know what to say to somebody who would claim that effects like this (which feel like they were thought up and actually made, by an actual person, with actual materials) are somehow less convincing or less magical than the CGI slop that pollutes so many modern fantasies (and that would have a legitimate chance to be Harryhausen-level great if the producers and studio heads didn’t keep changing their minds all through production and making the artists throw out what they’d already done and start over; but that’s another rant for another time). Harryhausen’s work is artisanal, in the manner of a rocking chair made in somebody’s shop, or a fabulous meal prepared in a small kitchen by one grandmother plus a niece acting as sous-chef. You appreciate it in the way that you might appreciate the performance of a puppeteer like Frank Oz. Or an actor like Willem Dafoe, who could have played all of the monsters brilliantly.

This is one of the great movies, foolproof to screen for any audience. I recommend doing it at first opportunity.