Screening as part of the 2026 KidFest Summer Film Series.
Free for kids 12 & under!
“The only coursing ship that ever passed this way was Argo, famed of all, when voyaging from Aeëtes: and her the waves would soon have dashed on the great rocks, but Hera brought her through from love of Jason.” – Homer, The Odyssey 12.69-72
Long before CGI armies and digital monsters took over movie screens, Jason and the Argonauts delivered mythic spectacle the old-fashioned way: one frame at a time.
Equal parts adventure serial and fantasy epic, Jason and the Argonauts has inspired generations of filmmakers, from George Lucas and Sam Rami to Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro. Directed by Don Chaffey (Pete’s Dragon) and brought to life by special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, the film transforms Greek mythology into a swashbuckling fantasy adventure.
The film follows Jason, as he assembles a crew of legendary heroes and sails aboard the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece, a mystical artifact that can reclaim his rightful throne. Along the journey, the Argonauts face harpies, a bronze giant, a multi-headed Hydra, and, in the film’s most famous sequence, an army of sword-fighting skeletons animated through Harryhausen’s groundbreaking stop-motion wizardry.
1963, 104 minutes, USA/UK, directed by Don Chaffecy, Rated G
“There are moments where, if asked, I may tell you that I think 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest motion picture ever made.”
– Sara Michelle Fetters, MOVIEFREAK.COM
“For sheer old-fashioned, childhood rekindling adventure you really can't go past it.”
– Ian Nathan, EMPIRE MAGAZINE
“A stop-motion animation masterwork.”
– Scott G. Mingola, COMMON SENSE MEDIA
“A great adventure movie... presents spectacle in the most wide-eyed, awe-inspired register.”
– Tim Brayton, ANTAGONY & ECSTASY
