Some of my concerns about the new Conan movie were justified. While it was a passable, and an enjoyable Conan movie it did not have the same level of excellence as the original. In particular the re-telling of the origin story (Childhood) was one of the low parts of the movie, definitely not as well done as the comparable bits from the Arnold version.
Under its own merits: This was a halfway decent Conan movie. It was fun, it was enjoyable and many of the elements of the universe were well captured. The rarity (and power) of magic, the threat of sorcery. Good stuff all in all. Nothing award winning, but a fun movie to pass some time. Decent action, alright acting.
Compared to the original: The music was not as good, the quality of the acting (and narration, sorry Mr. Freeman) was not as good. The costuming was ok, but could have been better. The action sequences did not stack up quite as well... save for the fight against the conjured dust-men. The movie relaly lacked the same punch, passion and intensity of the original. To its credit, some of the fantastic locations in the new version were really nice. Wondrous (and likely evil) ruins beneath the earth? Mountains carved like skulls? Awesome stuff.
Conclusion: Not worth paying full prime-time ticket price for. If you can catch a cheep showing of this movie, do that if at all possible. It is an enjoyable movie, but not a great one. I do not think it will stand up to the test of time well, but I could be wrong.
