There is really only one reason to watch this movie, and that reason has a name: Tanya Roberts. Anyone who pretends otherwise is a lying fiend. Anyway, Sheena is obviously in the narrative tradition of Tarzan, with a very simple, kind-of-silly-but-still-charming story about greedy rascals being thwarted by a benevolent, jungle-dwelling white person who also happens to be amazingly attractive in every way. It mostly works. There are some funny moments sprinkled throughout the script that are well-written. The filming locations are authentic and beautiful and the animal actors and stunts are pretty convincing, especially considering how this was not a big budget production. There is only one particularly dubious special effect involving birds swarming a helicopter which throws you totally out of immersion. Sheena's "magic" abilities taught to her by the Shaman are also a little hokey, and sort of give her the land-based version of Aquaman's powers, but hey...it basically works in the context of the story. I was also surprised at how much agency Sheena has throughout the movie. Her principle allure may be her nude scenes and skimpy clothing, but she is still a capable heroine who needs very little to no help from her new man-friend to win the day. It was good that the writer's allowed her to be the actual heroine of the movie, instead of merely the eye candy. Ultimately, this is a guilty pleasure, but I found it to be much more entertaining that the movie's reputation suggested, and I would not hesitate to buy a nice, blu-ray collector's edition if they will ever get around to releasing it. Especially if it has extended waterfall bathing sequences.

This is a movie that many of us remember "watching as a kid", and a secondary thought that follows that feeling relies in the fact that many of those movies indeed were a lot better than most of today's soulless blockbusters. "Sheena" is actually a flawed, rather modest and slightly camp matinée flick which live up to equally modest expectations. As many other movies based in popular culture characters, this is an "Origins story" of the female hero of the title which updates and upgrades the ancient archetype -and male fantasy with racist overtones- of a blonde amazon who rules a savage land, however, this movie succeeds in a more respectful portrayal of the natives and their millenarian wisdom, depicted as rather peaceful people living in balance with nature, properly turned into fierce warriors in order to assume the defense of their land from evil and greedy visitors.Beautiful starlet Tanya Roberts brings charm and brightness to the leading role, despite her odd outfit that underlines an adequate sense of campiness (just like, let's say, a horse painted as a zebra), which delivers the magic (some people would like to call it suspension of disbelief) this story deserves. A most ambiguous issue is the thin line between the innocent eroticism and well-intended exploitation that justifies non-sexual full frontal nude scenes involving a Caucasian woman, but has to be admitted that's precisely the part which everyone expects to see in a movie like this one, where sexiness is the principal ingredient.The DVD, poorly released by Sony/Columbia Pictures definitely doesn't do justice to the movie. The full screen format crops the magnificent landscapes off and the awful quality of the transfer play against the experience. Even the cover artwork (another example of bad photoshop, and, by the way... there are NO tigers in Africa neither do they even appear in this movie) is a big let down to an otherwise enjoyable, fun, sexy and entertaining adventure flick with a soul and a body. Tanya Robert's body.

This is a bizarre sort of film--and very confusing and difficult to give a numeric score and I am struggling more with this film than 99% of the movies I have rated. The biggest reason is that while it is a bad movie, the production values are amazingly good and it looks pretty nice. This is not some $50,000 production by Ed Wood, but one that inexplicably was approved and made by a real honest-to-goodness studio! The cinematography and music are often quite lovely and it's obvious some money was put into the picture. On the other hand, though, the dialog and basic idea are pretty dumb--a lot like some of the many jungle B-movies of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. In fact, movies like BLONDE SAVAGE and DAUGHTER OF THE JUNGLE are very cheap films but they manage to provide decent B-movie entertainment--and are an awful lot like SHEENA, an A-picture in almost every way. The other odd thing that make this film hard to rate is its audience. While these other female jungle warrior films all were designed mostly for kids, SHEENA is decidedly NOT a kids film--and I wonder how this film managed to receive a PG rating! I assume that no one actually saw the film since it was pretty goofy and didn't notice the two very striking nude scenes with its star, Tanya Roberts. And, on one hand this makes it a very family unfriendly film but on the other, for anyone who wants to see a lot of Ms. Roberts (more than she showed in BEAST MASTER), this is your film!The film begins with two scientists bringing their young daughter to the middle of the Zambuli lands to look into the rumor of some "healing earth" that has magical restorative properties. But, only moments later, they are killed in an accident and the little girl, Janet, is renamed 'Sheena' and is raised by the nice Zambuli. Apparenlty, they have some prophecy about a golden-haired lady who will save the tribe and Sheena is this fulfillment of prophecy. Oddly, after all this (and almost 20 minutes of film), the credits now roll.Later, time has passed and Sheena is now a buxom babe--sort of like a combination of Tarzan and a Playboy cover model cavorting about the jungle and talking with animals...and taking her clothes off now and then. And, now that she has reached adulthood, the prophesied threat to the tribe is about to be unleashed. After an assassination, the good king is replaced by his wicked brother whose goal is to rape Zambuli land. A reporter and his fat (i.e., comic relief) cameraman have stumbled upon evidence that the new king, in fact, was behind the assassination, so the king and his baddies all chase them into the jungle. There, they meet up with Sheena. After dispatching the cameraman with the evidence, the reporter (Ted Wass) stays with Sheena and marvels at her ability to control animals and her curvaceous body. In the end, the film pretty much goes as you expect, though the ending (when Wass leaves) is a letdown. I wonder if perhaps they ended it that way and assumed there'd be a sequel to reunite the lovers, but critical response to the film was so bad that it wasn't surprising this sequel never was made.So what makes this a relatively bad film? Well, the dialog is THE problem. Despite Sheena being raised by the Zambuli since she was about 3, she sounds like she could fit in almost anywhere--with lovely American-accented diction. Other than not understanding a few words about modern machinery, she sounds nothing like anyone raised in the middle of Africa. The same can be said, incidentally, of the Zambuli themselves. Also, too much of the dialog sounds like it came from an old movie serial--which is great for kids (who are often less demanding) but for a skin-flick, this makes no sense.Another problem is simply that much of the film isn't that interesting. You KNOW that in the end Sheena and the forces of good will win, so there is no real sense of uncertainty.As for Miss Roberts, she wasn't THAT bad...but she wasn't particularly believable. Much of it was because she was too well-coiffed and much of it was the dialog, though her acting didn't do much to inspire either. She was, however, in her element when it came to nude scenes, as at the time she must have been one of the most beautiful women in the world with her piercing eyes and...um...everything else. The way that some blamed her for the failure of the film seems a bit unfair, as the real culprit here is John Guillermin, the director, as he was apparently insane. If you don't believe me, try watching his next film, KING KONG LIVES--a film that is a billion times dumber than SHEENA ever was.One final problem, and it's more a problem for snobs like me that look for mistakes. The 'zebra' that Sheena rides throughout the film is clearly not a zebra but a horse painted like one. This makes sense, as zebras are wild and unpredictable but the paint job on the horse was poor--way too intensely black and the strips were too well-defined--making it look exactly like a painted horse. Heck, I would have simply made it be a horse in the film or had her ride an elephant (but African elephants can also be a bit hard to control) or had her walk or run instead.Overall, not a terrible film. The movie looks nice and even occasionally draws you into this goofy little world with its odd sense of innocence. However, it is pretty dumb when you think about it.

I have seen this movie 25 years later on DVD.I am really astonished when I saw 4.3 user rating on top of the page. I am sure this movie deserves much more than that. It would worth more than 4.3 points even if there were no animals . I give 10 points mainly because of the animals .I must say that this is film about kind of a lady jungle hero.I would recommend this film to children if there were no savage scenes such as shooting,bombing and killing both innocent people and animals.Sheena (Tanya Roberts) is a sexy young girl who brought up by native Africans, has special kinetic powers and can communicate with animals.First of all it is not a boring movie.Landscape is amazing. As for the animals, they are incredible. Director John Guillermin did a superb job in this film with these animals.I will not go into detail about the film but recommend you to buy or rent DVD and watch this movie.