Just got back from seeing it, and I think I felt much the same way as you about it all.
The treatment of the Persians as "all things foreign and wrong" did bother me whilst I was watching. Perhaps the only way in which the film redeemed itself even slightly in this regard was showing elephants as one of the most extreme examples of the hideous beasts; which quite clearly signalled that as an audience we should understand that the characterisation of the Persians is entirely as seen by the Spartans, and therefore not realistic. By this time, though, most of the damage in this regard had already been done.
On the other hand, most of it was good silly fun, with an excess of rather camp testosterone sloshing about.
no subject
The treatment of the Persians as "all things foreign and wrong" did bother me whilst I was watching. Perhaps the only way in which the film redeemed itself even slightly in this regard was showing elephants as one of the most extreme examples of the hideous beasts; which quite clearly signalled that as an audience we should understand that the characterisation of the Persians is entirely as seen by the Spartans, and therefore not realistic. By this time, though, most of the damage in this regard had already been done.
On the other hand, most of it was good silly fun, with an excess of rather camp testosterone sloshing about.