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(Review originally written at 6 September 2009)

This is a typical '60's Harryhausen movie, set on a remote island with lots of big creatures on it, who of course got all created by Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects, for which he got so famous.

It's a movie that got based on a Jules Verne novel, that isn't really his best known one today though. It still is a real fun and adventurous story, that has lots of entertaining moments in it. It has a great and imaginative main premise. Still the movie doesn't always know how to handle it very well and instead the movie decides to repeat itself too often, in an attempt to show off with its Harryhausen creature effects. Also the ending seems quite rushed and out of place, from the moment on that captain Nemo suddenly shows up in the picture.

Otherwise, the movie still remains for most part a quite maintaining movie, that is made to look real fun and adventurous. It's definitely made a movie made for pure entertainment and this movie must have really exited some people at the time of its release. Now days it's of course all a bit too dated to watch and we look upon this movies more critical than when it got released for the mainstream audience in the early '60's. It's effects as well as all of its settings are quite dated and cheap looking by todays standards but this of course also has become part of the charm of these type of movies.

The acting really isn't much special, including the performance from Herbert Lom. But this also is quite suiting for the genre, which never was about its performances or story but always all about its stunning early effects and its means to bring pure entertainment, that is made all the more spectacular by the great Bernard Herrmann musical score.

7/10

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About Frank Veenstra

Watches movies...writes about them...and that's it for now.
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