The First Men in the Moon

I never read the book but this is vastly different than the original movie. I didn't notice that it was made for TV until now but that explains the extremely low budget. Even with a low budget, the special effects were better than in the original. The story itself though is equally bad. At one point a guy dreams that he is in a silent movie and it's very bizarre. It's clearly just an excuse to shoehorn Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton into the movie. The end doesn't even make any sense. Mark Gatiss does have an interesting take on the story though. This is definitely worth watching if you have seen the original movie, just to see that time couldn't make it any better.

Because this is a remake of the 1964 film of the same title, that one had Edward Judd and Lionel Jeffries, both passed away now, this one has Rory Kinnear and Mark Gatiss in the same roles.

Its pretty much similar to the original, but with a newer look, the scenery on Earth (Hertfordshire) is not as good, but the acting is well up there, both actors bouncing off each other to make a better performance.

Again its the original HG Wells story that creates the quality. The special effects are better than the original but the images are a bit harsher, but nevertheless a good film, I would say that the original is slightly better than this but not much, I give this an 8, same as I did for the original, but this is an 8.0 where the original would have been an 8.5. Its that close, making this a successful re-make.

Thomas and Gattis do a nice job here in what qualifies as a remake of an oft told tale.

It's an engaging H G story of a quaint innocent trip to the Moon with quaint, innocent individuals.

The "romance" part is missing here, and somevother changes are made. Instead, we get the "bromance", and it works pretty well. Both characters are lightly likable, credible, have human faults, and human compassion.

At times, I think our director and writer try to do too much, but that's their prerogative. There's a nice blend of comic relief, such as when one character returns to Earth and in a daze tells a rogue about Gold on his craft.

This is a successful remake, and I may be lenient because the bar has been so much lower in the 21st century, but I think this one holds up on its own and will remain a solid film for generations to come.

This adaptation seemed void of any dramatic tension and had very little comedy. It has it's moments, but I'm struggling to think of them having just watched the film. Far too often the characters would just ramble on and on, spouting exposition. Uncomfortably trying to shoehorn between Wells's original fantasy vision and the reality of science as we understand it today. Gatis wrote the screenplay and needed a strong editor. The direction and sets were equally uninspiring. Whereas the 1964 movie lives on in my memory - this version will be quickly forgotten. All in all it was like a bad episode of Dr Who. I also have to say the make up was appalling. Rory Kinnear's fake beard looked ridiculous.

An unashamedly old-fashioned adaptation of a lesser-known H. G. Wells novel, previously made into a movie (complete with Ray Harryhausen stop-motion aliens) back in 1964. Mark Gatiss should be applauded for bringing something less familiar to the screen, showing that there's still a market for small-screen science fiction and horror (he also made the retro horror anthology, CROOKED HOUSE).

Unfortunately, FIRST MEN IN THE MOON doesn't turn out to be the greatest film ever made. It's commendably old-fashioned, yes, featuring a great performance from none-other than Gatiss as a bizarre Edwardian mad scientist who creates a compound that will take his ship to the moon. Paired up with Gatiss is straight man Rory Kinnear, son of Roy and the spitting image of his father. Given that this production has an extremely low budget, much of the film is made up of dialogue as the pair fight, debate and argue, but of course the inevitable CGI effects eventually come when the twosome make their trip to the moon.

The good stuff: for once, the CGI aliens look pretty good, and on par with Harryhausen's own creations. There's plenty of humour to soften the story, and Gatiss and Kinnear work well together. The bad stuff: the story seems very twee in places and the plotting is stretched out to the extreme, with very little actual incident to fill the running time. It has the feel of a children's show, although bizarrely the BBC like to show this stuff on an obscure channel in the middle of the night. A shame, as the kids gorging themselves on the latest DOCTOR WHO would probably enjoy this – and it's something I myself would have loved if I'd seen it at an early age.