20.000 Léguas Submarinas

The only reason I looked this up on IMDb was to verify the year was correct. I understand it was made for TV, but it looks for all the world as if it had been made in the 50s or 60s. The music, the cinematography, the scenes. The way the camera pans in on the actress's face and all of a sudden her skin is dewy and translucent, as she stares with a damsel-in-distress expression, for just one example. This is done repeatedly. I truly thought the date listed on my television was an error. The show itself was OK. Most of the acting wasn't magnificent, but they weren't given much to work with either. I have never seen any other version of 20,000 Leagues nor have a I read the book, so this did get me interested enough to follow through with other versions. My husband and I agreed that this was a decent show for its time, until we realized it was made in 1997!

When I saw that this film was going to be shown on Channel 5 one afternoon, my first thought was why have I heard of this version before and where? I have to admit that the only reason I watched this film was to see Paul Gross as Ned Land. That is a reason to watch this film alone. It is not supposed to be believable but it was doing quite well until the giant seafish appeared and from then it went slightly downhill. Ben Cross as Captain Nemo is a wonderful baddie although you are left with the question is he that bad?

I rented this video remembering how much I enjoyed the original as a kid. I saw it in the video store and thought I would rent it so I could share the same experience with my kids. They were not able to watch more than a half of the movie. Can't blame them, I wasn't able to either. Lousy sets, paper thin acting, it seems like everyone from the director to the actors were just going through the motions. Rent the original. Singled out for particular disdain is the actress portraying Sophie - Julie Cox. Was she dating the director? Who cast her? She could have sunk this dog all by herself. Poor Richard Crenna, he gives his best in the movie, but is surrounded by lousy actors all around.

A beautifully mounted version of Jules Verne's classic. Unlike the Disney version of the fifties this one offers an understanding of Nemo's reasons for his actions. The photography was masterful and the music was sublime. Richard Crenna once again rises to the occasion and Ben Cross is outstanding as the master of the Nautilus. Julie Cox had not yet quite developed the excellence of performance that she would later with Children of Dune, but still brought much to her role as Sophie. It is true that there were a few weak spots in the storyline, but nothing that could deserve the negative reviews that I have read here. This Nemo was always true to who he set out to be, unlike James Mason's Nemo who too shallow. All in all a visual splendor.

I cannot believe that they tried to make a romance out of this story! I truly wanted to barf every time the love triangle between Sophie, Nemo, and Ned reared its ugly head!

It was disappointing that so many of the elements from the novel and previous movies were missing in favor of this sappy romance.

Then, they ruin the potentially best part of the movie by replacing the giant squid with a reject from a Godzilla movie!

I will admit that there were some good things. First, the design of the Nautilus was right on the money as were the sets and the costumes. It is a shame that the story didn't do them justice.