Mysterious Island

I had some expectation why I wanted to watch this film. I had no information about it, except a line that this film is based on J. Verne's book. It started like a normal remake but turned to a surreal vision of a hurt brain about something. After ten minutes it was obvious that the original story and author has only a very loose connection to this film. The story does not worth more. The actors are forming unrealistic characters. It seems that they did their job only for the money without any efforts to play characters -if there is any at all. The director seems not to have minimal assumption about the story had to be filmed. In summary: Primitive story, no connection to the original book. The creators have stolen only a couple of names from J. Verne. Category "Z" actors, but is true that their level of play is comparable with the whole film. It is very difficult to understand who was able to give money for this. Waste of time even a minute. One star what I gave is exactly one star more than it worth, but there is no option for zero.

I don't know why everyone's being so hard on the script and actors for this movie. They're not that bad; it's just that they're so obviously hamstrung by the film's very limited budget. The movie looks as if it was shot on home video equipment (especially the night scenes) and the sound is pretty poor, too, in places.

The most egregious offense of this production is probably the costumes. A couple of the characters who are supposed to be Civil War soldiers are wearing what are clearly synthetic thermal undershirts that weren't seen on Earth before about 1980. Let alone 1880.

Do yourself a favor and rent the 1960s version.

As I watched this amazingly stupid movie, and may I add, shame on me for watching it through the end, I noticed, when they where inside the house...there were candles every where...however if you look closely you'll notice light switches in every room, thermostat in one room. This movie was simply put "AWFUL"

I saw Mysterious Island as I love the story and have a soft spot for the 1961 film. I was dubious as it was SyFy, whose standard of movies generally are nothing to write home about, however even for SyFy Mysterious Island is an abomination. Other commentators have said that it is very loosely based on the book, and they are right. I wasn't expecting much different on that angle, because from their adaptations of Earthsea and Journey to the Center of the Earth I knew that the only resemblance to the original story was going to be either the title or the characters' names. The problem is that Mysterious Island doesn't just fall down as an adaptation, it falls down on its own merits as well. The story here is very dully paced, and due to lack of any real tension or thrills it is very uninteresting as well. The characters are not as interesting either, a lot of them are clichéd and not much is done to develop them. Even Nemo's back-story is rushed and convoluted, almost as if done in reference. The dialogue is often corny with SyFy, but not in a while have I heard dialogue that was so unbearably so that you have a hard time taking anything seriously. The acting is poor, with a stiff uncharismatic Lochlyn Munro, a pretty but vapid Gina Holden and an all too brief Pruitt Taylor Vince. The production values I have no better news I'm afraid. Not much is done to make them authentic with the furs sometimes looking as though they were actually made of straw, also further undermined by the sights of modern technology like air vents when the mansion was built on an island supposedly without electricity. The special effects are laughable, with the octopus belonging more at home in a cheap video game and the shaggy creatures were as scary as someone dressing up for a Halloween party. All in all, terrible. 1/10 Bethany Cox

March 1865. A group of Union soldiers escape from Confederate hands in a balloon, accompanied by their former Confederate captor. The balloon crashes on a sinister island, complete with strange malevolent creatures, pirates...and people from the year 2012.

Ostensibly based on Jules Verne's classic novel but, if it is, it must be very loosely based, as there is no way Jules Verne wrote even 5% of this crap. (Unfortunately, I haven't read Verne's novel, so can't comment with any authority on how closely this movie does follow the book). Bad in every way: plot, dialogue, acting. Even the historical references are inaccurate!

Monumentally cringeworthy. Avoid like the plague.