Every time "Fantastic Voyage" comes on TV, I turn it on expecting it to be better. Better than what? The standard sci-fis of the day, the Irwin Allen TV shows. It's about on that par. There's the usual grueling technical preliminaries, the discussion over whether or not to take A GIRL along (never mind that she's a scientist), the setting up of the cardboard characters--with a madman among them (this is among the hoariest of clichés, going back to Hitchcock's "Lifeboat"). Why do we need a psycho aboard ship? Isn't the premise about microscopic scientists venturing forth into a human body enough? I did love the special effects, although the constant use of back-projection is hokey now (some professional critics said it was hokey then!) and I have no idea why the actors are all so stiff and unappealing. I guess with a $5-million-or-more budget on the line, 20th Century-Fox couldn't ante up the extra cash for frivolity. **1/2 from ****
Review of Fantastic Voyage
