This colourful adventure yarn has plenty going for it. There's lots of action, some romance, a cast populated by B-movie types (aside from Herbert Lom, who once again puts in a distinctive and fun performance) and glamorous girls, some excellent special effects, and lots of nice scenery and photography. Sure, it doesn't exactly stick close to the plot of Jules Verne's original novel, as lots of liberties are taken with it, but it's pretty much all you could want from a simple, old-fashioned adventure yarn.
I myself have always been a fan of shipwreck movies and this doesn't disappoint. The opening kicks off with a thrilling battle for escape, involving fist fights, shoot-outs, and lots of near-misses. A lot of clichés pass us by including the frightened hero who turns out to be one of the strongest of the group, plus the young glamour interest who wears a tiny short dress which also just happens to be extremely low cut. There's a lot of inconsequential dialogue and some naïve (by today's standards) romance going on between a couple of the group, but these bits never get in the way of the action.
One of the film's main problems is that throughout the film mysterious events occur (to make up for the title I suppose), and when it turns out that Captain Nemo is responsible, we're supposed to be surprised. Well, we're not. I actually think Herbert Lom is billed as being Captain Nemo at the beginning credits, which kind of defeats the object of the whole thing. When Lom actually arrives on screen (not until the final third of the film) the whole thing actually falls apart a little, as it was a lot tighter adventure up until this point. Then suddenly we're bogged down in dialogue and some dodgy special effects of polystyrene rocks being thrown about. The method the survivors use to escape is implausible to say the least, involving as it does so an inflated balloon being used to raise a sunken ship. The balloon is blown up via a pipe line (constructed by bamboo) running from the ocean to Nemo's secret underground base, where a submarine pump does all the hard work. It sounds silly and it definitely is.
Thankfully, up until this point, there are some great scenes involving various superbly-animated creations from the stop motion master himself, Ray Harryhausen. From the first monster, a giant crab, you know you're going to be in for a good ride and these giant horrors are 95% realistic. They're wonderfully animated too, none of this jerky motion seen in other films. From then on we get giant birds, giant wasps (again, excellent effects, and pretty creepy too), and even a giant octopus to join in on the action. Basically, Harryhausen's wonderful creations raise what is, in other respects, a fairly average yarn into something unique and exciting to watch. Worth tracking down for fans of the animator's work, or nostalgists.
I myself have always been a fan of shipwreck movies and this doesn't disappoint. The opening kicks off with a thrilling battle for escape, involving fist fights, shoot-outs, and lots of near-misses. A lot of clichés pass us by including the frightened hero who turns out to be one of the strongest of the group, plus the young glamour interest who wears a tiny short dress which also just happens to be extremely low cut. There's a lot of inconsequential dialogue and some naïve (by today's standards) romance going on between a couple of the group, but these bits never get in the way of the action.
One of the film's main problems is that throughout the film mysterious events occur (to make up for the title I suppose), and when it turns out that Captain Nemo is responsible, we're supposed to be surprised. Well, we're not. I actually think Herbert Lom is billed as being Captain Nemo at the beginning credits, which kind of defeats the object of the whole thing. When Lom actually arrives on screen (not until the final third of the film) the whole thing actually falls apart a little, as it was a lot tighter adventure up until this point. Then suddenly we're bogged down in dialogue and some dodgy special effects of polystyrene rocks being thrown about. The method the survivors use to escape is implausible to say the least, involving as it does so an inflated balloon being used to raise a sunken ship. The balloon is blown up via a pipe line (constructed by bamboo) running from the ocean to Nemo's secret underground base, where a submarine pump does all the hard work. It sounds silly and it definitely is.
Thankfully, up until this point, there are some great scenes involving various superbly-animated creations from the stop motion master himself, Ray Harryhausen. From the first monster, a giant crab, you know you're going to be in for a good ride and these giant horrors are 95% realistic. They're wonderfully animated too, none of this jerky motion seen in other films. From then on we get giant birds, giant wasps (again, excellent effects, and pretty creepy too), and even a giant octopus to join in on the action. Basically, Harryhausen's wonderful creations raise what is, in other respects, a fairly average yarn into something unique and exciting to watch. Worth tracking down for fans of the animator's work, or nostalgists.