Mysterious Island
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Movie Reviews of Mysterious Island
Movie Review: Mysterious Island
Summary: 2 Stars
I though this version was not as entertaining as the original version. I would recommend buying the original. In this remake, the acting was strong and the effects were as good as the original. However, the storyline changed slightly with respect to Captain Nemo which I feel detracts from the plot and original intent.
Movie Review: Not a Review: A Question
Summary: 2 Stars
So, the product details say both "Widescreen" _and_ "1.33:1". From those of you who've seen it...:
Which is it?
Movie Review: Little Relation to the Book--A Challenge to Watch
Summary: 1 Stars
As a fan of Verne's, The Mysterious Island, I had high hopes for the movie. The movie, however, was a serious disappointment. The movie was a sub-B grade level -- remember those awful Sunday Afternnon matinee movies on TV? except for the film quality (not grainy), this is worse.
I wish I could say good things about the movie; but in starting, each leads to serious negatives.
1) The movie has little relationship to the book. The characters are distorted (Neb, the black, is horribly annoying with a modern 'tude that is pathetic), characters are added (there are no women in the book), and there are few fantastic creatures (a la Jurrasic Park or the older giant B-movie creature movies of the 60's). This movie may be an amusing test for high school teachers who assign Mysteruious Island and get book reports from this movie instead.
2) Verne's book builds the characters, relationships, problem solving, and plot. The book has suspense and excellent character development. The movie destroys this with almost cartoonish characters. The most annoying are the Neb character in the movie (in the book, Neb is an excellent character). The Neb character in the movie looks and acts like a gangsta rapper. The attitude and annoying dismissal of the time period context go beyond annoying and reach revisionist proportions. Frankly, I found his character offensive and racist. Neb's foil in the movie, Pencroft, again, a well developed character in the book, is portrayed as a southerner, thief, and buffoon. Pencroft is always guaranteed to trip, stumble, or blunder while Neb deftly and lightly perseveres. Apparently, this buffonish characterization is OK since he was a southerner after all. The rest of the characters are hollow. Stewart does an interesting portrayal of Nemo. The other characters are boring. The female characters are superfluous and annoying -- not to mention, portrayed as weak.
3) The giant creatures are comical and are not in the book. Verne uses literary skill to build suspense -- not giant insects as grafted-on artificial suspense. Even more laughable is the character reactions to the attacks by the giant animals (and why was the rat smaller than the praying mantis?). The actors seem like wooden actors reciting lines. My favorite was the young girl commenting after an attack, "I am thirsty," in a tone sounding like a spoiled child.
4) The Nemo character ruins the suspense. In the book, the Nemo character is not revealed until the end (at least openly). This is part of the "mysterious" in Mysterious Island. In the movie, the Nemo character becomes a central and fantastic theme. His sidekick is not convincing and becomes an almost omniscient character vying with Nemo. He is likewise annoying. The Nemo related sets needlessly copy other films -- e.g., the electric fence of Jurrasic Park and the submarine of Disney. Revealing this character too soon undermines the most interesting aspects of the book and sets up a whole new story.
In general, if you like Verne, this movie will disappoint. If you like good acting, this movie will disappoint. If you like a plot, this movie will disappoint. If you like amateurish B-movies with giant rendered animals; a weak, implausible story; and gangsta' rappers travelling back in time; you may tolerate this movie.
Movie Review: An Insult to Jules Verne
Summary: 1 Stars
--Please do not make the same mistake as I made - THIS IS NOT JULES By the way I rarely give one star reviews.... and I do A LOT of reviews on Amazon.
I realize that this is a remake of the 1961 version of the story. However, I am amazed that Hallmark could ruin one of the best adventure stories ever written. Why feel they need to start adding enormous insects, snakes and rats? Why completely change the characters - one of the charms of the book is that the characters learn to work together and create a harmonious existence.
Things that I hated
- The computer graphics are at a high school level. One that comes to mind is of a burning ant butt... it is comically done...circa 1942
- Is not even remotely similar to the book
- Captain Nemo appears in the first 15 minutes. In the book he appears at the end showing that he is the reason for the survival of the characters.
- What is with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" appearance?
- The characters are not faithful to the book.
- There is "treasure" on the island
- Giant bugs and animals are everywhere.
Final Verdict -
Unwatchable as a movie but putting "Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island" in the title borders on fraud. Absolutely, one of the worst renditions of a book that I have ever seen. I couldn't make it more than halfway through this so called-movie.
1 star
Movie Review: Amazing it's SO bad.
Summary: 1 Stars
This must have been a made-for-TV movie. I struggle to remember when I've seen anything so badly put together.
The animation is even worse than that of some movies in the 60's and 70's. The casting, acting, and directing are a complete shambles. I wish that instead of selecting one star for the rating I could have selected no star at all.
I made the mistake of thinking that because Patrick Stewart was in it playing the role of Captain Nemo, and that because the movie is 170 minutes long, that it was perhaps an artfully-produced, in-depth production of the original story. But from the way the scenes are cut apart, obviously to make room for insertion of TV commercials, this thoroughly awful treatment of Verne's classic masterpiece has "made for TV" all through it.
They got the whole thing with the pirate ship wrong, and butchered the plot so that you can't even recognize main points of the story. No, the makers of this farce focus instead on the badly-acted performances of a bunch of people we've rarely, if ever, seen before, and hopefully won't see again. There wasn't even a grand finale with the volcano. The horribly animated lava just kind of slops along the landscape and intercut with that are the survivors rowing out into the open ocean. We don't even get to see the death of Nemo and destruction of the Nautilus. All in all, without doubt, one of the worst movies I've seen in years. You have been warned.