Customer Reviews
AMAZING FX WORK, A CLASSIC STORY, GREAT ACTING...AND ONE OF THE GREAT MONSTER SETPIECES!! - By: Adam Jackson, 24 Dec 2008 
Saw this on TV yesterday, & felt compelled to comment on this movie, which I have always loved.
Simply this, the FX work is amazing - not just for 1954, but even by today's standards. The matte work & miniatures are stunningly detailed, atmospheric & beautifully rendered. Indeed there are shots of ships at sea that look fully photo realistic, right down to the smoke patterns, sunsets & the waves (notoriously difficult to scale convincingly). Much, much better than 99% of the CGI that we see now! A casein point would be The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a dire, Nemo related movie that had a HUGE budget). The aquatic, miniature work with a fully convincing Nautilus submarine still holds as well today asin '54 but the real star is the the Giant Squid!
Both the brilliantly operated miniature that we see attach itself to the Nautilus, & the FULL SIZE model that Nemo & crew battle with when the Nautilus surfaces, are stunning pieces of FX work. The attention to detail, particularly on the tentacles, the eyes & especially the close up shots of the beast's parrot like beak snapping back & forth is fascinating, & makes for a truly ferocious scene as men battle monster with harpoon & hatchet.
Certainly a more convincing squid than was seen some 40 years laterin Peter Benchley's The Beast, &in the many awlful SciFi Channel productions. It's only other rival would be Ray Harryhausen's (much bigger) stop motion animated, Giant Octopusin It Came From Beneath The Sea.
Other reviewers have commented more on the great performances from Mason, Douglas & Lorre etc. I agree wholeheartedly, & simply wrote this more to praise Visual Effects work that borders on the immortal!
High adventure on and under the high seas - By: Christian McCallister, 01 Dec 2004 This film version of Jules Verne's novel, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" has few, if any flaws. It won Oscars for art direction & special effects (deservedly) & the performances (especially James Mason & Kirk Douglas) were overlooked at Oscar time, probably because science fiction is often not taken seriously.
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was a favorite book of mine as a child, & the movie is true to the novel. James Mason is perfect as Captain Nemo, a rogue scientist/inventor/businessman who rejects the barbarity of the "civilized" world & mounts an undersea war against those who make war & ravage the sea. Paul Lukas plays a scientist who is rescued by Nemo, along with Lukas' aide (a perpetually frightened & bewildered Peter Lorre) & their harpoonist, all-American boy Ned Land (Kirk Douglas). The three are unsure of what to make of Nemo, who is obviously a genius & who is protesting barbarity, but who is also ruthless & secretive. And, they are somewhere between guests & prisoners after Nemo rescues them (after sinking their ship). Lukas's ship had beenin search of a sea monster that sinks ships; that turns out to be Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus. While the special effects are slightly dated at times, the Nautilusin the film was a marvel, & still is. And, watch out for the giant squid!
Another wonderful aspect of the film (and the novel) was how imaginative Jules Verne was. The story takes place right after the Civil War (1870?), but the submarine is nuclear-powered & Captain Nemo is engagedin underwater farming! This is a flawless translation of a wonderful science/adventure novel to film, & it's a perfect family movie, good for all but very young children. Enjoy!
I love this film!!! - By: Gavin Moore, 16 Oct 2004 One of a handful of films I remember watching when I was younger, I decided to buy it on video a couple of years ago & found out that I still really liked this film! So I bought it again recently on DVD as I liked it so much! There are some nice extras this time! Such as a tour of the Nautilus, a documentary of the Humbolt Squid... & more.
Anyway, I remember being mesmerised by the site of the Nautilus, what an evil looking machine! I loved the design of it! '20,000 Leagues under the Sea' has so much to offerin the way of action comedy, imagination & story.
One of many movies portraying the genius of Jules Verne :) Buy the film, buy the book!
It will still take your breath away - By: Michael Bo, 30 Aug 2004 Today, 50 years after the fact, Disney's Jules Verne epic will still take your breath away, as this luxurious new one-disc edition amply proves. This edition has the warm, deep colours preserved & is full of insightful extras.
I am a lukewarm sort of fan of the Ray Harryhausen scifi epic B-movies of the 60s, which is to say, I applaud what they aim to do & the sheer fun they had doing it. With Disney's '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' we'rein another realm altogether, the realm of big bucks & limitless ambition, & every cent of it shows on the screen. Today, obviously, they would film the climactic battle with the giant squid with ample use of CGI, whichin my mind only serves to make things look artificial, & they would get nowhere near the dynamics & energy that exudes from this film.
James Mason's portrait of the desillusioned idealist Captain Nemo has well-deserved classic status, but too little has been made of Kirk Douglas's cheeky & heroic harpooner, & I just love his duet with the seal!
Disneys' Underwater Epic - By: David Hobson, 21 Apr 2004 
Even 50 years after it was released, Disneys' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is still the best screenplay based on the Jules Verne novel.
The story is well known:- A sea monster attacking shippingin the 1860s is hunted by a U.S. warship & is revealed as being an advanced submarine boat. Three survivors from an attack on the warship, a French professor (Paul Lukas), his assistant (Peter Lorre) & a Canadian harpooner (Kirk Douglas) end up as unwilling "guests" on board the submarine Nautilus. The interraction between these three characters & the Master of the Nautilus, Captain Nemo (James Mason) forms the backbone of the films plot.
The performance of James Mason as Nemo, the genius builder of the Nautilus & its futuristic propulsion system, driven by hatred to commit horrific acts of revenge, is superb. Unfortunately, by comparison, he tends to make the other characters seem a little two-dimensional at times.
The general "feel" of the film is rather darker than you would expect from a Disney product from this period, although a trained seal & the obligatory song help to lighten things up.
The widescreen ratio of the DVD is ideal for the subject matter. Underwater shots pf the Nautilus miniature (a masterpiece of design by Harper Goff) fill the screen nicely, while the interior sets are given a genuinely claustrophobic feel.
Scenes that remainin the memory include the glowing porthole "eyes" of the Nautilus as it churns through the water to ram an unsuspecting steamship, & the epic hand-to-tentacle battle with a giant squid.
Although not mentioned on the packaging, there are several excellent bonus features, including a tour of the Nautilus & recently discovered footage of the first attempt to film the squid attack.
Allin all a very pleasing, & long awaited,DVD. My only regret is that Disney did not take the opportunity to release a 50th anniversary special edition, with extras morein line with those on the Region 1 edition.
