The Great Adventure is certainly not unwatchable, but there was a good amount of talent involved and it should have been much better. The Great Adventure does have enough to make it watchable.
The scenery and sets are absolutely beautiful, the scenery in the first thirty minutes is enough to take one's breath away and the film is attractively if simply photographed, the costumes are good too. Also very good was the music, with a stirring score that synchronises with and enhances what's happening on screen and is the most exciting The Great Adventure ever gets(again the first thirty minutes especially). The nostalgic title song Song of the Wild, beautifully sung by Joseph Allegro, is one so good that it stands as a great song on its own without being part of a film. A few performances are decent too, the best two being Jack Palance and the dog Buck. Palance is methodically intimidating without being over-the-top or phoning-in while Buck is adorable and performs spiritedly. Joan Collins is a touch out of place but plays her tramp with a heart of gold role very charmingly.
However the rest of the acting did seem unenthusiastic and going-through-the-motions-like and disadvantaged further by some very obvious, sloppily synced and odd dubbing(Palance and Collins excepted). The Great Adventure is very staidly directed to the point it becomes plodding, while the writing is what really sinks the film. The script ranges between dreary and cornball and never gets better than that, while the very rambling and also rather predictable story is a little pedestrian in pace and has too many disconnected scenes that lead to very little, if there was any tension or emotional connection intended neither of them registered well to me. The dog attacks do lack tension and excitement and the choreography can be silly and awkward, while none of the characters engage. Instead they are colourless cardboard clichés, despite Palance giving the film's best performance he is also saddled with the most clichéd character, the kind that has been done so many times on film and more interestingly written.
Overall, The Great Adventure is a long way from unwatchable, it looks good, has great music and has a few decent performances but it is let down by the odd dubbing, dreary script, plodding direction and dull story. 5/10 Bethany Cox
