20.000 Léguas Submarinas

I rented this video remembering how much I enjoyed the original as a kid. I saw it in the video store and thought I would rent it so I could share the same experience with my kids. They were not able to watch more than a half of the movie. Can't blame them, I wasn't able to either. Lousy sets, paper thin acting, it seems like everyone from the director to the actors were just going through the motions. Rent the original. Singled out for particular disdain is the actress portraying Sophie - Julie Cox. Was she dating the director? Who cast her? She could have sunk this dog all by herself. Poor Richard Crenna, he gives his best in the movie, but is surrounded by lousy actors all around.

Richard Crenna is the only name I recognized in this cast and it is fitting because he gives the only credible acting performance. The film is too preoccupied with the good looks of both the young harpooner and the young female stowaway who is posing as a boy. She doesn't remotely look like a boy. Mr. McGoo without his glasses would say, ‘by George, why is that girl making a fool of herself pretending to be a boy?' On top of that she is a bad actress with an ugly nose. This version of the great Jules Verne novel takes liberties with the masterpiece. We are informed that it is `based on' the novel by the same title. Those two dreadful words; based on. And the clown who plays Captain Nemo does no justice to that fabulous character. When he made his grand entrance I was down on him before he even opened his mouth for his first line. His is a rigid, laughably solemn and overplayed part.

Crenna is 20,000 leagues a better actor than the others and the book and the ‘54 movie are each 20,000 leagues superior to this production.

Luckily the story is good enough that even a bad version of it is tolerable. Its not a groaner, but its junior high lame and shouldn't be.

A beautifully mounted version of Jules Verne's classic. Unlike the Disney version of the fifties this one offers an understanding of Nemo's reasons for his actions. The photography was masterful and the music was sublime. Richard Crenna once again rises to the occasion and Ben Cross is outstanding as the master of the Nautilus. Julie Cox had not yet quite developed the excellence of performance that she would later with Children of Dune, but still brought much to her role as Sophie. It is true that there were a few weak spots in the storyline, but nothing that could deserve the negative reviews that I have read here. This Nemo was always true to who he set out to be, unlike James Mason's Nemo who too shallow. All in all a visual splendor.

The Jules Verne classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has been adapted many times, too many times arguably and this is a demonstration of that.

Starring Ben Cross, Richard Crenna and Paul "Due South" Gross it's another fairly loyal but slightly compacted version of the original novel and the first one with even remotely "Modern" special effects.

Telling the timeless tale of a group taken prisoner by Captain Nemo after being stranded at sea, they bear witness to the marvels of his submarine and the wonders of the ocean.

I'm not entirely sure why but I find myself struggling to really get engaged into this version, maybe I'm burnt out on the same old story, maybe the distinctly average writing and cinematography left me less than impressed or maybe it's just not that good.

There are better versions out there, that's all I can really say. This is Hallmark channel original, and that should tell you everything you need to know.

The Good:

Richard Crenna

The Bad:

Poor finale

Pretty lifeless

Ben Cross's Nemo was less genius more creepy

The only reason I looked this up on IMDb was to verify the year was correct. I understand it was made for TV, but it looks for all the world as if it had been made in the 50s or 60s. The music, the cinematography, the scenes. The way the camera pans in on the actress's face and all of a sudden her skin is dewy and translucent, as she stares with a damsel-in-distress expression, for just one example. This is done repeatedly. I truly thought the date listed on my television was an error. The show itself was OK. Most of the acting wasn't magnificent, but they weren't given much to work with either. I have never seen any other version of 20,000 Leagues nor have a I read the book, so this did get me interested enough to follow through with other versions. My husband and I agreed that this was a decent show for its time, until we realized it was made in 1997!