Starring: Sean Connery, Stuart Townsend, Peta Wilson, Jason Flemyng, Tony Curran, Shane West

If you don't share some mild thrill at the notion of Allan Quatermain, Mr. Hyde (Dr. Jekyll's counterpart), Captain Nemo, an Invisible Man, and Mina Harker together fighting evil then the elements that do work in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will utterly escape you. Even if you do get a goosebump or two at that thought it's prudent to set your expectations on "low" for this feature. There's more than enough to salvage here, at least in initial execution and conceit, if you do.

Director Steven Norrington's film is based upon Alan Moore III and Kevin O'Neill's comic book series of the same name. In this version, the League is also joined by a Secret Service agent from America named Sawyer, Tom Sawyer (a perky Shane West) and by Dorian Gray (a smoldering, slightly moldering Stuart Townsend). There's so many classic literature characters here one might be tempted to call them the League of Public Domain Properties.

Hunter/adventurer Allan Quatermain (assayed by Sean Connery who may actually be Dorian Gray; he looks damn good for his age) is pulled out of retirement in Africa to help save the world from all out war and form the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He's commissioned by the mysterious M (Richard Roxburgh, a joy, even when he's not doing much), who claims that in times of crises over the centuries that a band of unique heroes has been brought together to put down vicious foes. Quatermain is joined by Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) who is represented as an Indian Sikh, much as he was in the comic book and by his author, Jules Verne, in "Mysterious Island." A thief who has pilfered the secret of invisibility, Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), and Mina Harker (Peta Wilson, who is a lot better than people give her credit for), a vampiress, join them. They all hop on Nemo's Nautilus and then impress into service the dual personality of Dr. Jekyll (Jason Flemyng) and Mr. Hyde as well. They're trying to thwart the plans of the Fantom, whom they believe is setting nations against nations to instigate a war for which he will supply the arms.

It's all set up quite nicely. Anyone with a soft spot for the smoke curled rooftop view of merry old London will get that spot stroked resplendently. God help the dormant ten-year old inside you if you can't get worked up from seeing the superimposed title "East London Docks" or shudder with joy watching Hyde careen across the rooftops of Paris.

But once the League is formed Norrington doesn't seem to know what to do with them. The worst thing he could possibly do, which is to have them assault the evil Fantom in his impenetrable fortress, is exactly what happens and the whole affair becomes rather rote. Any movie where the villain has to explain, in extended flashback, how and why he's performed his evil mechanizations has some plotting difficulties facing it. The Fantom does it by phonograph no less. It's also one of those films that faces immense credibility gaps in motivation and evil mastermind logic in retrospect. Once the League is infiltrating the fortress, and you know how most of it is going to play out anyway, you have time to think about such things.

The effects are sub-par in only a few areas, but they're damaging: though Hyde looks convincing enough throughout the Nautilus looks like some kind of porcelain bathroom implement sold at Restoration Hardware. There is also one riotous goof. Before Allan Quatermain leaves Africa he takes in the graves of his loved ones. The one we focus on is spelled "Quartermain" with the "r."

But it's the third act that is the real goof here. Still, there's some ten year old out there who has never seen the countless "assault the villain in his lair" films and for that kid, Extraordinary, with its mythic characters and jaunty action, may be just that; extraordinary.