20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997/I) (TV)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers (WGA):

Joe Wiesenfeld (teleplay)
Jules Verne (novel)

Release Date:

23 March 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi | Romance

Tagline:

Evil is a silent hunter.

Plot Keywords:

Underwater | 1860s | Submarine | Captain Nemo | Jules Verne

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Richard Crenna	...	Professor Aronnax
Ben Cross	...	Captain Nemo
Julie Cox	...	Sophie
Paul Gross	...	Ned
Michael Jayston	...	Admiral Sellings
Jeff Harding	...	Captain Farragut
David Henry	...	Scotia captain
James Vaughan	...	Father
Susannah Fellows	...	Mother
Joshua Brody	...	Child

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hallmark Entertainment

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Most of the books lining the shelves in Captain Nemo's library are Readers Digest condensed book collections. This is particularly evident in closer shots; no attempt is made to disguise the distinctive Readers Digest binding.

Movie Connections:

Version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)

failed adaption of a classic

This movie fails for several reasons. First of all, if someone thinks of 20000 leagues under the sea as a film, he will most likely remember the 1954 Walt Disney version of it with Richard Mason, Peter Lorre, Kirk Douglas and Paul Lukas. Against a cast like that this version stands with no chance, Richard Crenna is a decent actor if he plays a decent role and the one thing you can say about him is that he doesn't look as ridiculous as the rest of the cast. Now if you think of Peter Lorre as Prof. Arronax assistant in the 1954 version and consider what you get instead, a girl with an ugly haircut, this is the first big disappointment. As an earlier comment posted, the words "based upon" always gives the authors of a script a lot of creative options. But if you make use of that freedom, you should know where you're going and the result should be good. This time it's not. With the focus of the story on the love thing going on between Nemo, Ned Land and Ugly Haircut the whole essence of the book gets trivialized. The book is a warning about advanced technology used for wrong purposes, adapting this to nuclear power in the Disney version was actually a pretty good idea back then as it was a very popular topic used in many b-movies of that period. The evolving love story is completely dispensable as we know who she'll choose in the end anyways. Furthermore, Nemos attempts to murder Ned Land cause he is his rival in winning Ugly Haircuts heart alters Nemos character significantly to a lovesick villain but once Land saves the ship at the end they are released by him. Makes lots of sense. The biggest disappointment however in this film is the non existent fight with the giant squid, instead you get some sort of alien that gets defeated in a very silly way. Don't get me wrong, I liked Signs for the fact that the alien gets beaten with a baseball bat but this was just pathetic. Some decent underwater shots is all it has to offer, though they add a goof with that as when Ugly Haircut admires the sight outside the Nautilus scuttle the ship would crash into the corals as the camera suggest it is floating sideways. The special effects of the sharks, the monster attacking the Nautilus and the exterior animations of the Nautilus itself are done very sloppy, but that's a disease TV shows and films of that time often suffer from. However, when effects like that are mixed with bad actors, a half baked storyline and a plot basing on the most ridiculous idea that 2 guys would actually compete over a woman with an abomination as a haircut you get a silly film in the end. You may argue that Kirk Douglas building a guitar out of a turtle shell and singing songs to a seal is silly too, it is, but that's what you get when you see a Disney film. At least Disneys version had some funny moments, but who laughed watching this one? I rest my case.