TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE

I was just reading my quick post below about It Came From Outer Space, and realized I had a scene from this film in mind when I mentioned bad girl blonds... I don't think there was a platinum-haired young lady with "DOOMED" stamped on her forehead (to pay for her lusty thoughts, one presumes) in that film.

Instead, she appeared (briefly) in Teenagers From Outer Space, which was a fantastically entertaining 1950s "aliens from space" film we all enjoyed not long ago. (Yeah, we're on a bit of a '50s sci-fi kick here, but that happens!)

You'll understand my confusing the two movies, as both have a similar theme running through them that was rather atypical of the time: these aliens didn't choose our fair planet for conquering or blowing up, but rather as a temporary home for different purposes: in essence, for doing a little work under the hood in the former, and for growing food in the latter. Ok, more specifically, in Teenagers, they need to find an environment suitable for breeding the giant creatures on which they feed their human-like populace. The creatures are called Gargons, which coincidentally resemble very, very large lobsters, and make one's mouth water for a good portion of the film.

Teenagers is hilarious in many ways, and one of the most confounding quirks is that the actors portraying the "teens" look to be about 30 years old. Our hero, Derek, is the handsome young man -- er, teen -- alien who changes his mind about the whole plan, realizing it imperils Earth humans, and he's developed a bit of a crush on one of them, the perky Betty.

But other aliens don't share his view, and out come the laser guns, which can reduce a living, breathing body to a pile of bones (maybe this is more of a PG outing for younger viewers). There’s a fair amount of action, a moral message that ... um... not all teenagers are bad, and it’s just a whole lot of laughs.

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (G)

I nearly forgot to write this one up! I had another post ready to go and realized I’d somehow skipped over one of the finest ‘50s saucers-from-space flicks we’ve yet seen. Yikes.

Ok, since it’s been a while and I didn’t take notes, I’ll give you the briefest review possible: It Came From Outer Space has all we love about the genre, some really good acting, hilariously fun stereotypes (why are blonds always the bad girls?!), beautiful scenery (the southwest desert), and it’s got one heck of a moral theme running through it -- one about paranoia, ignorance-generated fear, and conformity. Excellent.

This was -- allegedly -- the biggest influence on Steven Spielberg when he made Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it was originally released in 3-D. Occasionally you'll find it playing in art houses (such as our much-missed Castro Theater in SF where it played a couple of years ago). Based on a Ray Bradbury novel, you can pick out the professor from "Gilligan’s Island" if you’re one of us older and wiser people.

You'll find more KidsFlix recommendations along these lines in our sci-fi fantasy category.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC (NR - PG)

Oh, we stumbled on a great success the other day.

Do you know Terry Pratchett’s long-running sci-fi novel series called Discworld? If you’re a sci-fi nut, you probably do. (Actually, to clarify, the books are comic fantasy novels.) If not, and you have a kid sitting around this summer, watching too much TV or perhaps wishing they hadn’t finished the last Harry Potter book, you might want to check them out. According to Wikipedia, “newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times best-sellers list, making Pratchett the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, although he has since been overtaken by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.”

Son K has been reading the Orson Scott Card Ender’s Game novel series, and I’m going to encourage him to take a look at these. I came across the DVD, and then read about the books, and they sound like a ton of fun.

This DVD is a made-for-(British)-TV adaptation, running approximately three hours, following the first two Discworld novels, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic (there are over 30 books in the series).

Get this:
The wizard Rincewind is in charge of the naïve Twoflower (a “tourist” from the Agatean Empire) during his visit to the magical Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle.

No, I didn't make that up.

The snippets I saw during K’s viewing were really wonderful. He and his 9-year-old cousin watched it, and loved every strange minute of it... I popped in and out at the beginning to get a sense of the content, and left them to the task, feeling it was more than appropriate and probably a wild ride. K told me later how much he and his cousin really enjoyed watching, over the course of a couple of nights.

I think I need to devote an evening to watching it with K (who wouldn't mind seeing it again), as it looks quite beautiful and wickedly fun in that Terry Gilliam kind of way. Actors like Jeremy Irons and Tim Curry make appearances as well. (Oh, and it's not rated by the MPAA, but I'd figure it falls into the "PG" category quite comfortably.)

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (PG)

,

This is another fine Ray Harryhausen-effects film, from 1955, and it’s been on our list for quite a while. It’s directed by Robert Gordon, and the creature-effects are pure Harryhausen, and they’re as satisfying as one would hope.

What we’ve got here is an enormous, freak octopus lurking in the depths of the Pacific, roused from its slumber by atomic testing, surfacing to terrorize submarine crews, boats and the city of San Francisco. Navy Commander Pete Matthews and his crew narrowly escape the clutches of the giant creature, and Matthews is then paired up with a couple of professor-types (one is female, and so, following in true 1950’s film fashion, a love triangle must blossom) to figure out what to do about the thing.

The opening scene is really impressive, taking place inside the sub, with the actors and star, Kenneth Tobey as the commander, giving wonderfully natural, understated performances, conveying men going about their work, suppressing panic, and trying to figure out what this thing is that they have encountered. It feels like it was shot in a true sub, not on a set, and the faint bits of upper lip perspiration and the mounting tension help the sense of claustrophobia become more tangible.

The creature is fantastic, and the scenes of tentacles reaching into the streets of San Francisco, wrapping around the Golden Gate Bridge and piers on the Embarcadero are stupidly fun. It’s cheesy enough not to really scare the small kids (um, I think), and fun enough for everyone to enjoy. Our disc, from Netflix, came with a nifty little bio piece on Harryhausen that we all enjoyed.

Oh, and It Came From Beneath The Sea is one of those period pieces that offers up plenty of opportunity to discuss SEXIST BEHAVIOR with your boys.

"K,” I said after one scene that made me scream, “Personal space, personal space!” [Commander Matthews got way too close to the lovely professor Joyce if you ask me], “K,” I said, “You try that at any job and you’ll be immediately fired, if not punched in the nose.”

“Duh,” he said.

This Week's Classic Kids' Movie

Oh, where to start?

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) is the only feature film written by the famed children’s author Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Seuss Geisel). It was rather a bomb at the box office, so I guess that’s why Geisel didn’t pursue a film career. (According to Wikipedia, Geisel regarded the finished film as a "debaculous fiasco.") It’s too bad, because the writing (both songs and dialog) is pretty brilliant, which should be no surprise considering the lyrical nature of Dr. Seuss books.


Besides the music, there are so many weird things to love about The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. As you may have gathered, it is a musical (the score was nominated for an Oscar), which unfolds in a live action, surrealist setting, with animated visuals integrated fairly seamlessly. It’s produced by the great filmmaker Stanley Kramer (Judgment at Nuremberg , On the Beach, The Defiant Ones, to name a few), which is just weird. There is plenty of vibrant, eye-candy whimsy, such as roller-skating, twin men who share a long, gray beard, and a fantastic scene where our hero Bart climbs a very, very high Seuss-ian ladder to nowhere (I kept thinking, “Oh! The places we will go!”). The color is magnificent (blazing Technicolor!), and the sets ... well, suffice to say, The 5,000 Fingers... visuals are not far from what a minimalist Wizard of Oz might look like. They’re stunning.

“If kids had their way, there’d hardly
be any parents born at all!”

Like the Wizard of Oz, this is all merely a dream, but it’s made quite clear from the beginning (I’m not spoiling anything here). Little Bart is an unwilling piano student who lives in fear of the didactic and dictatorial piano teacher Dr. Terwilliker (played deliciously by Hans Conried), and most of the film depicts Bart’s nightmare, caught in a web of Terwilliker evil.

I can see why hipsters might put The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T on their favorite film lists. It’s a slightly more uneven, underdog version of Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory or Oz, and it is a bit more ... twisted than those films.

Here’s the warning for parents of young kids:

Of course, the idea of being pursued and imprisoned by an evil anything/anyone might bother young ‘uns, and that’s a theme throughout. Once Bart and his accomplice, the father figure/plumber August Zabladowski, are caught by Terwilliker in his compound, they are taken onto an elevator, where a shirtless, black-masked henchman/operator calls out the floors (in song):

“First floor dungeon! Asssorted simple tortures ... molten lead, chopping blocks and hot ... boil-ing .... oooil!

“Second floor dungeon! Jewlery department .... leg chains, ankle chains, neck chains, thumb screws, nooses of the very .... fiiine - est ... rope!

There they are shown how non-piano playing musicians are treated: a drummer is imprisoned inside a huge drum, which Dr. Terwilliker explains is pounded all day and all night, forever. The prisoner's silhouette begs to be released as the visitors come to the cell, and the drummer ceases his torturous task for a moment.

But of course, it’s all played out as a dream, and it ends on a happy note. The references to torture and dungeons are the only caveats in what is now a really offbeat family movie (and maybe I’m going overboard here ... how quickly we forget what a seven- or nine-year old mind might be like when our kid is suddenly a sassy tweener!). I think mom and dad will dig it, and so will most kids. It’s a real treat for the eyes, and the ears. I’m tempted to go out and find the soundtrack now.

And I hate musicals.

(Another note from Wikipedia: "The Simpsons" villain Sideshow Bob takes his last name "Terwilliger" from this film.)

Ok, here are a couple of trailers. The first is one of the memorable musical scenes; I noticed son K singing along by song's end -- you can't help yourself. Evil Dr. T is preparing for his big, 500-boy (5,000 fingers) piano symphony debut.

The second is the dungeon elevator scene, so you can see for yourself if it might be ok for your own kids. But don't let that scene alone deter you! Maybe you could fast forward through it ...

CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (G)

You may know that son K enjoys watching ‘50s horror and sci-fi movies with us (dad started feeding him Godzilla at a steady clip starting around age seven). The other night we settled in to watch a movie tagged as one of Andy Warhol’s favorites, but many, many user reviews on Netflix complained of the movie’s endless talking. No action, they said, just talk, talk, talk.

I kept my mouth shut. Not only did K stick with it (it’s only 80 minutes long), but he loved Creation of the Humanoids, and was highly annoyed at the abrupt ending.

“Did they run out of film, or what?” he complained.

I really wasn’t going to write this one up, but I just changed my mind. I won’t go on about it in detail, but here’s what you need to know:

It is a talker. No real action. There are about six or seven scenes (K counted), and very little in set design (although husband D and I found it extremely beautiful in its simplicity).

There are zero special effects.

There is very little violence, no racy language or other small-kid offenders (it may just bore them to death).

It shares a certain aesthetic with Plan Nine From Outer Space.

The director may or may not have intended a subtext about equality and race. Or maybe about technology and fear. Or maybe intended no subtext at all.

It’s a bizarrely fascinating, Saturday-night-pass-the-popcorn kind of movie, and we had a lot of fun with it.

Here’s the 1962 trailer:



Note: on Netflix, it comes only as part of a “Drive-in Double Feature,” with War Between the Planets, for which I can't vouch, but husband D says: "It has some of the most amusingly amature sets ever captured on celluloid ... and it ends with a nice big explosion."

I'm not sure that's a recommendation.

This Week's Classic Kids' Movie

Time Bandits, from 1981 (and rated PG), is a darkly imaginative fantasy directed and written by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python (and director of such movies as Baron Munchausen -- which I’ll write about another time -- Brazil, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, and more). He’s an incredible talent, and rumors have persisted for years of a sequel to Time Bandits; I’d be one of the first in line!

It’s difficult to know whether this film was conceived as a true kids’ movie, or a film that would appeal to teens and young adult fans of Monty Python. There is so much about it that seems directly aimed at a child’s imagination (which is, in fact, what the film is about: the battle between unfettered, free imagination and the constraints of society/religion/technology -- yeah, the philosophy is a bit of a blur), but as noted in my opening sentence, it is rather dark. It may also not sit well with deeply religious viewers who may not favor the idea of questioning our origins or the existence of a true “Supreme Being.” Uh, it may also not sit well with parents who may be taken aback at the end, when our child hero’s parents are apparently zapped and disappear for good (this is an inconsequential component to the story, really, not much of a spoiler; and the parents weren’t very nice, although, honestly, I didn’t think they were that bad; maybe I missed something).

Regardless, its redeeming features far outweigh its questionable ones. It is brilliantly detailed and rendered, from sets to costumes and special effects. It’s mind bogglingly creative, and tons of fun, and also has moments of the absurdist Python humor that is so much fun. (Warning: if you are thinking your 11 or 12-year old might be ready for MP & the Holy Grail or Life of Bryan, know that the latter is rated R and the former is only PG, but has some parental warnings you may want to know about -- check IMDB.)

Supreme Being: I should do something very extroverted and vengeful to you. Honestly, I'm too tired. So, I think I'll transfer you to the undergrowth department, brackens, more shrubs, that sort of thing... with a 19% cut in salary, backdated to the beginning of time.
Randall: Oh, thank you, sir.
Supreme Being: Yes, well, I am the nice one.

Robin Hood, Napoleon, the Titanic, and King Agamemnon of Ancient Greece make appearances, and in one most amazing scene, the gang fall from a time hole onto a ship where a horrible, hungry ogre and his beautiful wife makes plans for an unfortunate feast; the rest of this scene is a sublime testament to Gilliam’s artistic vision and talent, especially considering the clunky special effects tools that were available back in the dark ages of 1981.

Robin Hood: [Departing cheerfully, saying goodbye to the Time Bandits--] Thank you very much! Thank you very much! Thank you very, very, very much.
[Under his breath]
Robin Hood: Awful people.

Have fun.

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (PG)

If you haven't seen this cult classic, you've surely heard of it: Plan 9 From Outer Space is often branded the Worst Movie Ever Made. It’s a hilarious spectacle of cheap sets, visual incongruities, bad writing, acting and editing, and... oh, bad directing, of course!

Everything about it is bad.

But it’s so darn fun! It had been years since I’d seen this, and we recently watched with K, who really has been fulfilling his dad’s dream of Saturday nights being classic monster movie nights. I guess we’re really lucky K loves all this sci-fi and ‘50s horror (such as it was); it’s just what husband D had planned for him.

Basically, the story is about some (very human) aliens who come to earth to raise the dead in order to, um, tell living Earthlings that they (the aliens) exist. Or something. So you’ve got hubcaps as flying saucers, cardboard crypts and gravestones, plenty of fog, Vampira (and her disturbingly small waist), Bella Lugosi playing Bella Lagosi, zombies, dumb cops, hysterical women, and a few macho men. And more!

I was surprised to find the film was, at its core, clearly an anti-bomb, anti-war statement. I didn’t remember that from seeing it 20 years ago. The aliens are afraid, now that they’ve seen we have the A-bomb and the H-bomb, that we will discover the next mega-powerful technology (gee, the name escapes me) which will obliterate the sun; they already have the technology, but don’t trust us “small brained Earthlings” with the knowledge, and are certain we’ll destroy more than ourselves. They’re here, really to save the galaxy from our stupidity.

But that comes at the end, and before that, it’s all belly laughs and root beer through the nose. As cheesy as it is, though, I’ll say that for younger kids who’ve not ever seen a zombie or dark, creepy graveyard scenes, or heard women screaming as if they’ve ... seen a zombie, it could be a bit scary. (For the younger ones.) Ok? I dunno if that means 8-year olds in your house, or 10-year olds. You know ‘em best.

If your kids are younger, just get this for yourselves one night, and make it a double feature: watch the 1994 Tim Burton film, Ed Wood, starring a fantastic Johnny Depp as Wood, who not only enthusiastically made awful films, but wore women’s underthings as he did it. (Martin Landau is stellar as Lugosi.) Then go on to Plan 9, you’ll appreciate it more.

(Note: This double feature calls for double martinis.)

PLANET OF THE APES (G)

"Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"

There are often many reasons to watch the original versions of well-known films, rather than their remakes. In this case, you might be surprised to know that the original, 1968 version of Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, is rated G, while the 2001 Tim Burton remake (starring Mark Wahlberg) is rated PG-13. I haven’t seen the Burton version, but the originals have far too much of their own personality and charm for me to even be interested in checking his out.

We watched the first and the second in the series of five Planet of ... films when K was ten years old. He was fascinated. I was a little hesitant, as I couldn’t remember many of the details from my own first viewings, but these two (the second is 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, with James Franciscus sent to the rescue) are really pretty innocuous. The hardest scene to watch may be when a hunting party bears down on a group of mute humans (the apes rule, of course; humans are the “lesser species”) and there is a bit of implied brutality and general nastiness). (K says he would think these movies would be rated PG today, and he’s probably right.)

George Taylor: Doctor, I'd like to kiss you goodbye.
Dr. Zira: All right, but you're so damned ugly.

There is great food for thought in these films for kids, about equality and race and science, to name just a few topics. There were occasional moments in both films where the dialog was so openly directed at the human rights and civil rights movements of the times, that husband D and I said, “Wow!” to each other, and later had to explain to K what they were referring to.

They were really pretty forward thinking movies for the time. I give both films the go-ahead for kid consumption (sorry, I haven’t seen the others), except for younger ones, naturally, and honestly think -- even with the silly ape costumes -- that most sophisticated video-playing, movie-watching kids of today would still be engaged and enjoy the experience.

K's Holiday Viewing

I need to give quick plugs here to a few films K saw over the holiday that he really liked. Last night he and dad downloaded (via Netflix and Xbox) yet another Harryhausen film, but one I think they both enjoyed a great deal (the hoots from the living room were pretty raucous): 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). Here’s the description from Netflix:

A space mission to Venus ends in tragedy when the ship crashes into the ocean near Sicily. Only one astronaut and one specimen -- a reptile-like creature from Venus -- survive. The reptile rapidly grows to more than 20 feet in height, escapes from its cage and heads to Rome to stomp heads like a long-forgotten gladiator.

Black and white. Tons of fun (apparently).


Also, on the long plane rides we recently endured (a soul-crushing 7.5 hours on the plane to the west coast, thanks to head winds and a long de-icing process before take-off), K watched a couple of '80s classics you may not know about. (Both are rated PG and really for kids 9 or 10 and over.)

I found myself looking over at his computer a little too often during Ron Howard/George Lucas’ Willow (1988), starring a young Val Kilmer and featuring evil queens and sorcerers and dragons and dwarves and various evildoers. The effects were pretty impressive and the film had a lush look that was really convincing. K gave it a big thumbs up.

The other film he watched was The Last Starfighter (1984), wherein our trailer park hero Alex (Lance Guest), an aficionado of the "Starfighter" video game, finds himself in outer space, playing the game for real (or something like that). It looked kind of Star Wars-ish, or at least like it was aiming for it, and entertained K thoroughly.

CLASH OF THE TITANS (PG)

I wrote earlier about some of the great Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation movies, like Jason and the Argonauts, and mentioned Clash of the Titans briefly at the end. K picked this up recently with his dad, and came home and started watching it before I realized what it was.

Clash is the last film Harryhausen did, as stop-motion was well on its way out, and what a perfect end to his career: Clash is the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda, and it’s full of opportunity for Harryhausen’s wild-eyed (or –limbed, or –snake-haired, or –fanged) visions. Of course, it’s a tragic love story, and Perseus must not only solve mysterious riddles, but slay the deadly Medusa (he needs her snaky head in a bag, actually) and defeat the terrible Kraken, which threatens the kingdom and his beloved Andromeda.

A film like this embodies everything many boys (kids?) want in a movie: the drama of mythology, creatures like two-headed dogs and giant scorpions, sword fights ... survival and victory hanging on by a hair from Pegasus’s tail at every turn ... Why isn’t anyone making these kinds of movies now for kids? I know, we do have the Lord of the Rings and some other vaguely similar, quest-oriented films, but anything mythological or even based on Roman or medieval history (oh, geez, and don’t they LOVE knights?!) seems to be rated PG-13 or higher. Doesn’t Hollywood realize there is a ginormous audience out there for kids aged 9 – 12 who want the adventure, the magic and the drama, but don't need the colorful language of sailors, panting rendezvous’ with hottie dames in distress, or enough realistic gore to send them to bed trembling? Come on.

Ok, so I didn’t see the entire movie, but can tell you this: it meets the fun and excitement criteria for kids 10 and up (I don’t recommend it for younger kids), it is artistically well-done and quite nice to look at (several segments were filmed off the coasts of Spain, Italy and England), and the Harryhausen animation is not sophisticated by any means, but has its own distinct charm; K loved every minute. (Um, moms might not mind a strikingly buff and youthful Harry Hamlin – with lips to rival Angelina’s! – running around in a not much more than a loin cloth and shield. Ok, to be fair, dads might not mind the ethereal and lovely Judi Bowker as Andromeda.)

Besides the two leads, heavyweights like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and Burgess Meredith are in the film as well.

Caveat: at the beginning of the film, there is a difficult scene where a mother and her infant are locked into a box, or a coffin perhaps, and cast out to sea. There is probably more gore than a parent might want, speaking of the stuff, but it seems pretty tame compared to what you see in many movies these days (hello, have you seen "Halo" or "Call of Duty" games? Yikes!), and it’s mostly monsters losing their heads. Not humans. There is also an early scene of a mother nursing, with a fairly exposed breast, and a brief backside shot of a bather, but as K put it, “it’s all kind of innocent and motherly,” and from what I read on IMDB, it’s fairly ... artistic. I highly doubt it’s unsavory, or graphic. (This is from the beginning, which I missed, and husband D put the disc back in the mail before I could take a look.)

Clash of the Titans is more fun than a barrel of three-headed monkeys, so put it on your Saturday night/rainy Sunday afternoon movie list.

Update: My point about movies of this sort not being made for kids? I just read that Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier will start shooting a new version of Clash of the Titans in early ’09. It will be rated R.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (G)

Ok, let’s make it clear right off that I have nothing against the 2008 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Brendan Fraser, who does a reasonable job of playing a likeable and somewhat hapless (doesn’t Fraser always play hapless?) professor who strikes out on an adventure to you–know-where. In fact, I was pretty impressed, not with the effects (which look fairly cheesy sometimes, especially the rafting scene; the visuals brought me back to the original 1959 film adaptation, in the best way possible... I was grinning ear to ear!), but with the success of an adventurous, fun movie made with zero barroom cussing or thinly veiled sexual humor, zero grotesque imagery or overstated peril, and it worked not only for kids, but for the adult in tow. Why doesn’t Hollywood make more of these movies? I’m thinking the film did well enough to signal that more PG-rated fare along these lines is in high demand. Am I wrong?

Good on ya, Hollywood. Now get back to work making more of these.

(Note: we didn’t see it in 3-D, either, because we live in a culturally bereft hollow in the deep woods of Maine [uh, ok, sorry, you know that’s not true; but our theater was unable for some reason to provide us with the 3-D buzz, unfortunately], and we still had a mining car-load of thrills and laughs.)

About a year before I took K to see this contemporary interpretation, we had a movie night and watched the original, 1959 version at home. I think the details were sketchy in K’s memory. When I asked him to compare the two he couldn’t really do it. But he did enjoy the original – I’m guessing he had just turned 10, but might have been 9 at the time – and this movie is further proof of the ability kids today have to get into these older films, even without fancy CGI trickery or 3-D. Don’t think they won’t like ‘em. I’m here to tell you otherwise.

The original, starring James Mason once again (he starred in our other Jules Verne adventure below, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) as our intrepid professor turned explorer, and a fairly hunky-looking, occasionally shirtless Pat Boone, was mind-blowingly inventive in depicting the trip to the center of the earth. The descent of our hero and his gang, via a volcano in Iceland, was filmed on location in the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, lending a fairly realistic feel to the whole endeavor; the scenery and sets are nothing to scoff at. (I believe there were three Oscar nominations in the “art” and “effects” categories.) The dinosaurs (lizards with fins glued on!) rock, and other stars like the traitorous villain, the seriously weird plant life, and the spectacle of an inner sea are enough to keep the imagination engaged for a good long time.

Both Journey and 20,000 are real classics that every kid should see. No doubt they inspired movies like the Indiana Jones franchise (there’s even a white-knuckled runaway boulder scene in Journey, just like there was in Raiders of the Lost Ark), and your kids will appreciate learning a bit of film history – someday.

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (G)

Captain Nemo: The natives over there are cannibals. They eat liars with the same enthusiasm as they eat honest men.

Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a very successful (and Academy Award winning) Disney film in the 1950s, and today it’s still exciting, thought provoking and beautiful to look at. Even though there is a giant attacking squid, cannibals, sharks and – gasp! – fisticuffs, it’s pretty safe to say most kids, toughened up by today’s much more realistic and intense filmmaking styles, won’t be bothered by much in this futuristic, sci-fi adventure ... most will probably love it! Starring James Mason (as the tragic, despotic Captain Nemo), Kirk Douglas, and Peter Lorre, 20,000 Leagues won Oscars for Special Effects and Art Direction and stands as a truly classic film.

Set in the late 1800’s (which is when Verne wrote it, of course), the story is full of fantastic, far-reaching possibility (including the idea of atomic energy), and it examines how how those among us might deal with the kind of “progress” that leads more to our own self-destruction than to building a better world. (Verne seemed a bit of a Victorian activist, come to think of it!) Verne’s anti-hero, the cultured and erudite Captain Nemo, sees a world heading toward doom, war and more war, and – not terribly far from today’s eco-terrorists – he begins a crusade of his own to stop the madness. Unfortunately, the latter gets a hold of him first.


One major star of the film is the beautifully imaginative submarine-vessel that Nemo creates and uses in his crusade, the Nautilus. (The U.S. Navy named its first atomic sub, launched in 1954, the Nautilus. Several previous Navy vessels had bore the name as well, but it’s thought there is a tacit nod to the novel in naming the first atomic powered sub the Nautilus, on the heels of the film’s release.) The vessel is a technological wonder, filled with art and music and high culture ... even though it’s a killing machine. The other star is the giant squid that attacks the vessel and crew in one memorable scene, an extraordinary accomplishment in special effects at the time. It’s really a great scene, and many people who haven’t seen the film in years recall that moment more than any other.

You might need two bowls of popcorn for this one.






Next: Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth

FANTASTIC VOYAGE (PG)

Grant: Wait a minute! They can't shrink me.
General Carter: Our miniaturizer can shrink anything.
Grant: But I don't want to be miniaturized!
General Carter: It's just for an hour.
Grant: Not even for a minute!

This 1966 sci-fi adventure film is a blast. It holds up incredibly, unbelievably well forty-odd years later, from the very sophisticated opening credit sequence to the first, action-packed scenes, right up to the stunning sets and creative visual design. (A noisy airport scene unfolds with deafening jet sounds, brilliantly minus any dialog or music; it feels real and authentic, and builds tension immediately. This segues to men in black limos, departing the airport, and a sudden, intentional car crash and a shootout. .. still no incidental music and only barebones dialog. Very cool.). The film won two Oscars, actually, for Visual Effects and Art Direction).

There are many things about Fantastic Voyage to love and to rave about, but many of those details would spoil the fun. You need to know the plot, though, don’t you? A secret government project can shrink anything to microscopic size – anything, from buildings to army tanks to people – for 60 minutes or less. When the clock runs over that time, the item or person who has been “miniaturized” begins to grow. (What do you think they call this amazing machine? Why, the “Miniaturizer,” of course!)

One of the world’s top scientists, working originally for unnamed bad guys (I’d put my money on the Commie Rat Bastards), holds the key to extending the period of time that the items being shrunk can stay shrunk, and he wants to cross over to our side. Problem is, on the way to the secret, underground government laboratory, the scientist – yes, riding in one of those limos from the airport – comes under attack, hits his head, and soon has a life threatening blood clot in his brain. The only way to save him? Send in a medical crew with a laser gun to dissolve the clot, using The Miniaturizer, of course!

So a crew of doctors gets shrunk, and are injected into the man’s bloodstream, where they must navigate the arteries and veins in a teeny, tiny nuclear-powered submarine (with virtually no training beforehand, which is hilarious).

The visuals are wonderful, the acting is solid, and threats at every turn deliver thrills and giggles. And to add to the suspense, one of the doctors on board may or may not be “bad guy.” (It couldn’t be Raquel Welch, who seems pretty mousy until they have to put on diving gear for the first time, and her boxy white jumpsuit comes off to reveal a much more form-fitting ensemble she wears for the rest of the film. Va va va voom. Too sexy to be a bad guy, no?)

There are scary, strangling anti-bodies, G-force currents, a sudden dangerous turn towards the heart, and an unexpected stop in the inner ear drum, where any sudden, loud sound in the operating room would send all our shrunken rescuers into a tailspin. Not a good time to drop the scissors, there, sister!

Parents like my friend Steve-The-Nurse(/winemaker) will love explaining various details about biology to the kids along the way. And if you don’t know the movie Osmosis Jones (2001), it has a similar theme, with a story taking place inside the body, focusing on Osmosis Jones, an anthropomorphic white blood cell. It features Bill Murray, Chris Rock and David Hyde Pierce, is part animated and part live action, and is rated PG for some “bodily humor,” but I recommend it.

RAY HARRYHAUSEN MOVIES (Mostly G)

Ray Harryhausen was an early pioneer in fantasy filmmaking and special effects. His films used stop-motion model animation, which was a method first used in 1925’s silent The Lost World, and later in the original King Kong (1933), which was a source of great inspiration to Harryhausen. (We recommend both of these films, by the way. King Kong is a classic, about which nothing needs to be said! K enjoyed it at a pretty early age, around seven, I believe. As for The Lost World, start with the 1925 original, and then you can move up to various remakes in 1960, 1992, even 2000; I can’t vouch for any of those, however!)

Two of Harryhausen’s greatest films are The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), and Jason and the Argonauts (1963). (His career began in the ‘40s as a special effects technician on Mighty Joe Young, which I’ve not seen, and he’s still working today.)

Harryhausen had made roughly a dozen films when he worked as associate director and director of visual effects on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (not to be confused with the ancient Arabic stories of Sinbad the Sailor), so he had plenty of experience behind him, and was really refining his methods. Sinbad has a convoluted plotline to be sure, but just know that the story involves Sinbad and his lovely fiancé, an island rife with danger and mystery, and a magic lamp. Featuring a now-famous Cyclops, a snake-woman, a skeleton swordsman, a dragon, a two-headed bird, and all manner of peril and rescue, it’s easy to recommend this to kids. What could be better on a rainy Saturday afternoon?

Several years later, Harryhausen’s personal favorite, Jason and the Argonauts, was released. This plot involves a murderous and greedy Pelias, who kills the king to usurp the throne. The dead king’s son, Jason, grows up and plots to avenge his father’s death. Gods and goddesses, a brave crew of Argonauts, and a giant merman aid him in his quest, and there is no shortage of danger and mythological backstabbing. The fighting skeleton scene in Sinbad was so popular that Harryhausen resurrected him for Jason, and put him in league with several more bony swordsmen for a scene that became the film’s most memorable. I still get a laugh and a thrill out of those skeletons.

We watched these films when K was about eight years old or so. He recalls now thinking some of the scenes “were sort of scary at the time,” but adds, “they didn’t really bother me at all. Just a little scary.” So take note for your sensitive, younger ones at home.

Others to check out (and they’re on our own Netflix list):

- 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
- Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
- It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) (about a giant octopus attacking San Francisco!)
- The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) (Rated G)
- Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) (Rated G)
- Clash of the Titans (1981) (Rated PG)

Dad might especially admire the, um, dinosaurs in One Million Years B.C., released in 1967 and starring Raquel Welch.

Harryhausen currently works with Bluewater Productions, publishers of comic books based on his movies (such as "Ray Harryhausen Presents: It Came From Beneath the Sea ... Again!", and "Ray Harryhausen Presents: Jason and the Argonauts", etc.) If your kids like these films and you’re trying to get them to read more with graphic novels and comics (which can be a very effective tactic!) visit Bluewater Productions.

Fun Harryhausen homage facts, courtesy of Wikipedia:

* In the music video for the song "Bones" by The Killers, there are numerous references to the skeleton fight scene in Jason and the Argonauts.

* The Pixar film Monsters Inc. (2001) features a restaurant called Harryhausen's.

* Both the Tim Burton stop-motion film Corpse Bride and the Nick Park stop-motion film Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit featured a piano made by a piano maker called Harryhausen.

* Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, paid homage to Ray Harryhausen in The Fellowship of the Ring when a giant cave troll attacks the Fellowship, claiming that its movements mimic ones made by the monsters in Harryhausen's films.