20 Million Miles to Earth: Movie Review #15

Review of the Week:

Space Kong Invades Italy!

 

There are many people who claim to be the best at what they do. Some mean it, some use as a sales pitch, but not in the case of Hollywood’s most influential figure, the visionary that is: Ray Harryhausen. The man inspired an entire generation of filmmakers from James Cameron, to Guillermo Del Toro and even esteemed actors such as Tom Hanks, he certainly inspired me to go into the business as well. Harryhausen was living proof that you could have so much fun with your work and he showed it through his movies. This will be the first of two of Ray’s flicks that I’m going to be covering this month and this film easily makes it on my top five favorite Harryhausen movies.

            A group of American astronauts and their spaceship, crash land back on earth, off the coast of Italy, with a special capsule that contains a creature from the planet Venus. The creature is soon released from its capsule and goes on a rampage through Rome. The plot does have some similarities to King Kong, from 1933, though it has more differences to makes it stand out. Also, while the creature in this movie does cause destruction to property and attacks people, it’s only acting on instinct and does have a couple of sympathetic moments which are very noticeable. The creature in this film (called the Ymir, by Ray himself) definitely has a unique design when it comes to extra-terrestrial monsters, with its humanoid shape, dino-like feet, scaly skin and its head, love the head.

            Ray’s effects and stop-motion are top-notch. The way he animates his creatures were what set him apart from other stop-motion animators at the time, the same goes for the Ymir. The way the creature moves and acts gives off this feeling that it’s actually alive. The only down side I can think of for this movie is that the human characters are more or less plot devices for the film and don’t exactly have a natural vibe to them. Other than that, there isn’t whole lot you can go wrong with in regards to this film. So, if you’re interested in checking out Ray Harryhausen’s work and are into ‘50s sci-fi films, then you should check out 20 Million Miles to Earth.

Final Rating:

Twenty Million Miles to Earth is available on Blu-Ray and DVD for reasonable prices, though mostly available to purchase online. You might be able to find a copy at your local video store, if you do try that route, I can only say good luck to you. As for alternate recommendations, I first point you towards another one of Harryhausen’s movies, The Valley of Gwangi, cowboys, and dinosaurs, enough said and lastly, I recommend checking out John Carpenter’s: The Thing, if you’re a big fan practical effects, you should check this one out. That’s it for me, please do check out my other reviews and let me know what your thoughts are on this film.

Until Next Time, Remember That Even Aliens Need Love Too…