Die geheimnisvolle Insel

Der Anfang mit dem Ballonflug sah vielversprechend aus, der Rest des Films hat mich aber ziemlich enttäuscht. Dank Ray Harryhausen ist in dem Film alles (buchstäblich) groß – die Krabbe, die "Urhennen", die Bienen… Diesmal hat es mir aber nicht gereicht. Ich habe mich auf Vernes Geschichte gefreut, deren literarische Vorlage ich gelesen habe. Die Filmemacher haben sich jedoch entschieden, auf die Geschichte völlig zu pfeifen. Herbert Lom als Kapitän Nemo konnte den Film auch nicht mehr retten. Die Tricks haben vier Sterne verdient, alles in allem sind es aber nur zweieinhalb geworden. (09.07.2011)

An adorably naive and visually solid adventure spectacle with the unmistakable signature of visual effects legend Ray Harryhausen. Simple techniques, rear projection, painted sets and animatronic puppets in the form of a giant crab, giant bees, some kind of ostrich-hen hybrid and a gigantic octopus, all of these are hallmarks of Harryhausen's work, which was unchanging, clear and impressive from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms to Clash of the Titans. I haven't read Verne's novel “Mysterious Island”, so I can't judge to what extent they stuck to the source material, but it's a nice film packed with special effects. (24.09.2004)

It looks like there are quite a lot of tricks here, but in the end, unfortunately, there are actually very few of them, which is definitely a shame. Ray Harryhausen deserves maximum space thanks to his abilities, but the movie simplifies things quite a bit, which is a pity. It's a very American version of a classic Verne story. If it weren't for the stunning trick sequences, of which I expected much more, the movie is really not interesting in any way, which is incredibly unfortunate. (17.12.2013)