20 Million Miles to Earth Reviews

(OK) Harryhausen has charm and style in his monsters and backdrops (here is Rome,the Coliseum, il Foro, destructed sans pity) , Besides that not too much, suaf determined Hopper and Taylor

Despite being made of a wire armature and a clay exterior, the creature from 20 million miles away is the most expressive and unique performer in this routine science fiction adventure story. Strength of story and acting are not the primary reasons anyone watches these Ray Harryhausen films, but even by the permissive standards of these pulp works the story and acting in 20 Million Miles to Earth are mundane and perfunctory. Harryhausen has stated that he preferred making movies based upon mythological stories in romantic pasts over his earlier science fiction amusements, and it shows in how anemic everything but the Venus-born reptilian monster are.

 

Make no mistake, it never mattered what name appeared in the directorial or screenwriting slots, these films all had one true auteur and that was Harryhausen. Granted, some directors knew better how to cover over the weaknesses in the scripts or populate the cast with theatrical character actors who could either earnestly play this material or spin it off into grand heights. Nathan Juran, director here, brings back Joan Taylor as the leading lady, and creates some memorable details, but knows its best to just stand back and let Harryhausen unleash. While this one is a bit of a mess, their next collaboration, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, would bring out the best in both men.

 

Truthfully, the script problems are no more egregious or noticeable than the ones in any of the prior films, it’s just that William Hopper is possibly the worst leading man in any of these vehicles up to this point. He’s a charismatic vacuum and a steep comedown from Hugh Marlowe’s grounding, earnest work in Earth vs the Flying Saucers. Joan Taylor’s once again a smart, tough cookie, but quickly and unfairly sidelined through too much of the film AND sacked with a chemistry-less, totally unnecessary romantic subplot. Her earliest scenes have her calling out casual sexism, proving her smarts as she patches up wounded soldiers, and is the first person to run into the freshly hatched monster. If 20 Million Miles had proceeded to follow her around it would only improve as a film, but we’re sacked with the personality-free G.I. Joe instead.

 

So that brings us back to the whole point of this ridiculously overheated B-movie, the monster. Ymir, although never named properly in the film, exhibits the most personality and growth (both literally and figuratively) throughout the film. He emerges from a gelatinous cocoon about twenty minutes in, then continues to grow increasingly larger and destroy more and more property. Many of the images echo Mighty Joe Young and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, with the final scene being a direct lift from King Kong but without the deep empathy and air of tragedy that film invested into its fabric. Yet Harryhausen still creates a most impressive creature, capable of wagging its tail, breathing, thrashing under a net and exuding more natural charisma than many of the interchangeable human players.

20 Million Miles to earth was one of the last great monster movie the creature or the Ymir was made by stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen not a whole lot to say about this movie but is pretty good. (Shortest Review ever)