20 Million Miles To Earth

20 Million Miles to Earth, released in 1957, is a sience fiction film, and monster film, that was most notable for featuring the amazing special effects work of Ray Harryhausen. Some have even sited this as being one of his finest works in the monster Ymir. Harrhausen was inspired by the stop-motion effects of King Kong, and dedicated his career to becoming one of the greatest stop-motion animator of all time.

20 Million Miles to Earth is one of many of the atomic age monster movies that were really popular in the 1950s, but Harrhausen's stop-motion effects. The film is about a maned mission to Venus, that crashed landed of the coast of Sicily. Two fishermen boarded the ship and rescued two of the crew members on board. Young Pepe who was on the boat with the fishermen found a canister, which he sold to a traveling zoologist. In the canister is a gelatinous blob, that hatched into an alien monster.

The film looks really good, keep in mind it was released in 1957, so some of the effects might look kind of cheesy, but honestly the if you are a fan of stop motion effects, the film holds up quite well. The version I watched was the digitally remastered 50th anniversary dvd release. In the digitally remastering some of the limitations of the film techniques were obvious, but at the same time, Harryhausen's monster looks even better. One of the high points was definitely the battle with the monster and an elephant, even to this day that scene looks great. The film was shot in Rome, and the sets looks really good. The monster Ymir is beautifully done, and portrays emotion very well, and he makes the audience feel bad for him. The Monster is a gentle, and curious creature, until it is attacked by a dog and a farmer, the scared creature then becomes destructive and goes on a rampage. It think that it says something about humans and our destructive nature.

The casting was well done, nothing super impressive, but the characters play their roles well. The film was well received and also has had mostly positive reviews. This is definitely a film that should be watched by anyone interested in practical stop-motion effects. There is a magic in a film like this that I feel is missing in the digital age of film making.

Would I recommend this film. Yes, this is a film that I think should be viewed by anyone who loves classic monster films, and who appreciates classic stop-motion effects. This film is beautifully done, and is a lot of fun to watch. I highly recommend it. If you ever find this film for sale, don't pass it up, it is a great classic film of it's type.