20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)

20,000 Leagues under the Sea is a sci-fi drama adventure film, it isn't a musical but it has got a few musical elements in it, which is highly unexpected. This film would be based around 1870. It was innovative for its time when the film came out in 1954 and I think you have to remember this when watching. There are special effects that not many films at that time would have had and people would not have seen anything like it. The film is based on a book written in 1870 by Jules Verne.

After a big wave of ships sinking, Captain Nemo and his men go searching for a sea monster but find an unexpected turn of events. Did they find the sea monster? Something disappointing? or something far greater? If you don't know, you will have to watch (or read the book) to find out!

This film was made using Walt Disney Productions and directed by Richard Fleischer. Some of the cast include James Mason, Kirk Douglas, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas and Carleton Young. It had a budget of $5,000,000 (a lot of money for its time).

I enjoyed this movie a lot, it may not be realistic or as epic as some adventure movies today, but I thought it was really good and you have to imagine how great it was in 1954 to fully appreciate it. I really liked Captain Nemo's pet sea lion called Esmeralda who lives on board the Nautilus, and makes friends with Ned Land. Esmeralda was added to the film to give some comedy and that definitely works.

I would recommend this film mostly to adventure desiring people, who love adventure films. It can be watched by all the family but I would recommend parent guidance for young children as there is a scene where someone gets shot. I think it should have had a happier ending, so if you hate unhappy endings, you might not be pleased with this film. For this reason I give it 4.5 stars. But I thought this film was brilliant.