review: 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH

Sony Pictures  //  Buy from Amazon.com Upon its return from a mission to Venus, an American spaceship crash-lands in the sea near Sicily. The rescue party discovers that the astronauts have brought back a curious gelatinous mass that soon hatches and evolves into a strange bi-ped creature which increases in size rapidly. While being subjected to laboratory experimentation, the creature, now 20-feet tall, escapes its confines, goes on a destructive rampage through Rome, battles a zoo elephant and swims in the Tiber. It eventually takes refuge in the Colosseum, where the film's pyrotechnic finale occurs during a climactic showdown with the military. Ray Harryhausen has long been a superstar in my eyes -- from the epic "Jason & The Argonauts" to the oft-maligned, but still fantastic, "Clash of the Titans," I feel that he has had a tremendous influence on my love of sci-fi and stop-motion animation... and probably also contributed to my love for b-movies (as many modern b-movies borrow/steal/reference the classic animated films from the 60s and 70s.) I've gone back and watched quite a few films from his career, but the one that I somehow had never managed to watch was "20 Million Miles to Earth" - thankfully, Sony Pictures remedied that by sending the 50th anniversary disc to us for review! It's got all the depth of story that you'd expect from a 50 year old film (read: not much), but obviously you're not going to watch this film expecting to see some grand commentary on 1950s America -- you want big frickin' monsters made out of clay terrorizing the small human beings! In that, it delivers. The main monster in this one will look familiar to any fan of sci-fi or stop-motion animation, as even though I'd never seen this movie, I know I've seen clips from it countless times on TV specials, documentaries, and even (I think) "It Came From Hollywood" (PLEASE release that gem on DVD soon!) This really is a classic film, and it's also interesting to be able to flip back and forth between the original black & white version and the newly-colorized version - both have their strengths & weaknesses, and kudos to Sony for including both in one release! Video Both the B&W and colorized versions are presented in 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfers. I sampled both, but found myself ultimately sticking with the black & white version, as that is the "original" version of the film, and I thought most true to the original filmmaker's vision. Audio For a 50 year old film, the soundtrack sounds pretty darned good. Extras audio commentary w/ Ray Harryhausen & others featurette: Remembering 20 Million Miles to Earth featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen featurette: The Joan Taylor Interview featurette: Colorization video discussion of 1957 marketing and advertising campaign featurette: Mischa Bakaleinikoff: Film Music’s Unsung Hero still and production art gallery sneak peek of digital comic book 20 Million Miles More Closing Thoughts Ground-breaking, true genre classic + TONS o' phenomenal extras = excellent addition to any DVD library!