Review of 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) by Tim S — 28 Dec 2011

The biggest misconception about "Ray Harryhausen movies" is that people are under the impression that he was the sole creative driving force behind them when all he did was the special and mechanical effects.

There are very few times when a film he works on turns out to be good. 20 Million Miles to Earth falls somewhere in between and winds up just being mediocre. The story itself is pretty silly and boring for the most part, mainly because there isn't any real tension for the characters other than the fact that there is a monster on a rampage.

In other words, a lack of drama. Actually this movie reeks of King Kong, without being quite as good. There's some excellent camera work and some very good stop motion (as per usual), but the boring story doesn't save it.

See it to see Harryhausen's work on display, which goes back to my original point about why people remember these films. His work is the most impressive thing about them.