I, too, saw this movie as a kid, together with all the other Verne-type adventures from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "Time Machine" to "The Magic Sword" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Lost World." These movies and and science-fiction books fired my imagination and made being a kid so much fun. My kids saw "Five Weeks in a Balloon" one summer when we drove cross-country in our new van, outfitted with a TV with a built-in VCR you could plug into the cigarette lighter. They loved it, and can still sing the theme song today at ages 24 and 21. So, while this movie may in fact be for "the kid trade," it's a safe bet it'll do more for their imagination than any "Dark Knight" or "Iron Man" today.
Review of Five Weeks in a Balloon
