Ray Harryhausen, the king of stop motion animation, presents a wonderfully realized creature from Venus in this film. That is the one and only reason to see 20 Million Miles to Earth. Everything else in the film is, frankly, a train wreck.
The entire plot consists of nothing more than rocket ship crashes, creature escapes, gotta find the creature; and that's all in the first 10 minutes. The rest of the film is simply a showcase for a very talented animator. Scenes involving the creature and the actors are very nearly seamless, and really allow you to suspend your disbelief and become immersed in the adventure.
The writers make a few attempts at subplots, like the boy who thinks Texas is a cowboy country near America, and a half-hearted romantic interest. However, none of that goes anywhere interesting, and everything always falls back on the monster chase. The entire film ends up seeming like nothing more than a delivery vehicle for the final line of dialog, which is nearly the only thoughtful writing in the script. The actors do an admirable job with the material they're given, but a bad script is still a bad script.
As a one-shot viewing, the film can entertain nicely. The monster looks great and there are at least a couple good action scenes. If that's all you need, that's what 20 Million Miles to Earth has to offer.
The entire plot consists of nothing more than rocket ship crashes, creature escapes, gotta find the creature; and that's all in the first 10 minutes. The rest of the film is simply a showcase for a very talented animator. Scenes involving the creature and the actors are very nearly seamless, and really allow you to suspend your disbelief and become immersed in the adventure.
The writers make a few attempts at subplots, like the boy who thinks Texas is a cowboy country near America, and a half-hearted romantic interest. However, none of that goes anywhere interesting, and everything always falls back on the monster chase. The entire film ends up seeming like nothing more than a delivery vehicle for the final line of dialog, which is nearly the only thoughtful writing in the script. The actors do an admirable job with the material they're given, but a bad script is still a bad script.
As a one-shot viewing, the film can entertain nicely. The monster looks great and there are at least a couple good action scenes. If that's all you need, that's what 20 Million Miles to Earth has to offer.