Product Details

• Actors: Patrick Stewart, Kyle MacLachlan, Gabrielle Anwar, Omar Gooding, Vinnie Jones
• Directors: Russell Mulcahy
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: October 28, 2008
• Run Time: 170 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001DF67X0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,276 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mysterious Island [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Platinum Disc Llc Release Date: 10/28/2008

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Little Relation to the Book--A Challenge to Watch, August 14, 2006

By 

S. Brown "s_brown" (Potsdam, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mysterious Island (DVD)

As a fan of Verne's, The Mysterious Island, I had high hopes for the movie. The movie, however, was a serious disappointment. The movie was a sub-B grade level -- remember those awful Sunday Afternnon matinee movies on TV? except for the film quality (not grainy), this is worse.

I wish I could say good things about the movie; but in starting, each leads to serious negatives.

1) The movie has little relationship to the book. The characters are distorted (Neb, the black, is horribly annoying with a modern 'tude that is pathetic), characters are added (there are no women in the book), and there are few fantastic creatures (a la Jurrasic Park or the older giant B-movie creature movies of the 60's). This movie may be an amusing test for high school teachers who assign Mysteruious Island and get book reports from this movie instead.

2) Verne's book builds the characters, relationships, problem solving, and plot. The book has suspense and excellent character development. The movie destroys this with almost cartoonish characters. The most annoying are the Neb character in the movie (in the book, Neb is an excellent character). The Neb character in the movie looks and acts like a gangsta rapper. The attitude and annoying dismissal of the time period context go beyond annoying and reach revisionist proportions. Frankly, I found his character offensive and racist. Neb's foil in the movie, Pencroft, again, a well developed character in the book, is portrayed as a southerner, thief, and buffoon. Pencroft is always guaranteed to trip, stumble, or blunder while Neb deftly and lightly perseveres. Apparently, this buffonish characterization is OK since he was a southerner after all. The rest of the characters are hollow. Stewart does an interesting portrayal of Nemo. The other characters are boring. The female characters are superfluous and annoying -- not to mention, portrayed as weak.

3) The giant creatures are comical and are not in the book. Verne uses literary skill to build suspense -- not giant insects as grafted-on artificial suspense. Even more laughable is the character reactions to the attacks by the giant animals (and why was the rat smaller than the praying mantis?). The actors seem like wooden actors reciting lines. My favorite was the young girl commenting after an attack, "I am thirsty," in a tone sounding like a spoiled child.

4) The Nemo character ruins the suspense. In the book, the Nemo character is not revealed until the end (at least openly). This is part of the "mysterious" in Mysterious Island. In the movie, the Nemo character becomes a central and fantastic theme. His sidekick is not convincing and becomes an almost omniscient character vying with Nemo. He is likewise annoying. The Nemo related sets needlessly copy other films -- e.g., the electric fence of Jurrasic Park and the submarine of Disney. Revealing this character too soon undermines the most interesting aspects of the book and sets up a whole new story.

In general, if you like Verne, this movie will disappoint. If you like good acting, this movie will disappoint. If you like a plot, this movie will disappoint. If you like amateurish B-movies with giant rendered animals; a weak, implausible story; and gangsta' rappers travelling back in time; you may tolerate this movie.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful if you like Kyle, Patrick or Big Bugs, March 20, 2006

By 

fivemile13 (Webster, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mysterious Island (DVD)

I very much enjoyed this film due primarily to the appearances of Kyle Maclachlan and Patrick Stewart. Most of the main actors were very good in this. The photography was beautiful, especially the long shots of the island, and the balloon shots at the beginning. The bugs and other CGI effects were a bit chintzy. The DVD has a little bit more on it than was seen on Hallmark Channel. On TV it was presented as a single 3-hour event including commercials. Without even a thorough viewing of the DVD, I was able to spot additional sequences, many of them being additional beautiful photography. Of course, additional beginning and end credits for the 2-part miniseries lengthens it somewhat, but clearly there must be at least 20 minutes additional footage here. Plus the interviews and featurette on the set were very interesting. While some of the pirate ship antics were predictable and not well-acted, people who enjoy this sort of thing will like this film. I'm not crazy about the big bugs in general, so I skim through them to get onto the dialogue of the real people. Enjoy.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent TV remake of the 1961 version with Patrick Stewart as Capt. Nemo, November 20, 2007

By 

Soaring Eagle (Ohio/PA border USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mysterious Island (DVD)

Being a big fan of the original 1961 version of "Mysterious Island," I HAD to see this 2005 TV remake. Despite the somewhat lackluster reviews, a few things perked my interest, like Patrick Stewart (aka Star Trek's Captain Picard) as Captain Nemo, Gabrielle Anwar and the long runtime of 170 minutes, just ten minutes shy of 3 hours (!). What compelled me to seek out this DVD more than anything is the simple fact that I'm a sucker for lost-in-the-wilderness type adventures.

THE PLOT: A handful of people, including a nurse and her daughter, escape in a balloon from a Confederate prison in Virginia. Storm winds ludicrously take them West into the South Pacific where they land on an uncharted island. There they discover numerous huge animals and two men living as recluses, the master being the mad genius Captain Nemo, who hates war so much he's trying to invent the atomic bomb in order to stop it altogether. Add to this mix a ship of pirates seeking a chest of treasure hidden somewhere on the island.

Despite the film's full title "Jules Verne's Mysterious Island," the story is based on the 1961 movie rather than Jules Verne's book. All the elements of the 1961 version are here with a few notable changes: The story is switched around so that Captain Nemo is revealed right away rather than near the end and the castaways don't search the island and make their home in the cliff until the second half of the story. Also, there are way more gigantic creatures -- a mantis, rat, scorpian, ant, eagle, spiders, octopuss, etc.

WHAT WORKS: The Thailand locations are incredibly scenic; the cast is decent -- characters you don't like at the beginning you'll probably start liking by the end; the score is excellent throughout; the story maintains a vibe of realism despite the absurdities (for instance, it's never goofy or campy like, say, "Pirates of the Caribbean"); the CGI special effects for the various creatures are pretty good; the pirates look & act like real pirates (the captain is particularly impressive) with a good mix of races and an accurate Eastern-styled ship; and the second half of the story is much more captivating than the first half (so if you're bored with the first half, stick around -- it gets better).

During the first half of the story you'll note a growing attraction between the castaway leader (Kyle MacLachlan) and Gabrielle Anwar's character. In the second half, this culminates in a seriously passionate kiss. I'm usually not into kissing scenes, but this is one smoking hot kiss!! If you think the greatest cinematic kiss is in "Jerry McGuire" or "The Whole Wide World" (which indeed have famous kiss scenes), check this out.

After hearing the criticism leveled at the black castaway Neb (Omar Gooding), I was prepared for the worst. Upon seeing the film, however, I don't get the beef. Not one bit. Neb, as portrayed, is far from an "1860's gansta rapper with an attitude." When they first land on the island he shows a bit of angst toward the unlikable character Pencroff in response to the criticism, "You're just a slave anyway." Neb rightly responds that they're far from the Confederacy and slavery doesn't exist on deserted islands. Isn't it realistic that Neb would revel in a new-found sense of freedom now that he's far from the social constrictions of the Confederacy and America in general? Besides, his "attitude" is short-lived. He's actually a likable character as the rest of the film bears out. Interestingly, even though Pencroff is an irritating weasel throughout most of the story he redeems himself near the end and even reveals his love and respect for Neb (and vice versa). I wasn't expecting this.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Captain Nemo isn't remotely likable here -- he's basically just a grumpy recluse who happens to be brilliant; there are probably TOO MANY monsters -- sometimes less is more; the explanation for the numerous large creatures is lame (why didn't they just chalk it up to Nemo's experiments like the original film?); I found it hard to believe that the handful of male castaways could prevail against an entire ship of pirates during the onboard battle in the second half (but this is larger-than-life fantasy, right? And the fight is thrilling); and the CGI effects at the very end depicting lava and an erupting volcano aren't very impressive (although they get the job done).

One of the highlights of the original film was cutie Beth Rogan and her skimpy cavegirl outfit. Unfortunately neither female cast member in this remake dons such an outfit. I suppose it's more realistic, of course. Anyway, Danielle Calvert certainly possesses a undeniable cuteness as Helen, but Beth Rogan blows her out of the water.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The critics are a bit too hard on this 2005 remake. It's a respectable TV updating of the story. If you love awe-inspiring island locations, a great score, island adventure, gigantic creatures, convincing pirates, lost treasure, Captain Nemo and insightful moralizing about the evils of war, you'll want to catch this remake. The original 1961 version is a nigh-masterpiece and I admit that I can't say that about this version. It's somewhat flawed and doesn't have the mystery-build-up of the original, but it has numerous positive aspects the first one lacks, and it'll likely grow on me in years to come.

This is a must if you appreciate adventure/fantasy films like the original 1961 version, Sinbad, Conan, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean (not that I'm a big fan of the latter two franchises, but this newer version of "Mysterious Isand" is strongly reminiscent of those films in certain areas).