Delayed Reaction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

The Pitch: There's this think called steam punk. I hear that it's going to be huge.

A live-action adaptation of Jules Verne's classic adventure novel.

I'd like to take a moment to clarify how my Disney fandom works. Those who know me know that I'm a huge Disney Parks fan. I love Disney World and Disney Land. They bring me pure joy. They are my happy places. I know they aren't perfect. More importantly, I know that other people don't necessarily feel the same way about them as I do. However, I refuse to be cynical about them. I'm cynical about everything else, so I embrace this exception. Because I love the Disney Parks so much, I'm obviously more invested in the company than most other movie studios.

My blind love of the parks doesn't extend to the movies though. I'm not going to grade something higher just because it's Disney. Maybe I'll have a higher awareness of it going in, but that's about it. When I did my top 100 movie list, only 1 of the top 10 was from Disney (only 4 of the top 50). I've had friends suggest that of course I'd like a certain movie because it was Disney. That's not how it works.

2018 - I blasted A Wrinkle in Time and was underwhelmed by The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

2017 - I didn't bother to see Cars 3 and complained about the incompetency of Dead Men Tell No Tales.

2016 - The Light Between Oceans put me to sleep, Alice Through the Looking Glass was a complete mess, The Finest Hours was understandably buried.

2015 - The Good Dinosaur was Pixar without the magic.

2014 - Need for Speed was among the worst movies I saw that year.

I'm more than happy to call out a bad Disney movie. The thing is, they do own a lot of brands that I respect. I'm overly forgiving of Star Wars. That existed way before it was owned by Disney. It took over a decade of consistent output for Pixar to earn the clout it has (also, not owned by Disney early on). I love the ambition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which also began before it was owned by Disney. So, never confuse my allegiances.

Where the lines gets blurred is with something like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I saw this movie entirely because of the Disney Parks. I didn't even know about the movie until a few years ago, when I more regularly started going to the parks. There was an old 20,000 Leagues ride at Disney World that I've heard talked about on park podcasts and Defunctland. I felt like seeing this movie would give me a better reference point for the ride that I don't remember at all. And, there are other reasons to see the movie. I've been slowly tracking down box office hits from years before my Club 50 timeline. This is the first movie released by Buena Vista Distribution, which has been Disney's distribution branch ever since. (I believe RKO distributed their movies before that.) This was Disney's first big push into Live-Action films on a blockbuster level. And the investment paid off. The studio could look very different now it this was a bomb 60 years ago.

If you can't tell by now, I'm stalling. I don't have much to say about this movie. I liked seeing a younger Kurt Douglas*. You can always rely on James Mason and Peter Lorre to bring a good, weird energy to a movie. For 1954 it looks pretty good and the effects are OK. If nothing else, it's nice to check this movie off the list.

*Still 38 at the time. That man is OLD.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend