


Heck even the skiff has its own lovely design, the way it slotted into the Nautilus. In fact everything to do with Nemo's craft, its interior and his equipment has that wonderful blend of Hammer horror and steampunk, right down to the muted dull colours and that heavy riveted steel appearance. I loved the Nautilus and its interior (complete with spooky organ.essence of 'Phantom' much?) and I also always loved that steampunk-ish design for the deep sea diving suits (obviously unintended at the time). That strange pointed shell-like shape with fins, a big circular viewing window and that classic bug-eyed design for the main cockpit/helm section which breaks the waters surface. What's so enjoyable about this film are the visuals on display, the Nautilus design here is a piece of cinematic history. This is really the only downside to the whole film, everything else is reasonably accurate give or take, the finale has been changed. In this film Nemo is portrayed as a European which inturn renders the backstory a little off as we don't really find out what has happened to him previously, the film lacks proper explanation as I mention above. We know from the original novel that Nemo seems to be from India, the kingdom of Mysore, and his family were killed by the ruling British Empire. The only things I'm not sure of in this adaptation is where exactly does Nemo come from, where is this island suppose to be? why are there prisoners there? which wars does Nemo refer to?.the backstory isn't very clear. That's about it really, Nemo dislikes landlubbers, the people from this island oh and they killed his wife and child too when trying to unlock the secrets of his work. Nemo thusly spends his time sinking ships that leave that island mainly because they carry arms and ammo for war. The main angle is Nemo used to be a prisoner on the island penal colony or 'Rura Penthe' (Star Trek!!) and managed to escape with fellow prisoners whom now make up his crew. The plot is actually kinda loose really, there isn't really any definitive plan or agenda here, its merely Nemo cruising the ocean depths enjoying his freedom from civilisation. I can also go further and say this is probably the best live action Disney film ever as well, in the top five for sure.

Probably the best adaptation of Jules Verne's classic undersea tale ever made, with probably the best casting and performance of 'Captain Nemo' ever also.
