Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: While the movie "Forbidden Planet" is a landmark science fiction movie, and well worth including in anyone's media library, I cannot recommend the DVD version sold here. The widescreen side is distorted, with characters and perspective appearing tall and narrow; and the TV-formatted side is dark, fuzzy, and poorly dubbed. In my opinion, anyone interested in purchasing this movie for their home library should be sure to buy it in a brick-and-mortar store where they can view the version being sold to assure its quality. That would hold true of the VHS version as well as the DVD version, since it is probable that the same distributor who made the DVD version also made the VHS version sold here. I should have paid attention to other reviewers who have had the same disappointing result from purchasing this DVD as I have. I am writing this review so that others won't make the same mistake I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie--Terrible transfer...
Review: FORBIDDEN PLANET is one of the seminal Science-Fiction movies of
the 1950s, the decade in which ALL the cinematic sci-fi rules
were written regardless of budgets, production or lo-tech
special effects. It has a plot remotely linked to Shakespeare's
THE TEMPEST but also manages to tie in a great adventure story
wrapped in a cloak of Freudian analysis, the latter benefit
never once getting in the way of the former. HOWEVER, MGM, now
Warners DVD has managed to put this terrific film out in one
supremely botched transfer. The colors are muted, washed-out and
tending towards the red scale, while the sound is a boxed-in,
mid-range, semi-monophonic joke. Instead of the full-range
directional stereo of the original track, we get mono dialogue
and static two-channel presentations of the film's great and
unique electronic score. If you have any doubts as to these
opinions, simply check out TCM Cable's new transfer and compare. Believe me, after tossing this DVD in the [garbage]
you will have NO doubts as to what can be done to make this
film look fantastic on video. Save your money for the present and write to Warner video and insist on a remastering.
The only reason this review has two stars is for
the inclusion of the long, original trailer. (Which by the way
uses orchestral music from BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK) And one more
thing, Warners...how about a commentary track from Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis?
Rating: 
Summary: forget the latest flicks, stick to goodies-oldies
Review: This movie helped me to cancel awful aftertaste left by most recent "swashbuckling blockbusters" aka latest lousy Hollywood flicks.There are no evil villains on "Forbidden Planet", no shining knights in armor, nothing phony. Every single character is real and lovable, human or not. The conflict grows between us the people and the worst of us that we nurture within which calls for being better than we are. One of the best comic relief characters known to me. He's so organic, so true. Astounding, shockingly beautiful visuals. Good humor. Good acting. Sound track... Oh, well, it's experimental. But look how much was later "borrowed" from here. Robby the Robot, blasters in all their details, rolling yellow letters on pitch black starry background, some Altaira's garments, the uniform, the techno-babble, the interior of the Krell's power system and more and more and more - did we see it elsewhere long afterwards?
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, it was the 1950s good and bad...
Review: The Good: The animation sequences, sets and gizmos are great. I love Robby and the monster is fantastic, wonderful and convincing. I even enjoyed the synthesizer music just because it seemed to belong. The 'villain' (he is an unwitting villain, really) Morbius is great and acts his part with gusto. I love that the sliding doors are absolutely silent and don't require that silly squeaky noise in star trek - this adds to the idea of the advanced alien race. Lots of people die - you don't see any remains but you get the idea of what happens to them through the script - which is as good as a vat of gore. There are no wires or strings visible! The Bad: On the other hand, why would men (commanding officers even)on a strange and very hostile planet treat this as an exotic port on earth and go looking for a bit of crumpet? I thought the captain and his officers were pretty dumb not to concentrate entirely on the mystery at hand and instead were gaga over this strange woman (personally I would be more worried about a monster ripping me in half...but I digress). Oh well...the fast forward button was pretty handy for some of the wretched 'love' scenes. Yes, this movie is definitely a product of the 50s! Still worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: classic SCI FI!!
Review: This was cutting edge SCI FI in its time and surprising holds up rather well even today. Though back then we thought of Leslie Nelson as a very serious dramatic actor. Now after Police Squad and Mr. Magoo, it somehow takes on a slightly different light, making you wish they included the out-takes!!! It is great to see this classic in such clean crisp form! Based on Shakespear!!! A must for every collector!!
Rating:
Summary: "It will remind us...after all...that we are not God..."
Review: "It will remind us...after all...that we are not God..."
--Leslie Nielsen as Commander J.J. Adams in the final scene of FORBIDDEN PLANET. SENSATIONAL SCREENPLAY!!! FANTASTIC MUSIC!!!
EXCELLENT ACTING!!! The producers of FORBIDDEN PLANET took Shakepeare's "The Tempest," teleported the play on the flying saucer C 57-D in the year 2200 AD past the speed of light to the planet Altair 4, threw in a mad scientist, Dr. Edward Morbius--veteran of 100 movies, Canadian Walter Pidgeon--played him opposite a young, rugged handsome space commander--another Canadian, Leslie Nielsen as J.J. Adams, an unusual blend of leading man, space captain, military man, and detective--gave the mad scientist a beautiful daughter named Altaira--21 year old beautiful blonde with a mole Anne Francis, the rumored model for the Barbie Doll--surrounded the leads with terrific character actors like Jack Kelly, Warren Stevens, Earl Holliman, and Richard Anderson (best known as THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN's Oscar Goldman), and then created the GREATEST ROBOT EVER, Robby, master of "187 languages and a variety of subtongues" who serves Morbius and his daughter as security guard, chauffeur, chef, butler, and even occasional dressmaker!--lines by Marvin Miller, the classic voice for the 1950s tv show, "The Millionaire"--mixed in Freudian Psychology, a murder mystery, ray guns, THE HOUSE OF THE FUTURE, an invisible Monster From the Id, OUT OF THIS WORLD BACKGROUNDS, and the result is FORBIDDEN PLANET is a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl science fiction story with a white hot finish! Or as Leslie Nielsen says in the final scene,
"It will remind us...after all...that we are not God..." Chari Krishnan
RESEARCHKING
Rating:
Summary: One star for terrible DVD transfer
Review: THE copy of this movie that I recevived is of a mostly poor quality. The sound is all right and so is the picture but the snap open case is really cheap and the bonus features are non-existent. I have no idea why a movie made at MGM, is being distributed on DVD by Warner Brothers, which makes pretty poor quality DVDs, why doesn't MGM make and market this movie on DVD instead, I would like to belive they could a better job with it.
Rating:
Summary: And you thought Star Wars was original
Review: One of the best 50's science fiction films and a model for future films. If you still think "Star Wars" is the begining of modern Science Fiction movies see this one.
Rating:
Summary: The movie made a major deviation from the book
Review: The movie was great I watch it over and again. However it made a major deviation from the book by W.J. Stuart (ASIN: 0374424454) also written in 1956. Did you notice in the movie that the animals were all contemporary? However, they were supposed to have been brought there from earth before man existed. The book shows that the Krell were in the process of creating LIFE with their machine, Morbius was doing the same. He created what he remembered the animals looked like. However, when a monkey was accidentally run over by the tractor, its innards were not correct or complete. Yes, the monster was the same but the purpose of the Krell and Morbius were modified for the film.
Rating:
Summary: The movie's flawless; the DVD, major crummy
Review: Cannot say anything bad about the movie itself -- a must-see to understand how derivative many later SF movies were. But my main gripe is with the DVD itself: the film print from which it was made was so dinged up and scratched that it really detracts from the enjoyment. The sound track is garbled in a few spots as well. There are some choppy edits that may be either missing footage in this print, or maybe poor choices made for the theatrical release; hard to tell. Finally, there appeared on at least one occasion those telltale circles scratched on the film by some[one] to alert the projectionist of the coming projector/reel switch. I had the oddest sensation, like that of watching a crummy 16-mm print in a high school auditorium. Evidently Turner rushed this DVD to market without caring to spend the millions necessary to do a full restoration. One hopes that in some dark vault of the MGM archives lurks a cleaner print, so that they will one day reissue this fine classic film in a DVD edition worth owning. But judging from the other DVD reviews, there are evidently two DVD editions extant: the crummy one I and a some others have seen, and a supposedly superb/flawless one, now out of print. Why is only the bad one in circulation? ...
| 
