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Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $14.99
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Review.
Review: 'Forbidden Planet' is an enjoyable science fiction film, even though the graphic and acting may seem dated. As the film progresses, one will realize it is actually a study of human psychology. See if you can spot Leslie Neilson.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I love this movie, as many before me, i used to watch it as a kid on TV, and the DVD is a good one to have, i think what some people are forgetting that this DVD is probaly one of the earlier DVD's put out on the market lots of DVD's in the beginning didnt offer as many "Extras" as everone has come to expect in DVD's present day, and some moves based on there age range may infact not have many extras to have on a DVD now days, it depends on the age of the movie and how much archival material is present, not to mention if its print wise worthy to include, and this DVD has both versions the "Panned and scanned version mostly referd to today as "Full Screen" and the "Widescreen Version" some just need to take the time to look at the disk features,

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A real disappointment
Review: I purchased this DVD in the hopes that I would be seeing the original CINEMASCOPE print of this sci-fi classic. Sadly the only frames in Cinemascope are the opening credits. The rest of this glorious film has been chopped up to accommodate a standard format. What a loss!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Classic from the Golden Age of SF Cinema!
Review: A liberal interpretation of William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, with a wee bit of Freudian psychology thrown into the mix, the 1956 science-fiction classic FORBIDDEN PLANET follows the crew of a United Planets Cruiser on a mission to the distant planet Altair IV, home to a once-thriving scientific colony that has been mysteriously incommunicado for some time.

When the cruiser reaches Altair IV, Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) and his crew make radio contact with a Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), one of the hitherto "missing" colonists. However, Morbius warns Adams to turn back, insisting that the crew will be in mortal danger if they touch down on the planet's surface. Adams orders his crew to land the ship anyway, of course, and they find that all the members of colony have perished save for three--Dr. Morbius, his curvaceous daughter Altaira (Anne Francis), and an intellectual robotic wunderkind named Robby.

Not satisfied with Morbius' explanation about what happened to the other colonists, Adams and his crew seek evidence that will either corroborate or discredit Morbius' story. What they find is the remnants of the advanced alien race that inhabited the Altair IV aeons ago. Could this hold the key that unlocks the mystery of the missing colonists?

Even after nearly half a century, FORBIDDEN PLANET remains both an interesting and thought-provoking film. Not only does it offer a clever space-age interpretation of Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, the special FX are still eye-poppingly cool, even when faced off against the CGI FX of contemporary fare. One of the best special FX in the film is, of course, Robby the Robot. A very expensive prop for MGM to build, Robby stands at a height of 7-and-a-half feet and weighs about 300 pounds. He has become one of the most popular robots in the history of films and television, and as such, he has made cameo appearances in such movies as 1984's GREMLINS and 2003's LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION and on television shows like THE TWILIGHT ZONE and LOST IN SPACE.

In addition to Robby, the three principal human actors in FORBIDDEN PLANET also contribute to the film's success. Leslie Nielsen is well known to film buffs as the comic star of such films as THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD (1988) and SPY HARD (1996). But here he does an excellent job in a serious role as John J. Adams, the commander of the spaceship, and for modern audiences, then, there is this added treat of seeing Nielson play one of the stodgy establishment types that he is now famous for parodying. The deep-voiced Walter Pidgeon is a masterful old-school thespian who is also a delight to watch. Here he makes his Dr. Morbius a devilishly pompous and pendantic patriarch, and the histrionics with which he does so are perfectly suited to the character. And finally, there's the lovely Anne Francis playing Dr. Morbius' daughter, Altaira. While Ms. Francis does not have the same range or depth as Nielsen or Pidgeon, she takes a role that was meant to be eye-candy and makes it more than a mere cardboard cut-out.

So the storytelling, the FX, and the acting all combine to make FORBIDDEN PLANET a compelling film that entertains but also makes you think. And to genre fans, that is science fiction at its best.

The MGM DVD is short on extras, basically offering only the theatrical trailer. But the disc does offer the film in an anamorphic widescreen format at the film's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and it appears that the digital transfer was made from a copy of the print that was in excellent shape for a film so old! For SF fans who want to add this piece of classic American cinema to their collections, the reasonable amazon.com price makes it easy!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: DVD Features on a Forbidden Planet
Review: This 1956 science fiction classic, loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, as critics enjoy lauding it, is a pure gem for the space enthusiast with a strong cast and captivating narrative. For more details on the plotline, search on IMDB.com. This reviewer, however, is concerned with the quality level and virtually featureless aspects of the Warner Brothers DVD release. This MGM produced film, now distributed through Warner Brothers is a rather lackluster specimen, containing only the film,(albeit an anamorphic print,which only benefits those with widescreen televisions)and the trailer. The video and audio quality are average in comparison to the earlier laser disc version produced for the Criterion Collection, which used to go for about $100. The previous laser release also contained an inordinate amount of extras, including deleted/expanded scenes, scripting and an impressive photo gallery. WHERE is this material? In short, if you love this film, you will have to settle for the current mediocre DVD print until a "Special" edition is released if ever.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Should be re-released as a two disk set.
Review: I was not happy with how Warner's treated this classic in the current cheap made DVD with no bonus features to go with it. Forbidden Planet was one of the best science fiction/Star Trek genre films made, and it's success certainly asks that Warners re-release it as a two disk set with bonus features on how this movie was made and it's lasting effects on film making that still go on today.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: From sci-fi's golden age...
Review: Forbidden Planet is probably the best representative of science fiction's golden age at the movies. The 1950's and 60's saw a generation of writers produce a series of excellent, though-provoking films that were all the better because they were grounded in hard science and ideas. Movie like Planet of the Apes, Forbidden Planet and Day the Earth Stood Still. Today's deriviative unimaginative sci-fi garbage films don't hold a candle to them for all their cgi glory.

The Forbidden Planet deals with an Earth ship investigating a previous landing on a nearby planet. Only one man and his teenage daughter survive and the fate of the other crew -- and the nature of the planet itself -- is shrouded in mystery.

The plot is basically The Tempest in space. And those with a keen eye will see how this movie heavily influence the original Star Trek. But this is still a treat. Anne Farris and (talk about surprises) Leslie Nielson give good performances. The special effects stand up remarkably well after so long.

But again, what sets this movie apart are the ideas. See the detail when the crew take their ship apart to build an insterstellar communicator. Or how the crew carefully and systematically deals with the dangers they are presented with.

I can't recommend this film to everyone, since too many people will get caught up in the movie's age and that many of its original ideas have been copied so much as to now be cliche'. But if you like serious sci-fi, you will love this movie. Here's a quick litmus test. If you liked the recent flashy-but-pointless Planet of the Apes, you will not like this movie. But if you liked the original though-provoking Planet of the Apes, don't hesitate to add this to your colllection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The monsters from Id!!!
Review: Leslie Neilson leads his crew to the Forbidden Planet to relieve the watch from years before. Little does he know the entire crew was killed by an evil force. All that is left is a scientist and his daughter.

Leslie is not the bumbling Detective Drumand in this flick. No siriee bob. Want to dream? Expect 20 extra guard duties. Wanna kiss a pretty girl? Ooh you'll get it good. But on the other hand Robby the Robot will make you 60 gallons of Kansas City Bourbon.

OK OK an advanced race called the Krell develop technology without machinery (you just have to follow me here). All the stuff runs on mind power. However since man (and all species now for that matter) are basiclly evil in the subconscious, you can create monsters from your Id. You'll just have to watch the movie. If you dose a little while you're watching it you'll be going "huh?" and "what?"

Special effects are pretty good for 1956, as is the story itself. It's a little boring for me to consider a must have classic, but I can see how this film can appeal to people on different levels. I'm more of a Plan 9 from Outer Space guy myself. I was hoping and expecting this to be a B-grade hilarious clunker. It's far from it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: NO SPANISH SUBTITLES!!!!!
Review: The movie deserves 5 stars, but, What happen with the companies that release DVD's???. They don't see that the latin market is a masssss market?????????????
Sorry for this excellent and other excellent movies that can not see our latin friends.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A restored classic
Review: The DVD version of this classic film is a joy to watch. Fans of classic SF films probably already have it by now -- but if you don't, then get it at once.

The film features an extremely pre-_Naked Gun_ Leslie Nielsen as Captain J.J. Adams and the great Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Morbius in what amounts to a space-age recasting of _The Tempest_. Any viewer of the original _Star Trek_ will recognize both the plot and the production values: the Mad Scientist and his Beautiful Daughter are the sole survivors of a human mission to Altair 4, where everybody else has been killed by a strange, alien power into which the Mad Scientist has managed to tap . . .

This film pretty much set the standard for what starship crews were supposed to look like. It also featured the very first all-electronic score in motion picture history. And of course there's Robby, the robot who was so obviously the model for the one in _Lost in Space_.

Don't miss this one. It's not just your typical 1950s SF thriller; for its time, its special effects were on the cutting edge and its plot was fairly ambitious.


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