FORBIDDEN PLANET is certainly a dated film today, with its plaintive romantic sub-plot complete with a meek, submissive woman (straight out of the 1950s, that one), spectacular-but-unrealistic special effects and macho plotting. The pacing is fairly off, especially by modern standards, and it seems to take an awfully long time for something to actually happen.
And yet, and yet, something about this movie charms. It has a real dated appeal to it, and it appears to me to be something of a trendsetter, helping to inspire plenty more visit-an-alien-planet plot lines even to this day. The idea behind the creation of the monster is a brilliant one, and it's brought to life via some innovative special effects that really work. There's much fun to be had along the way from seeing an uncannily straight-laced Leslie Nielsen and of course Robbie the Robot in his first screen appearance.
But really, I keep coming back to that screen monster, which is so much more than the typical monster-of-the-week type thing that most sci-fi movies are keen to trot out. The idea behind it is just astounding, one of the best back stories I can think of. The scenes of the astronauts exploring millennia-old construction works beneath the planet's surface is also awe-inspiring in its own way. Even if half of so of this film is padding, the other half makes it well worth checking out.
And yet, and yet, something about this movie charms. It has a real dated appeal to it, and it appears to me to be something of a trendsetter, helping to inspire plenty more visit-an-alien-planet plot lines even to this day. The idea behind the creation of the monster is a brilliant one, and it's brought to life via some innovative special effects that really work. There's much fun to be had along the way from seeing an uncannily straight-laced Leslie Nielsen and of course Robbie the Robot in his first screen appearance.
But really, I keep coming back to that screen monster, which is so much more than the typical monster-of-the-week type thing that most sci-fi movies are keen to trot out. The idea behind it is just astounding, one of the best back stories I can think of. The scenes of the astronauts exploring millennia-old construction works beneath the planet's surface is also awe-inspiring in its own way. Even if half of so of this film is padding, the other half makes it well worth checking out.