20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 29, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of First Men In The Moon / 20 Million Miles To Earth.

Ray Harryhausen died in 2013 at the venerable age of 92, leaving behind what is easily one of the most unique legacies in the entire annals of the motion picture industry. Harryhausen’s legacy is so distinctive, in fact, that a mere mention of his name can send fans into nostalgic reveries about any number of iconic films where Harryhausen’s (literally) patented brand of special effects helped to create worlds of wonder. The Harryhausen oeuvre isn’t especially long, understandable given the technical requirements of Harryhausen’s stop action approach, but the sixteen feature length outings which are regularly listed as “Harryhausen films” offer a veritable cornucopia of inventive creature designs and remarkably fluid movement (the mere fact that these films are “credited” to Harryhausen despite the fact that he didn’t really direct any of them is another indication of just what a non pareil creator he really was). Umbrella has gathered together two really fun films for which Harryhausen created the special effects, one in color and one in black and white, with both demonstrating Harryhausen's virtually inerrant ability to bring otherworldly creatures to life via his amazing stop motion artistry.

20 Million Miles to Earth received a Region A Blu-ray release courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment fairly early in the format in 2007, and for a plot recap as well as for an opportunity to compare screenshots, I refer you to Martin Liebman's 20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray review. You'll note that I evidently have a much softer spot for the film than Marty does, and my overall score for the film reflects that.

20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

20 Million Miles to Earth is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Perhaps because this is a black and white feature rather than a color one, the differences I noticed between this presentation and the Region A presentation released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment over a decade ago were less dramatic, though, again, noticeable. I've once again tried to come close to duplicating some of the screenshots in Marty's review, and if you look at the left side of the first screenshot in this review with the second screenshot in Marty's review, you can see that the Umbrella release is just slightly brighter and blacks can be just a little milkier in this Umbrella release than on the old Sony release. Occasionally the increased brightness in the Umbrella release can bring out some fine detail in backgrounds (look at the hedge on the right side of the frame in the third screenshot of this review and compare it to the 11th screenshot in Marty's review). Detail levels and overall grain resolution looked very similar to me in both presentations. This does encounter some momentary issues in what I'm assuming was optically printed "smoke" in the early rescue sequence, as seen in screenshot 10.

Note: While this is officially a Region B release, I encountered no problems whatsoever playing it on my Region A equipment.

20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though you wouldn't know it from the lack of an audio setup menu, 20 Million Miles to Earth actually features two audio mixes, DTS-HD Master Audio tracks in either 5.1 or 2.0 mono (the tracks are accessible via the Audio button on your remote). The 5.1 repurposing does grant some added low end as well as some better spaciousness for effects, especially once the "beast" goes on its rampage. The original mono track may be preferable in any case, though, since it doesn't have the kind of "phase-y" aspect that the rejiggered surround track occasionally offers. Fidelity on the mono track is fine, delivering dialogue, effects and music with no problems whatsoever. There are no subtitles on this release, for those who may wonder.

20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Somewhat disappointingly, Umbrella Entertainment hasn't included any extras on this release. Those interested (and with multi-region or region free players) may want to consult both the First Men in the Moon Blu-ray review and the 20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray review of Region A product, since those releases do have some supplemental material which may be of interest to some fans.

20 Million Miles to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though this particular film obviously wasn't an "Americanized" version of a pre-existing Japanese title a la the imported version of Gojira, it struck me as somewhat funny (unintentionally so, of course) that Godzilla featured inserts of soon to be Perry Mason Raymond Burr in a series of panicked conversations (including phone calls), and this film features soon to be Perry Mason sidekick Paul Drake (William Hopper) in what could have just as easily been inserts featuring his character on a series of panicked phone calls as another giant lizard like beast marauds through iconic landmarks. 20 Million Miles to Earth probably doesn't have the original Gojira's gravitas , nor its nuclear subtext, but it's an enjoyable lark that once again shows what an incredible master Harryhausen was at his art. Video is occasionally problematic here, but audio is fine, for those who are considering a purchase.