Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 14, 2024

Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a forward-thinking and endlessly creative work of fiction that was published in 1872 and even now more than 150 years later remains a seminal classic of adventure and its story one of the great works of the human condition; it is not entirely dissimilar in some key areas to "Moby Dick." The novel was adapted to film, and the result is this oftentimes striking and highly entertaining 1954 screen adventure, directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason. The film now arrives on featureless Blu-ray with first-class video and solid 5.1 lossless audio. The lack of extra content is disappointing.

Rumors abound about a deadly sea monster that is killing sailors, destroying ships, and disrupting commerce. Many believe it's real, yet many do not. Professor Pierre Aronnax (Paul Lukas), his assistant Conseil (Peter Lorre), and master harpooner Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) investigate only to discover that it may be the submersible vessel the Nautilus, captained by Nemo (James Mason), that is behind the sinkings. The mystery does not end there, however, and the grandest of sea adventures awaits the Nautilus, her captain and crew, and her "guests."

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea gets it right. Here's a film of oftentimes intimate scale and scope, taking place for much of its runtime aboard the Nautilus (which is somewhat spacious yet still confined) and banking on tension, human drama, and to be sure various encounters with everything from cannibals to the undersea monster that give the film a hearty blend of awesome action and tight characterization and drama. It's always forward moving, and even at over two hours in length plays with a brisk pace and an agreeable cadence that sees the film almost perfectly balanced in core expositional necessities, building suspense, and host to incredibly well imagined and executed action sequences. The film balances that aforementioned intimacy with striking scope and scale in its action, resulting in one of the best Adventure films of the 1950s.

The film is rightly best known for the monster attack sequence, and it is indeed a technical marvel that even decades from its creation, and with incredible advances in special effects since, remains one of the hallmark action sequences in movie history. It's visually arresting, emotionally draining, and technically supercharged in a practical way that even today's "robust" CGI could not hope to really match for tactile and authentic look and feel. The film is also wonderfully acted; leads Douglas, Mason, Lukas, and Lorre are spectacular, bringing a character depth and balance necessary to add human resonance to a picture that is otherwise dominated by its adventure and spectacular elements. This is great stuff!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Disney dives into its catalogue to release 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Blu-ray, and the result is a rather striking image. The 1080p presentation soars, even as so much of the action takes place underwater. The picture looks terrific, beginning with a well-maintained grain structure that does not appear to be the victim of any unwanted or unwarranted scrubbing The image is faithful to its filmic roots and will leave audiences astounded as a true film-like picture consistently graces the screen. Textures are pleasantly sharp, whether clothes and faces or the rivets and gauges and other odds and ends on board the Nautilus. Viewers will almost be able to reach out and touch the well textured surfaces seen throughout the film. To be sure, there are a few inherently softer shots here and there, but such are the product of softer camera focus rather than any trouble with the Blu-ray encode. Of course, some of the more challenging underwater exteriors lack the precision sharpness as well, and grain can be a little denser in such shots, but all things considered the movie's Blu-ray is a textural powerhouse. Colors are healthy, too, lacking the vibrant precision that might be seen on newer, or higher budget, productions, but the core color samples look great, even the drab brown and beige surfaces that are so prevalent throughout the film within the bowels of the Nautilus. There are some nice colors, like the red and white stripe shirt seen throughout the film, colorful red upholstery, and other decorations seen throughout. Skin tones are healthy, black level depth is almost always spot-on, and white balance is very good. There are no source problems of immediate note, and the encode appears to be in perfect shape. This is a winner!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sails onto Blu-ray with a serviceable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is fine within the parameters of the original audio mix, which is certainly not up to modern standards. It's passably effective but it clearly lacks the nuance and precision that defines more modern tracks. The mix offers a mostly front heavy presentation, with music largely lingering up front and spreading effectively, but not extremely, to the edges. Fidelity is OK and common to the average characteristics of soundtracks from this era. Surrounds don't carry much at all. For example, an escape from cannibals around the 86-minute mark never really surrounds the listener in the action, leaving it front heavy and not very engaging. Explosions and action sound effects struggle to make much of an impact. An explosion on the high seas in the opening minutes offers only cursory depth and engagement, while a barrage of cannon fire in the 17-minute mark likewise offers little in the way of high yield bass intensity, but there is, at least, a modest feel for accurate placement. Dialogue is suitably clear if not with a mild hard edge about it. It plays firmly from the front-center channel.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen is static with score playing atop the image. There are only options to "Play" the film and for "Scene Selection." No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is 20,000 leagues Under the Sea a classic? It's one of those "Hall of Very Good" rather than "Hall of Fame" movies, which isn't a bad place to be. It's certainly based on a classic piece of literature, and the film adaptation is effective, but as is the case with the majority of books-to-movies, well, the book was better. While Disney's Blu-ray looks amazing and sounds good enough, the absence of extras is very disappointing, if not still expected. The film deserves more in terms of extras, but the quality of the film and the wonderful video presentation nevertheless result in a hearty recommendation; this is, dare say, a must-own for serious film libraries.