To me, this movie is perfection.

Fresh and Exciting

Blistering performances.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Both US and USSR are developing miniaturization technology. Dr. Michaels (Donald Pleasence) is attacked riding in an American military convoy. He, agent Charles Grant (Stephen Boyd), pilot Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield), surgeon Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy), and his assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch) are gathered for a special mission. Soviet defector Jan Benes developed technology to shrink indefinitely for the USSR while the US can only do it for 60 minutes. Jan Benes is in a coma after a failed assassination attempt and the group is miniaturized in a special submarine to destroy his brain clot.The start is a little slow and maybe that's why there's an action scene at the beginning. While the movie is old fashion, it is filmed expertly with energy. The first act has a lot of exposition work for the actors to get thru which does slow it down. The methodical miniaturization process is not quite thrilling enough. Once the sub goes into the body, the adventure begins. These are top notch special effects for its day. The designs are good. The submarine does restrict the action to some extend. Nevertheless, this is an old fashion sci-fi classic and it introduced Raquel Welch to many hot-blooded males. I would definitely help rip off those attacking cells for her.

I had heard a lot about this movie and even knew how it ended. With all that being said, I was still really glad I saw it and it was amazingly good. There's probably some personal bias here. I love stories about shrinking people. I have also been fascinated by anatomy for awhile now. I kept asking myself whether or not this was scientifically accurate. It makes me think about my old days in High School where we learn about the pulmonary vein and the like. I'm glad that there's a note afterwards that says the people working on the movie actually did consult actual doctors to make sure they got their facts right.From what I do remember, this seems to be accurate. Anyway, this film is notorious for having a rather glaring plot hole, but that could actually be explained. It's clearly stated that all the characters go back to their normal size after an hour. One of the crew's members, Dr. Michaels, is shrunk down and killed in the ship while everyone else leaves the man's body. Now, the movie actually ends right there, so we really don't have any idea what happens next. It could be argued that the mission became a complete failure and the guy was killed when the ship went back to normal size, but we don't see that. Isaac Asimov complained about this and actually wrote a novelization that corrects this. It's said Dr. Michaels' body and the ship leave the body with the other characters.Now, we still don't see any of this happen in the movie, so it's actually difficult to say what really happened. Isaac Asimov's book version actually came out before the release of the movie so his interpretation is probably more accurate. With all this being said, I still love this movie. The strange thing is that the film has been referenced many times in pop culture, but it doesn't have a high rating here, which I find to be a shame. I truly consider this one of the best sci-fi films ever made. Again, it might be just because it uses ideas I really like.I just love the pacing of this film. It turns out this movie actually does take place in real time with the hour passing. I just love the sets in this film. I am so impressed at how this really does hold up after all these decades! None of it looks fake. I loved it from the very beginning with how creative the credits were! It just knows how to set itself up. I like movies that are big and epic, but I think the length was just perfect here. Well 100 minutes is a really even number. It was interesting to have scenes that were so quiet.It's also great to see how Dr. Michaels is slowly built up as the antagonist. Again, I already knew this but it was still brilliantly done. I just love the atmosphere this film produces. It's such a pretty looking film. It just sets up its story and deals with it so well. It's a straight forward story that doesn't try to be too elaborate. Yeah, this film is far from obscure, but I really wish more people would watch and love it! ****

I saw this as a 12 year old when it came out. Even then I was a little skeptical about the science but I was certainly astounded by the movie.I ended up becoming a physician. When I watch this today I have to shake my head at some of the more preposterous portrayals, but I find other sections and effects that are marvelously accurate. The plot, characters, action and pacing are superb. It's hard for anyone who has even the slightest taste for sci-fi to not enjoy this thoroughly entertaining work. If you know some anatomy, it's even more engaging.It's still implausible to send a tiny, manned submarine into the human body and probably will remain so. But it's not implausible that we'll be inserting unmanned nano-bots into ourselves that might perform the tasks and missions with the same precision and outcomes shown here.

Fantastic Voyage is a wonderful, old-fashioned sci-fi adventure ripe with unique ideas. I like the idea about exploring the inside of a human body, something that hasn't been done much even at a time where original ideas are practically non-existent. The film is not all perfect, as the visual effects are very outdated, though it's still cool to look at. I also had an issue with some of the characterization, mainly with Raquel Welch's character. I had no idea what the point of her role was other than being eye candy. But for the most part, I had a fun time watching the movie and it was even a learning experience for me, learning about the human body. I also loved the score for the film. It wasn't so much a score as it was a sound effects party. In most cases, I would have been annoyed, but I felt such a score would belong in a film like this.Richard Fleischer's film is about this scientist who is mortally wounded by gunfire, and he holds the secret to miniaturization that could be catastrophic if the information fell in the wrong hands. The CIA decides to do emergency brain surgery, but in order to do so, they most get miniaturized themselves and take a trip into the human body. Grant was hired to act as security, because the CIA fear one of their own may be with the enemy.The film was reasonably well-acted. Stephen Boyd, more known as Judah Ben Hur's enemy in 1959's Ben-Hur does a pretty good job. This is Raquel Welch's film debut, but I'm not sure the point of her character was. There was no romantic subplot or she hardly ever speaks. This was probably my biggest bugaboo. Donald Pleasance, mostly known for starring in horror films, does a wonderful job as the lead doctor.Overall, Fantastic Voyage is a fun sci-fi movie that holds up pretty well today, story-wise. The visuals were good for its time, but not so much today. I loved the idea of exploring the human body, and I think this film does that justice. When the body's immune system starts attacking everyone was a very interesting scene to watch. I was expecting a cheesy sci-fi movie to be honest, but I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I shouldn't be with how the cast was. While nowhere near perfection, it was a fun movie to watch.My Grade: B+