Just so...so bad

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This rendition of Jules Verne's novel is, like all screen adaptations of fictional literature, definitely not accurate as far as the book plot goes. However, like just about every production, it has its bad parts and its good parts (but mostly bad in this case). The actual cinematography is good, and some of the acting is fairly well done. I found it interesting that the producers were able to get a notable actor such as Sir Patrick Stewart. But when it comes to some of the post-production, it was terrible. The computer graphics for the giant creatures are HORRIBLE! If the computerized graphics are not jerky then they are quite noticeably out of sync and do not match up well with the video clips. If you decide to watch this poor production I think you will find yourself saying, "Oh my gosh; that's so bad!" out loud and more than once.

Mysterious Island was one of my favorite boyhood books. The book has a great premise -- surviving and prospering on an island when you're starting almost from scratch -- and celebrates honesty, cooperation, and the combination of ingenuity and knowledge to solve problems. The story has plenty of adventure and is a true classic. I was looking forward to see how they would adapt the story into a movie.Unfortunately, this movie is beyond a train wreck, stripping out Verne's story and replacing it with an incoherent mess. As my son said after seeing it, the producers should be charged with deceptive advertising, because it has nothing to do with Verne's wonderful story besides using the same title.The writers removed key characters and added new ones. Worse, they added ridiculous giant insects and animals, which adds nothing to the story. When the pirates were introduced at the beginning of the movie, I thought it was a flashback because they looked like they walked off a bad version of Pirates of the Caribbean. It's supposed to be 1863, not 1700! The acting is stiff and unbelievable. The CGI effects are amateurish. I could go on but my biggest disappointment is the abandonment of an inspiring story and replacing it with dreck. Don't waste your time with this.

The quality of the leading actors, notably Patrick Stewart, Kyle MacLachlan and (lesser-known on the international stage but highly-rated in the UK) Roy Marsden, fails to raise the film from the ranks of the unwatchable. Fortunately, although clearly not intentionally, this situation offsets the not-so-subtle anti-British propaganda; something which features regularly in American productions. In this instance, Nemo's wife and daughter have died while being interrogated by the British during a rebellion in India. Presumably this is a pseudo-historical reference to the Indian Mutiny of 1857. However, it seems likely that most people will have switched off before that regrettable piece of dialogue is reached.

Hallmark entertainment should leave these Jules Vern films alone. They did a bad job on filming,20,000 leagues under the sea,which was around a 3 hour bore,now,their version of Mysterious Island,again another bore which lasts about 3 hours. The special effects were bad,a bunch of relatively unknown actors,do not waste your time with this one. If possible,go to your video store or purchase a copy of the 1961 version which is far superior than this one. The 1961 version has well known British and American actors,good special effects that were outstanding for that year,even today they stand out,this film also has a Bernard Herrmann music score.