perhaps too cerebral real time looks dated today

As I sat and watched "Fantastic Voyage", I couldn't help but notice that whenever my wife looked at the film, she made a sarcastic comment. She thought the film was pretty silly. However, she also didn't watch all of it and if she had, she might have enjoyed it as much as I did. (Note--if you know her, don't tell her I said this--thanks!)

The film is a great example of a picture that works if you turn off your skepticism and just take the movie as it is--a good attempt for the 1960s. While I am sure if they made the film today it would look so, so much better, for the time it was made, the movie did a good job.

"Fantastic Voyage" begins with Scientist Jan Benes escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. He is almost caught but gets severely injured. The injury is potentially going to kill him but using conventional means they cannot operate. So, they use a new miniaturization machine to shrink a crew to microscopic size. Then, in a miniature ship, they are injected into the unconscious Dr. Benes to try to do micro surgery to save his life. However, they only have one hour, as the technology to shrink them isn't perfect and only lasts that long!

The star of this film isn't the acting but the special effects and the writing. While the effects look dated today, they are still impressive and the film is quite interesting. While it does drag a bit here and there, overall the effort is quite impressive almost 50 years later.

I'm betting that Fantastic Voyage had its biggest fans among science teachers in every high school in the world. If viewing the film did nothing else but stimulate a student's interest in biology it would be worthwhile.

I remember seeing this in theater back when it first came out and I can only imagine if computer graphic technology was available then what could have been done. As it is Fantastic Voyage won Oscars for Special Effects and Art&Set Design.

The concept is a fascinating one, diplomat Jean Del Val sustains a traumatic brain injury during an assassination attempt. CIA agent Stephen Boyd brings the comatose Del Val to a secret facility where under Edmond O'Brien and Arthur O'Connell. The army is conducting experiments in temporary miniaturization. You can see the possibilities there.

But now they want to know what the defecting Del Val knows so a team of five is assembled which includes Boyd, neurosurgeon Arthur Kennedy and his assistant Raquel Welch, and another scientist in charge Donald Pleasance. They are going in a submarine piloted by designer William Redfield. They and the submarine are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into Del Val. Kennedy will relieve the pressure on the brain with a laser, also miniaturized.

Our team deals with the various hazards and defenses the human body has and some sabotage by one of the team who has their own agenda.

The special effects even viewed 47 years later are still a marvel. And if that kind of biology doesn't pique your interest, the sight of Raquel Welch in a white form fitting jump suit should work on another biological interest.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE isn't a particularly bad film, but boy, has it dated since first release! It's a film firmly stuck in the mid-'60s, in which the insides of a human body are constructed by a set designer with that era's psychadelia in mind, making it very much a product of its time.

Despite the then cutting-edge premise, in actuality this is pretty much a re-run of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, substituting a miniature submarine and crew exploring human anatomy in place of a real submarine venturing into the unfathomed depths of the ocean. With the advance of modern technology, both films are rather twee and old-fashioned these days, although not without their charms.

Part of the fun of watching these expeditionary type movies is the interplay between the cast members, and the cast in this one is quite good. Stephen Boyd (BEN-HUR) is the no-nonsense leading man, while Donald Pleasence is always good value as the chief medical officer. Of course, there's tokenism in the form of the statuesque Raquel Welch, and you also get Arthur Kennedy as a brain surgeon.

The special effects are rather dated and the plot is littered with holes big enough to steer a submarine through, but for novelty value, FANTASTIC VOYAGE is a fun little film - just not a classic. I much prefer the '80s comedy version of the same story, INNERSPACE.