Stars: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien.
Best Quote: The medieval philosophers were right. Man is the center of the universe. We stand in the middle of infinity between outer and inner space, and there's no limit to either.
I loved Fantastic Voyage when I was 10 years old - it even led me to read a book on Anatomy. Who knew blood vessels and white corpuscles could be so cool? It was so impressive, I didn't mind the girl.
Of course, 40 years later, my opinion is somewhat lower. Fantastic Voyage is a nice family picture with some great special effects (which still hold up) but the story is just a series of problems that must be solved and there's no real sense of danger.
The Cast/Crew
Stephen Boyd - He's the Team leader, he's courageous, makes all the right decisions, and rescues Raquel Welsh - about six times. Its a bland role, but then Boyd was a bland leading man, so its a good fit. Boyd was great in Ben-Hur and a fine actor, but he simply didn't have the charisma needed for a leading man.
Raquel Welch - She's the laser expert. She's pretty to look at and serves several functions. She keeps the feminists happy by being a super-smart scientist. She keeps the men happy by being a knockout. And she adds tension to the plot by getting in danger and having to be rescued. Welch doesn't have to act much and has zero chemistry with Boyd, But she looks great in a diving suit!
Edmond O'Brien - He's the Cigar-chomping General in charge of the whole operation. Eddie isn't the most believable military leader - but no one sweated more, and he's good at portraying stress/worry. He does a good job with the film's only humor - the higher the stress, the more sugar goes in the coffee.
Donald Pleasence - The best actor with the best character. He's the arrogant navigator and all around super-brainiac. It doesn't take long to figure out there's something off about "Dr. Michaels". Strangely, he's *always* nearby when things go wrong - and constantly wants to abort the the mission when things get tough. Hmm....Toss in his sneering atheism, and complete lack of interest in Raquel Welsh - well, maybe we'd better keep an eye on him.
William Redfield - He's the Ship's Captain/pilot, A cardboard character who basically stays in the pilot seat and tells everyone there's a problem or "its hard to steer". Usually, pilots are macho types who clash with the team leader, (this is my ship!) but Redfield just follows Boyd. Redfield is very bland in the role - so its the bland following the bland.
Arthur Kennedy - He's the God-fearing surgeon. With the smallest part, he gets all the philosophical lines and is a "good listener". Poor Arthur Kennedy, how the mighty have fallen! The same age as O'Brien, he looks 10 years older. But what little he does, he does well enough.
The Boring Prologue
As a kid, I was bored with the prologue and wanted to get to "the mission" ASAP. And my opinion remains unchanged. Setting up the mission, *could* have been fascinating, the attempted assassination, the need for the operation, and the explanation of Miniaturization - but here its all seems perfunctorily.
The Oddest Scene in the Movie
Welch has been attacked by antibodies (that look like seaweed) and they cover her upper body and throat. Dressed in her skin-tight scuba suit, she's lain on the floor, and the all-male crew surrounds her and begins to paw at her upper body and breasts. They're trying to get the seaweed off, of course, but to this dirty old man, it has a definite rapey vibe to it. But that's what living in the #metoo era does to you.
Plot Holes Ahoy and Silly Science
Skipping over the ridiculous "Military Science" of miniaturization**, why is the ship injected so far from the brain Clot? The team seems to know exactly where it is, so why not inject them directly into the skull? And since they eventually end up in the inner ear - why didn't they start there? And I won't even go into the absurd science of miniaturization, except to say that air pressure would crush our tiny skulls to mush. Which is why tiny organisms have a very different skeleton structure.
But Special Effects are Great and its a Fun Movie
And I still like my favorite childhood scene - the death of the villain who get devoured by White blood cells. It was fun revisiting a childhood favorite.
** - If the US Army can shrink people down to 1/1000 doesn't that mean we could blow them up to the size of Godzilla? That would be more militarily significant.
