Search - Fantastic Voyage [Special Edition] on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1966 DVD Release: 06/05/2007 Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 40 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 15 Genres: Science Fiction, Sci-Fi Action, Family-Oriented Adventure

Stephen Boyd heads a team of scientists sent on a bizarre experimental mission. Through a revolutionary and as-yet untested process, the scientists and their special motorized vehicle are miniaturized, then injected into the blood stream of a near-death scientist (Jean del Val). Their mission is to relieve a blood clot caused by an assassination attempt. One member of the expedition is bent on sabotage so that the scientist's secrets will die with him. Another member is Raquel Welch, seemingly along for the ride solely because of how she looks in a skintight diving suit. The film's Oscar-winning visual effects (by Art Cruikschank) chart the progress of the voyagers through the scientist's body, burrowing past deadly antibodies, chunks of tobacco residue in the lungs, and other such obstacles. Oscars also went to Jack Martin Smith and Dale Hennesy's art direction and Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss' set decoration. Fantastic Voyage was later spun off into a Saturday morning cartoon series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stephen Boyd - Grant
Raquel Welch - Cora Peterson
Edmond O'Brien - General Carter
Donald Pleasence - Dr. Michaels
Arthur O'Connell - Col. Donald Reid
William Redfield - Capt. Bill Owens

Richard Fleischer's Fantastic Voyage (1966) was originally released on DVD paired up with Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), in a version without any extras. Not so this special edition DVD, which comes in a squared-off slipcase that allows it to be shelved like a book. THe two transfers weren't available to compare, but the film-to-video transfer on this edition, letterboxed at 2.35-to-1, is more-than-satisfying, with a range of color and tones that were only hinted on the old laserdisc version (which was on hand to look at). The main bonus feature is a pair of commentary tracks, connected to the standard playback of the movie and the playback of the film with just the music-and-effects track, by film and music historian Jeff Bond. He's good enough at what he does, though one wishes that he had a little more humor in his approach to the film -- he's too straight and also a little too mono-toned in his speech, and loses opportunities, both in dealing with observable information and holding the audience.

The accompanying documentary short on the film's special effects is entertaining and informative, and the availability of the story-boards for the whirlpool scene is precisely the sort of material that serious fans of this film will devour. The movie opens automatically to a highly clever and easy-to-use menu that plays off the images and sounds from a key section of the movie. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide