Forbidden Planet Film Review

When we think of late actor Leslie Nielson we usually think of one of his many comedy films like The Naked Gun or Airplane for example. Yet not many people know of or even remember the fact that he was a dramatic actor before becoming a comedy legend in his later career and well it's one of his dramatic films that i'm going to be taking a look at today and so then join me as I review the film that saw a fictional robot become a superstar with the film in question being called simply just "Forbidden Planet" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a crew crash land on an alien planet where the only inhabitants are a scientist and his attractive daughter the crew however find themselves being attacked by something on the planet and have to convince the scientist to join them before it's to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty pretty average with the films plot being pretty weak at best as while the film does have a strong enough plot to support an entire feature film the film doesn't spend alot of time on focusing of it's main plot which is something that does make it harder to tell jus what the main plot was even meant to be alot of the time with it seeming like the characters are just doing these random things for np apparent reason how to give the film some credit tho when it does focus on its plot and it give it's plot the time that it needs to shine that's when the films plot is actually really good as we get some interesting ideas from this films plot like the fact that Altaira can basically control animals with her mind something which granted doesn't into play and effect the plot of the film but it is still a good idea due to the fact that it could have led to some really interesting scenes later on in the film with the film not really giving the plot the focus that it really did deserve as by all rights this films plot should have been a home run and it was close to being exactly that but a lack of focus on it's plot makes it feel really undercooked with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams and Anne Francis as Altaira "Alta" Morbius. Also starring in this film is Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius , Warren Stevens as Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow , Jack Kelly as Lieutenant Jerry Farman , Richard Anderson as Chief Quinn , Earl Holliman as Cook , George Wallace as Bosun , Robert Dix as Crewman Grey , Jimmy Thompson as Crewman Youngerford , James Drury as Crewman Strong , Harry Harvey Jr. as Crewman Randall , Roger McGee as Crewman Lindstrom , Peter Miller as Crewman Moran , Morgan Jones as Crewman Nichols , Richard Grant as Crewman Silvers , Les Tremayne as The Narrator and Marvin Miller as the voice of Robby The Robot.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this films acting being alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this films acting should have been really bad due to the fact that it's fifties science fiction film and those don't usually have good acting in them and yet here in this film you can see that all of this films actors are brining there A game with this being something that does help to elevate the film and make be all the more better then what it could have been as this is film that by all rights shouldn't have had that good acting in it and yet because of the fact that the makers of this film seemingly went out of there way to hire really good actors heck they even got a few OSCAR winning actors in this film we do get alot of really good performances in this film with the best actor in the whole entire film being oddly enough Leslie Nielsen as even tho he's more well known these days for being more of comedy actor with him starring in films like The Naked Gun and Airplane and Spy Hard to name but a few it is easy to forget that he was a really good dramatic actor with this film being really good evidence of that as he does turn in a phenomenal performance in this film with the same thing also being true for Walter Pidgeon with both of those actors being nothing short of a joy to watch together in this film with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as thy are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality that's in this very film.

There are two things that this film is mostly well known for with one of those things being the films quite frankly spectacular visual effects. With the films effects in this film being nothing short of breathtaking as even tho this film was made in the fifties it was still hard to tell just how the makers of this film managed to pull off alot of the films more complex effects as while they more then likely had a miniature for the crews ship with the backgrounds being a matte painting alot of the time the film also has a shot that is hard to work out just how they pulled it off with that being near the end of the film there's an invisible monster that manages to sneak past the crews security measures and yet it leaves footprints in the ground with that being something that does make you wonder just how it was that they pulled of that effect as there's no way they could have done it without the use of computers which would more then likely be how that effect would be achieved today and yet back in the fifties that wouldn't be an option with the only way that it might have done being if there using two separate passes of the scene the first without the footprints and then the second with them and there just cutting between the two which would be an effective way to do it but then you have the issue of hiding the cut therefor there surely has to be another way that used to get that effects with this films effects being a good example of just how timeless that these classic effects can be and when there done well they leave you wondering just how they managed to pull them off in the first place whilst today the answer will always be computers but back in the fifties they actually had to figure out how to do these effects for real with that being a big part of why this films effects hold up so well all of these years later because of the fact that they were all done for real.

Whilst Leslie Nielson would go on to become a bigger star this film did also kind of spawn another big star with that star being the other thing that this film is known for what that star being Robby The Robot. As while that name might not hold any kind of weight today the suit that was used to bring the character to life actually took on a life of it's own appearing in several episodes of the original The Twilight Zone , the original Wonder Woman TV show , The Banana Splits , Lost In Space and Mork & Mindy with the suit also appearing in several feature films like for example Cherry 2000 , Gremlins and Invasion Of The Neptune Men. Heck Robby is one of the many things that the film gets right as even tho he's just a robot and really nothing more then that they film goes out of it's way into making him a key side character in the film with him getting a fully fleshed out personality something that just wasn't done with robot characters at the time as why would human audiences want to connect with something that can't feel anything and yet here in this film you can see that the makers did put alot of thought and effort into Robby as it would have been very easy for them to just write him as being the typical silent robot that just does whatever his human master wants him to do and do nothing more then that but nope in this film we see him actively helping out members of the crew and we see him stopping two of them from entering his home when it's late night with him only letting them when Altaira says that it's OK and it's those thing which yes might seem like small things at first but they help to make him feel more human and more real then the films human characters are.

Whilst there are alot of thins that the film does get right one of the things that the film does get wrong is the fact that it's so boring to watch alot of the time. With there being alot of scenes that do go on for a while but do nothing to advance the overall plot of the film and it was getting to the point where I started checking just how long was left only to find out that I wasn't even half way through the film with the film being more focused on giving us huge amounts of plot dumps that to forgets to be an entertaining film first and for most and while yes this film is very visually stunning to look no one will ever deny that about this film but there's only so long that you an be visually stunning before people start to catch on that there's not alot happening in the film which in this film is something that does happen quite quickly with the film setting up alot of stuff that doesn't get paid off at all like the fact Altaira can essentially calm animals down just by being around them and yet the film never comes back to that idea once she realizes that she's not able to it anymore with the film being more focused on shoehorning in a romance between Altaira and Commander John J. Adams and even then there romance doesn't work as even tho both Leslie Nielson and Anne Francis do have some good chemistry together they don't have any kind of romantic chemistry together with them coming of more as being good friends then they are as love interests with this making you wonder why this romance is there in the first place as all that does is eat up screen time that would have been better used in giving us an action scene or quite literally anything that would have helped to make this film be all the more entertaining instead of feeling like a chore to watch albeit a shore then you actually wouldn't mind doing again. 

It could be argued that this film both does and doesn't have a main villain as the character of Dr. Edward Morbius is someone who at times does come across as being both the films main villain and also not the main villain of the film either. With the thing that does make him be the films main villain being the fact that it's his other self that's been going around attacking the crew and killing them something which he does deny to be the case but here's the thing he's no denying because of the fact that he's hiding something he's denying because of the fact that the doesn't want it to be true due to the fact that it would also mean that he had in killing the previous crew that laned on the planet as well with him not wanting to feel any more guilty for the deaths of people that he might have had a hand in killing with the character coming across as being a really sympathetic character in the process with him being a loving and supportive father to Altaira something which wouldn't be the case if he was the main villain of the film and heck when he's about to die at the end of the film he essentially forces her to go with Adams and his crew so that he can blow up the planet and kill of both himself and the monster at the same time which is a very noble thing and while that is something that does make seem like more of a good guy it's the fact that he unknowingly released the monster in the first place with the creature being created because a machine gave his subconscious free will with that being what made the creature in the first place with these things being things that des make it hard t tell on if Morbius is meant to be the main villain or not and yet it's something that does work in this film as this is a film that doesn't really need a main villain to make it work in the first place.

Now then this film has / had an exact grad total running time of exactly one hour and thirty eight minuets and thirty seconds. With the film basically being a painfully slow burn which isn't a bad thing but it is something that doesn't work with this films more shorter running time this is despite the fact that the film does have more then enough plot there to cover it's running time but due to the fact the film takes so long in setting it all up it does mean that we get large portions of the films running time where nothing is happening to advance the plot with this being something that could have been fixed if the film had a longer running time as right now the film can't use it's running time wisely as the film can't fully develop its plot due to the fact that the film spends huge portions of its running time just in setting up its plot that by the time the plot is fully set up the film is in it's third act with the makers of the film being kore bothered about giving us a forced romance then it is in giving us a well thought out and developed plot with this also being something that does effect the films character development as well as the film can't spend the time that it needed to in giving us well developed characters due to the fact that it really spends alot of time in setting up it's main plot and yet if the film was longer then it would be able to do all of that and still be a slow burner of a film and yet because of the fat that his film is barely one hour and forty minuets long that does mean that every single scene needed to be about advancing the films plot and about advancing the films characters and the film just can't do all of that with it's current running time but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the only downside to this films action is not only does alot of the stuff that you want to see like the creature attacking the crew mostly happen off screen there's really only the one action scene in the whole entire film with the rest of the film being nothing but build up to that one action scene when it would have helped the film all the more if there was one more action scene in the film as that would stop the film from feeling a boring film to watch with the films best action scene also being it's worst one as it's the films really only action scene as during the third act the creature attacks the crew again only this time before it can do any real damage it switches targets and goes towards Morbius , Altaira , Adams and Ostrow with Ostrow being killed of before the monster can attack the trio with all three of them being forced to retreat into Morbius's secret lab in his office where the monster still comes for them with it only being the death of Morbius that defeats the creature for that good. With that action scene being really well done with part of makes it well done being the fact that it was so well built up all throughout the rest of the film and even tho the monster is invisible you do still get the sense of danger that these characters are in with this being something that helps to make the film be both filled with tension and also alot more exciting to watch in the process in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall it's not hard to see why the film got as many good reviews as it got as it really is just that good of a film in the first place but in saying this tho this film is one that is very boring to watch alot of the time as well and while this doesn't hurt the film all that much it does help to prevent the film from being as entertaining as it should have been in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does ern itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as ell as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.