This is Walt Disney Studios' first venture into live action theatrical films, and still remains one of their best non-animated releases. It's not the first adaptation of Jules Verne's science fiction classic - it has been lensed several times before and since, most recently in the form of two truly awful made-for-TV movies - but this is by far the best version, and helped set the standard by which numerous later adaptations of Verne's writings would be assessed. It is also Disney's darkest film of that era, and still remains - from a visual, thematic and storytelling aspect - potent and compelling. It is finally given the wonderful DVD treatment it so richly deserves; forget any other version you've ever seen.

If you don't know by now, there are rumors of a sea monster lurking in the Pacific, attacking and sinking any ship which dares to cross its waters. An expedition is put together by the U.S. government, manning a ship whose crew includes Professor Aronnax (Paul Lukas), his apprentice (Peter Lorre, in one of his few non-villainous roles) and master harpooner Ned Land (Kirk Douglas), who is skeptical of the existence of a sea monster. After several weeks at sea, the ship is attacked, not by the dreaded monster, but by the Nautilus, a submarine unlike anything the world has ever seen. Commanding the boat is Captain Nemo (brilliantly played by James Mason), a troubled-yet-brilliant explorer, who's forsaken life on land, and has an extreme (though understandable) distrust of the human race. After sinking the ship, Nemo reluctantly rescues the three survivors, whom become his guest/prisoners. He introduces to them (Aronnax in particular) the wonders of the sea, as well as the incredible (for the 19th century) technology he has developed to construct his submarine. While Aronnax is in awe of Nemo's achievements, Land wants no part of it, wanting nothing more than to escape and put a stop to Nemo's reign of terror; he spends most of the film trying to escape the ship. This film is expertly crafted in every respect; Disney Studios pulled out all the stops in bringing this tale to the screen. While it isn't 100% faithful to its source material (what Disney film is?), it's difficult to complain about the end result. "20,000 Leagues" is an example of master storytelling, with terrific performances by its principle cast, especially Mason, who finds the perfect balance between tortured genius and madman - like so many great movie villains, we can identify and sympathize with him, even if we don't necessarily condone his actions. Disney has seldom, before or since, presented a character this darkly complex. The visual effects are, of course, state-of-the-art for its time, and remain pretty convincing even today; this includes the classic giant-squid sequence. The only fault (and it's a small one), is when the movie gets a case of "the cutes", such as the scenes of comic relief involving Esmerelda (Nemo's pet seal), or the now-goofy song interlude by Douglas, "Whale of a Tale." - both of those elements reek of the Disney touches of which we are all so familiar.

Granted, one must take into account that this film is fifty years old - complete restoration is probably an unreasonable expectation. There is some noticeable grain on numerous occasions, particularly during some of the night sequences. Still, the picture is relatively free of scratches, and the colors are accurate and vibrant. The soundtrack is also surprisingly well preserved, adding much richer sound and dimension than previous editions. It isn't perfect - more a sign of the pre-Dolby times in which it was made than any fault in the restoration - but the music track is beautifully preserved, and the dialogue nicely restored.

As usual with many recent Disney release, the extras are here in abundance. On disc one is the movie itself, as well as the Donald Duck cartoon, "Grand Canyonscape," which accompanied "20,000 League's" initial release. Disc two features tons of other extras, including some behind-the-scenes featurettes, some deleted scenes (most importantly, the original squid-attack sequence, which was later deemed unusable. Other footage includes unused animated sequences and promotional films, which later found their way on Disney's television show, as well as a tour of the Nautilus, which intersplices scenes from the film with blueprints of the ship. There are a lot of other extras, including audio commentaries by director Richard Fleischer and film historian Rudy Behlmer, info on composer Paul Smith, an alternate script excerpt of Nemo's death, promotional materials (with a short video about movie tie-in merchandise, featuring two brothers who've been collecting it), a production gallery, storyboard-to-scene comparison, an audio track of Nemo's organ music, radio spots and footage of Peter Lorre working on replacement ADR audio tracks. And, of course, there's the original theatrical trailer.Useless trivia: Those inclined are advised to seek out 1961's "Mysterious Island," an unofficial sequel, based on another Verne story, to "20,000 Leagues." Released by Columbia Pictures, it features Herbert Lom in the role of Nemo, and some nifty effects by Ray Harryhausen.

This is definitely one of Disney's better DVD releases, with a ton of extras. In addition, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" ranks as one of Disney's best non-animated films. Fans of the movie, or any film of historic theatrical importance, should definitely check it out.