Fantastic Voyage
Fox
Released on 4-Jul-2001

Reviewed by Mark Wroniak on 11-Jul-2001

THE MOVIE

A journey into inner space is a good way of describing this 1966 feature.

Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd) is the head of a team of U.S. government agents involved in assisting the defection of Dr Jan Benes (Barry Coe) a brilliant Russian scientist. On route to a secret base the group is ambushed, and an attempted assassination occurs. Fortunately Dr Benes is not killed but is comatose from a head wound, which results in an inoperable blood clot in his brain.

Dr Benes has information relating to a secret project, Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces (CMDF). This technology enables the miniaturisation of molecules for a period of time, currently 60 minutes, but Dr Benes knows how to extend the miniaturisation time. In order to save him, a team of people are shrunk inside an experimental submarine and sent inside Dr Benes body to eradicate the clot from the inside. This team consists of top brain surgeon Dr Duval (Arthur Kennedy) and his assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch) who will perform laser surgery to remove the clot, Dr Michaels (Donald Pleasence) as a navigator and Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield) as the pilot. Fearing sabotage, Grant is sent along to keep an eye on the project and the people involved. The weakest part of the movie is the lack of surprise in finding out who the traitor is, it can be picked from a mile away.

Once inside, the lava lamp of the body is shown in all its glory as our heroes (and saboteur) navigate through to the brain. Facing obstacles from the body, the saboteur and racing against time the team encounter the lungs, eyes, ears and the antibodies in their race to save the Doctor.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Fantastic Voyage is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen and is 16:9 enhanced.
I really enjoy watching films that have been remastered for the DVD release so well. The colours vary throughout the film, but this is not unusual for a film this old. DeLuxe Colour that was used in this era often creates colour over-saturation, but this was hardly the case with this transfer. The colours were dramatically better than I expected then to be. They are vivid and accurate with no evidence of bleeding.

The blacks are also good considering the age although shadow detail is limited. The solid blacks present a sharp picture as a whole, although some of the special effect shots appear softer due to the filming techniques used in creating the shots.

It is not a surprise to find artifacting in a film like this, but the good thing is that it is kept to a minimum. There is occasionally film grain and some minor aliasing inside the submarine, but I did not find either of these to be distracting.

A barely noticeable and well-placed layer change can be found in chapter 10 about 34:10 minutes into the movie.

Audio:

The audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround transfer. This has been remastered from the original theatrical mono audio track and sounds pretty good. Due to the improvement from mono, a larger soundstage has been created. This creates a more encompassing experience.

The soundtrack is great and the transfer really highlights the music and effects used to add to the tension and suspense of the movie. Whilst this is hardly going to test the limits of your system, the improvements in the sound make it easy to listen to.

Dialogue is directed from the centre channel and is always clear. With the increased soundstage the front speakers are used very well for directional effects. The rear speakers reinforce a number of important scenes and add to the atmosphere, the subwoofer is not used.

THE EXTRAS

Theatrical Trailer
Running at almost 3 minutes 20 seconds this trailer has not be remastered and is presented in a very grainy format in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

SUMMARY

A classic! If you know the film then this is the best way to watch it. It would have been great to have some more extras to compliment the film, but I realise that is a difficult task given its age. With a top audio and video restoration the voyage looks better than ever.