20 Million Miles to Earth - The Chewits monster strikes back

Before special effects master, Ray Harryhausen, turned his talents to the more 'mythical' side of fantasy films, he was more known for creating monsters and mayhem in the more (straightforward?) science fiction genre, such as '20 Million Miles to Earth.' A spaceship crashes just off the coast of Italy and unleashes a monster on the population which continually grows in size until it's practically unstoppable.

Now, a team comprising of the astronauts who inadvertently brought it back from their mission to Venus, plus some local military men and scientists have to team up to stop it somehow. 

Because it was made in 1957, it's all a little 'cheesy' and - perhaps for some - hard to watch.  The men are manly and smoke, while the women swoon at their manliness.  However, for all it's old fashioned qualities (that may seem a little un-PC by today's standards!) it's still a great watch.  Naturally, with many of the films Harryhausen has worked on, the monsters are the stars.  Normally, you have to wait quite a while for one of his brilliant creations to show up on screen, whereas here the creature is practically the lead (and, if you've seen that 'Chewits' advert from the eighties, you'll have a rough idea of what it looks like).

Maybe it was because I saw many of Harryhausen's other work before this one, but I'm used to seeing more monsters, all of which are very distinctive from each other.  Here, we just have the one.  Yes, there is an animated elephant for the beastie to fight, but that's about it.

If you can still appreciate science fiction films from yesteryear and are happy to forgive what are - by today's standards - kind of 'obvious' special effects, or you just like Harryhausen's work, then definitely give this one a watch.  It's not a long film and it will certainly keep you entertained.  Personally, I prefer his 'mythological' films over this one, but I certainly don't think I wasted my time giving it a watch.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that