Using state-of-the-art government technology, a team of intrepid voyagers are shrunk down to microscopic size and injected into the bloodstream of a dying man. Unfortunately, 'Fantastic Voyage (1966)' never really exploits the full potential of this intriguing premise, and altogether fails to surpass the tension of its creative opening credits sequence (designed by Richard Kuhn). Despite a story that unfolds practically in real-time, Fleischer's adventure tale moves along at a sluggish pace that saps the film of any real suspense. Even so, the special effects are extremely well done for their time, particularly in their use of vibrant colours at a microscopic level, and the anatomical jargon (coming from an undergraduate biology student) is well-informed.
'Fantastic Voyage' feels as though it can't decide whether to be a rollicking fantasy adventure or a thoughtful meditation on the human body, so it languishes between the two poles. A similar philosophical premise had been handled previously in 'The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957),' in which a shrunken Grant Williams muses "to God, there is no zero!" Fleischer's film has a similar moment, when General Carter (Edmond O'Brien) pauses before squashing an insect, and is told that Buddhists "respect all life, no matter how small." Of course, no journey into the human body can be undertaken without obligatory references towards God's intelligent design. There is some dissent, admittedly, from Donald Pleasence's evolutionist doctor, but guess who turns out to be a Communist spy?
'Fantastic Voyage' feels as though it can't decide whether to be a rollicking fantasy adventure or a thoughtful meditation on the human body, so it languishes between the two poles. A similar philosophical premise had been handled previously in 'The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957),' in which a shrunken Grant Williams muses "to God, there is no zero!" Fleischer's film has a similar moment, when General Carter (Edmond O'Brien) pauses before squashing an insect, and is told that Buddhists "respect all life, no matter how small." Of course, no journey into the human body can be undertaken without obligatory references towards God's intelligent design. There is some dissent, admittedly, from Donald Pleasence's evolutionist doctor, but guess who turns out to be a Communist spy?