Forbidden Planet

Here was outer space as only the lavish production values of MGM could imagine it, a journey to an alien landscape painted in bold Eastmancolor and stretched across a CinemaScope frame. Read full review

Even as the SF cliches fall fast and heavy, this is great to look at, thanks to the sumptuous MGM sets and the fine animation and matte work by Walt Disney Studios. Read full review

The film's amazing strengths easily outweigh the odd outbreak of hammery. Read full review

It’s quintessential ’50s male chauvinism, and Nielsen plays it with a man’s-gotta-do-what-a-man’s-gotta-do stiffness. Read full review

If you've got an ounce of taste for crazy humor, you'll have a barrel of fun. Read full review

An ingenious script, excellent special effects and photography, and superior acting (with the exception of Francis), make it an endearing winner. Read full review

While it may not dig incredibly deep, Forbidden Planet was a cut above the schlocky fare that dominated the theatrical sci-fi circuit of the 1950s, and I dare say it provides more meat to chew on than many of today’s bloated, effects-heavy “event films.” Read full review

It's a pity the film, directed by Fred Wilcox, didn't lift some of Shakespeare's dialogue: it's hard to believe you're in the heavens when the diction of the hero (Leslie Nielsen) and his spaceshipmates flattens you down to Kansas.

A superb sci-fi flick, FORBIDDEN PLANET offers an unusually intelligent script, exciting direction by Wilcox and generally good acting from a decent if rather dull cast. Read full review

Imaginative gadgets galore, plus plenty of suspense and thrills, make the production a top offering in the space travel category. Best of all the gadgets is Robby, the Robot, and he's well-used for some comedy touches. Read full review

One of the best-loved '50s sci-fi movies, with a plot boldly cribbed from Shakespeare's The Tempest. [30 Jun 2006, p.C7]

Impressively made though some of the acting lets it down: Robbie's a real scene-stealer. [04 Mar 2006, p.53]

A minor classic. [02 Apr 2000, p.10]

Sleek Deco-inspired props and color scheme, startling special effects, eerie theremin-driven score, the drolly interactive mechanical man (Robby the Robot!), wide-screen CinemaScope presentation, Anne Francis' scanty outfits: to audiences in the '50s it all must've been future shock. Today, it remains a brilliant cinematic realization. [07 Nov 2003]

This extraterrestrial version of The Tempest was in another league. [15 Jul 2017, p.32]