Product: Moby Dick [VHS] (1998)
Rating: 1.0
A pitiful excuse for a movie
If you want to see a movie of Moby Dick, see the John Huston directed version, with screenplay by Ray Bradbury. This pitiful excuse for a movie was made by people who had no knowledge of New England, whaling, whales, or Herman Melville's epic novel. The grand poetry, the vivid imagery, the theological symbolism which fill "Moby Dick" are all missing in this shell of a film. Even Stewart's performance is a disappointment--Khan in Star Trek II does a better job of spouting Ahab's venom than Stewart's anemic portrayal.The additions to the story are meaningless (Chinese harpooners, Queequeg's "BLAH!" noises,Ahab's family)...and the omissions are puzzling (Elijah).And the rubber whale--who is unscarred, unmarked by corkscrew harpoons, ungrizzled, unbarnacled, with no flight of gulls--well, he looks like a rubber whale.