The lava looks very cool. The sound sounds very cool. The models of the various city landmark look great. Unlike Dante's Peak, this lava actually melts stuff like plastic, rubber, and metal.
Cars melt, and that is cool.
I had a small group together and we insisted on eating together afterward so we could tear apart the movie. Inevitable comparisons to Dante's Peak occurred, and I will share some with you here. Volcano had an actual volcano that actually destroyed stuff, rather than just causing earthquakes, acidic water, and ash. Volcano had an abrupt lava eruption in the middle of downtown with only 100 casualties. DP had an actual dormant volcano coming back to life.