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Simply Perfect

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It's amusing to read so many reviews that praise this silent short film and its maker on so many points. "It's a break through." "It's pioneering." "Georges Melies was a genius." The one that's worth a good laugh is "A film ahead of its time." How many times we see or read that to describe a pioneering, innovative or new something. That always has seemed to be a put-down, however well intended. After all, pioneering, discovering, inventing, trying something new or different that works is worthy of praise outright. Melies was deserving of praise. A French pioneer in cinema, he introduced many new techniques for the craft and in the related science of cinema. But it's more proper to say that he initiated, discovered, started, refined, introduced or began those methods and changes. The time was his and he was in it. How could he be ahead of his own discoveries? So, this is a fine film short of early pioneering, with historical value. But I don't understand ratings that place it with some of the great masterpieces of cinema over the ages."A Trip to the Moon" also is a humorous film that shows how some people thought about what lay in the future of space travel. Did most people at the turn of the 20th century think there was life on the moon? Did scientists then think that a huge gun could shoot a craft into space? Another little humorous aspect is Melies' use of the chorus girls from the Folies Bergere. Even way back then, promoters were using sex appeal to sell things. One would think that the marvel of cinema itself would be enough to draw public interest. On second thought, the chorus girls might have been an addition to please the old men scientists. I'm sure it was all in fun for Melies and his crew and cast, as it must have been for the people who first saw this motion picture.

The beginning of the 20th century and the idea of 'modern life' was being defined by the spread of technological revolution in the field of energy, transport and communication, and by new notions about the human mind, about time and space. People were being drawn in by innovation, by new technologies, by the desire of exploring the unknown. These desires were translated in George Méliès' 'Le Voyage Dans La Lune', and that - added to the fact that it was the first science fiction movie ever made, and the first film with a proper plot and storyline – was what made the film a tremendous success with the public. The story about a group of astronomers that travel to the moon in a rocket ship, explore its surface and return to earth with a captive lunar inhabitant fascinated the audience, for it was something never done before in entertainment history, and because it captured the spirit of innovation, of technological advance, and of discovery of the time.This is what made the film so relevant at that time, and what contributed to maintaining its relevance throughout the years. The fact that the movie has such great innovations and represents its time with such mastery is what makes it still worth watching. Nowadays, with the evolution of movies 'A Voyage to the Moon' might not be as appealing to audiences as it once was. But even so, it is a film that is still considerably watched and shown to film classes all across the world, and reinterpreted in many ways – for it was a pivotal point in entertainment development, and constituted the base to every new movie, clip or TV show that was to come. That is the reason why I enjoyed watching this film – not because it has great effects or plot, or is very compelling, but because it is– more than a simple piece of art – a piece of history. It represents the beginning of all film history. The same way historic events still have repercussions nowadays, so do movies. Everything we have ever watched and will ever watch started from that very one movie, was built on top of it, evolved from it. Even 110 years after its debut, it still has importance and influence, it is still discussed and studied – it still has meaning, even if we don't realize it. All those factors are what make this a must-see movie, a timeless, ageless one – a movie that has lasted a century and will last many more to come.

I can't say that I really enjoy this film because I think that it belongs to a different generation and it is so different from the films I used to watch. In my opinion this movie is quite slow and has not any action, so it becomes quite boring for our standards. On the other hand we have to consider that this film was registered 110 years ago and it changed drastically the history of the cinematography and the way that the film were produced after the 1902. I know the huge progresses that this film meant for the history and that it was produced with just a few technological devices really worse than the cameras that we own nowadays, thus I really appreciate this registration. This are the reasons because of this film is still shown to the film classes around the world. Moreover I think that this film represents in a very detailed way the zeitgeist of this age and this is the cause because of the audience really appreciated it when it debuted. In my opinion the "spirit of the time" was the try to arrive always more far away with the huge technological discoveries that the beginning of the 1900 brought with it. This is the first science-fiction film and it represents this desire of discover that everybody had in that age. For all this reasons, this movie is certainly a timeless film!

I surely enjoyed the film even though while I was watching it I kind of had to remind myself that the film was made over 100 years ago. I think that nowadays we're used to see special effects in movies all the time and sometimes we focus on that and we don't really pay attention to the story. In this film though the plot was pretty good it is innovative and funny. I really appreciated the special effects and the colored clips. It's impressive thinking that someone painted by hand all the clips. "A trip to the moon" is a timeless film for sure and the fact that we're still watching it and talking about it 110 years later is the proof of that. I think that the reason why the film is still around is that it's balanced: the plot is innovative, funny and creative, and at the same time there's action and special effects and that makes the film more exiting. In 1902 the century just started and I guess people wanted to see and try new things and I think that the film reflects that desire of progress and innovation both in the plot and in the editing.