The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

The 20,000 Fathoms part of the title isn’t very relevant, but the Beast part certainly is. Stirred from slumber by scientists testing atomics somewhere in the Arctic, the creature causes havoc as it makes its way purposefully south. I don’t appreciate being rudely woken up, either, so I can kind of relate.
The script, 'suggested' by a short in Ray Bradbury's The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) collection, toys with the psychology of witnessing the impossible, while exploring a more elaborate scientific reasoning with regards what's actually seen. But the best part of this particular creature-feature is the effects work by Ray Harryhausen. That's two Rays for the price of one.

3 differences of opinion out of 5

The Halloween Tree (1993)

An animated adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s children’s book (1972) of the same name. Small changes were made but there’s justification for them, Most are an attempt to make the visuals do the work of the unspoken written word. Halving the number of kids was obviously for time purposes, and adding a girl to the line-up addresses something that was sorely missing from the text. The mystery surrounding Pip is more clearly defined. I really wish they’d kept the Samhain scene, though, because it could've been a highlight.
It was a Hanna-Barbera TV production, so it doesn't look spectacular, but the voices are good. A croaky, unrecognisable Leonard Nimoy gives life to the mysterious Mr. Moundshroud. The narrator is Ray, sometimes reading passages directly from his own novel.

3 varieties of darkness out of 5

A Sound of Thunder (2005)

That isn't the sound of thunder. It’s the sound of giant plot holes forming at an alarming rate. It's the sound of credibility being torn apart. It's the sound of a Ray Bradbury short story being stretched and twisted and filled with horse shit. It's the sound of failure.

1½ suicidal fish out of 5

The Electric Grandmother (1982)

I'm going to be treading on a lot of people’s childhood with this review, but have no fear, I'm a fan. It's based on Ray Bradbury's short story 'I Sing the Body Electric' from the book (1969) of the same name.
A family in need of love gets something that might fit the bill in the shape of Maureen Stapleton, but you can’t please all the people all of the time…
It’s a decent slice of sentimental Bradbury pie that will reacquaint you with your emotions and maybe even birth a tear or two in your eye.
It was also adapted into a Twilight Zone episode twenty years previously (S3 E35), but unfortunately I've not seen it yet.

3 inaudible noises out of 5

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)

There’s a saying that ‘clothes maketh the man’. It’s wishful thinking, but wishful thinking is often the beginnings of storytelling. Imagine if it were true and imagine also that a special kind of suit could grant the heart’s desire of the one that wears it. We’re in Ray Bradbury territory. He wrote the original short it was based on and he wrote the teleplay. That means we get his wonderful language undiluted. It’s a shame then that the film is so cheesy. It’s full of heart and the old-fashioned values that Bradbury is so good at, but those same ideals will be the very thing that puts many people off. I'd recommend it to fans of the author only.

2 pussy magnets out of 5

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

It’s the future. Knowledge is dangerous. Books are forbidden and burned en masse. The firemen are always watching.
It's stylised with minimalist set dressings, long, rolling takes and there's one surprise revelation that everyone I've ever lent the film to didn't notice.
François Truffaut, Ray Bradbury, Julie Christie, Oskar Werner, Cyril Cusack, Bernard Herrmann and Nicolas Roeg; a gathering like that doesn't happen very often. It was Truffaut’s only English language film.
Purists will grumble as it deviates from the book significantly at least twice, but it retains the essence and the feelings.

4½ shamelessly subjective scores out of 5

The Illustrated Man (1969)

A tattooed drifter seeks the woman that inked him, giving rise to an anthology of three framed narratives adapted from the Ray Bradbury book (1951) of the same name. The author wasn't actually involved in the production.

The stories are badly made; they're pretty crap, actually. Rod Steiger almost saves the day with his terrifying angry drifter guy.  He gave me the wiggins.

It would've worked better as a TV series, à la The Twilight Zone.

2 painted arse-cheeks out of 5

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Ray Bradbury is a fine author; his words own the page but they rarely translate well to the screen. (Book Review.)
I first saw SWTWC when I was ten. It made me fear Carnivals and spiders. Looking at it today, it hasn't aged well, although it's still an enjoyable film with an obvious message for young and old. Plus, the diabolic Mr. Dark is forever burned into my memory.
For fans of the author, kids who like to be scared and nostalgic old farts. I am now, or have been, all of those.

3 autumnal nightmares out of 5