Cinematical

I loved this film. It is a true journey back into the hearts and minds of those that inspired so many to make the films that entertain us all. I don't agree at all with Christopher Campbell. This is a great documentary.
Robert Royce

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I LOVED this documentary. I don't agree at all with Christopher Campbell, whoever he is. SCI-FI Boys takes us back to those wonderfully creative science fiction film makers of the fifties and sixties that inspired a whole generation of todays movie makers. This documentary has exceptional interviews with Peter Jackson, and John Landis and many others. Those alone make the documentary worth owning. This documentary comes from the heart. There are clips of some of the first amateur 8mm films made by many of today's great artists. What a thrill to watch how they, as kids, cleaverly thought about how to create special effects. Maybe this film will serve as an inspiration to a whole new generation of upcoming young people. The piece with Rick Baker is really something. I'd love to visit his workshop and see the creatures featured in the background during his interview. If I'd seen what's in this film ten years ago it would have inspired me, and maybe I'd be in the film business. Heck maybe I'm still not too old to try it!

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Chris Campbell's review is pathetically misleading, he mis-spells the name of the director repeatedly (never gets it right, in fact) and in his haste to label a unique and brilliant work "mediocre," he misses the point -- a point Peter Jackson got immediately (the director of LORD OF THE RINGS and KING KONG "hosts" this documentary) and which fans, bloggers and other film-festivals (which are inviting this film to screen all around the world) figured out without effort. To hear Peter Jackson discuss the importance of this film in web-streamed video, go to the King Kong movie website ( www.kingkong.com ), click on THE SCI-FI BOYS, and you'll go to where you can learn all about this film. This is a film about kids who made their dreams come true, and it's an inspiration to young people everywhere who hope they can follow a creative career guided by their own imagination and intuition, rather than "settling" for the standard options most people follow in life. It highlights the fate of about a dozen people who, inspired by Forrest J Ackerman's magazine FAMOUS MONSTERS in the 1950's and 1960's, began making amateur monster movies using clay, plastic models, 8mm home movie cameras, stop-motion animation and other effects techniques they could adapt with childhood ingenuity to the tools they had available. These youngsters had names such as Peter Jackson, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, John Landis, Bub Ducsay, William Malone, Steve Johnson (and others) -- and they grew up to leave an indelible stamp on the field of special effects and modern filmmaking. Muren and Baker have 14 Academy Awards for special effects and effects makeup between them, and Peter Jackson has a few Oscars too. But not all the directors in this film are equally as famous. Some, like Donald F. Glut, were the greatest of fans when they were kids and child movie-makers, and in his case he grew up to make a living as a writer of THE TRANSFORMERS TV show, comic books and serious dinosaur research books, as well as one novelization for George Lucas. In THE SCI-FI BOYS, you'll see what this group of Sci-Fi Boys was doing when they were 9-15, and what they grew up to accomplish. And you'll learn about the men who inspired them, such as Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Forrest J Ackerman and George Pal. This is a film about some joyous and creative childhoods, personal achievements, and turning your hobby into a profession -- it is NOT an encyclopedic history of science fiction literature or turn of the century sci-fi movies from French cineaste Georges Melies, as Christopher Campbell seems to want it to be. The film DOES NOT "too heavily praise" corny sci-fi pictures -- it has RAY BRADBURY and LEONARD MALTIN explaining they knew which films were corny and that kids in the 1950's and 60's LIKED going with their pals to monster movies they "felt superior to" and could laugh at because they were so ridiculous. And THE SCI-FI BOYS does NOT, as Campbell claims, concentrate only on the sci-fi / horror hybrid -- it's an absurd statement about a film that gives credit to the influence of true sci-fi films as varied as FORBIDDEN PLANET, THE INVISIBLE BOY, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Forry Ackerman re-reads the eulogy he gave at producer George Pal's funeral in 1980 and names two of Pal's films among the five greatest science-fiction films of all time. For Campbell to say the film "does not work as a tribute to Ackerman because of all the additional figures represented" he is living in another universe -- a universe of ONE, HIMSELF. (Why do a lot of "critics" seem to have that problem??) Ackerman has called this the greatest tribute to his life work anyone ever conceived. Christopher Campbell, go back to film school and re-enroll in CINEMA 101.

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As a columnist for scr(i)pt magazine (THE GREAT IDEA) I cover the writer's journey from the spark of an idea and where it originated from, all the way through to the screen -- be it big or small. I work in a q&a format and have been blessed to have interviewed some of the most talented scribes in the industry. I found this film to be a wonderful journey into the history and origins of the genres and artists that have and now do inspire our imaginations... with fantasy, fear, adventure and awe. I loved it! The only thing that bothered me about it was where were all the little girls and women who have also evolved out of the history so rich that it inspired the title, THE SCI FI "BOYS." Maybe there's a lovely sequel here that could surprise us all!

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I also don't share Mr. Campbell's opinion of this documentary. As a fan of science fiction old and new and enjoyed it very much. I take particular issue with this comment about director Paul Davids' contribution:
"Of course, with all the attention Davids gives to himself...he could include the film as an extra on one of his own films..."
As I recall, Davids only appears in the actual documentary briefly and is the focus of only 3 out of the 25 extra segments in the special features. Mr. Campbell's remarks on this point could be taken to imply that this film was at least partly a vanity project for Mr. Davids. To infer this would, I think, miss the point of Mr. Davids' film, which I interpreted to be a tribute to science fiction and monster movie makers in general and Forrest J. Ackerman, Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen in particular.
I reviewed the DVD for SyFy Portal. My comments can be found here: http://www.syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2520

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Mr. Cambpell, what planet are you on? I've seen this documentary
many times over. It is an important historical feature that has at last
come to reveal those stellar personalities that have pioneered
a multi-billion dollar industry. I have friends that don't even like Sci-Fi
that love the"Sci-Fi Boys". It is also fun to watch. For the whole family.

It seems sometimes that the goal of some critics is to see how
much demeaning sarcasm they can convey with wit and words.
Conjures up the fantasy,for them, that they are in the know.
Your attack on the producer is really wierd. My family and friends
loved this film.

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I just happened to be reading this review. What an immature reviewer you are Chris Campbell. You are obviously unseasoned. Do you still skateboard too? This film won a Saturn award for best documentary, as well as several other awards. I guess that demonstrates most others see a lot more than you. Perhaps a replacement reviewer is in order and you can come back when you grow up.

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