I never regard this as Bond
It may have started the whole series, but I never bother about this non-entry in the series. Same goes for "From Russia with Love".
To me, the series starts proper with "Goldfinger", the best first movie.
Funny, my favourite Bond film is From Russia with Love, and I think I prefer Dr. No to Goldfinger as well (though I have a deep love of Goldfinger).
What makes you say that this isn't Bond? What's holding it back?
I should read the full synopsis of Dr. No, but I chanced upon it when it was on TV the other day, and it was during the beach scenes, where Bond is teaming up with some superstitious man, then they meet a shell-collecting woman, they both go on about a dragon that Bond scoffs at, then they are under attack by armed men, then the flamethrower dragon comes, superstitious man is burned to a crisp, and then, for some reason, they are treated extremely well after being captured and treated for radiation. I turned off after that.
I remembered the climax of Dr. No, where the villain is in a radiation suit and somehow dies, hand and all going underwater, and I thought, is that it? Where is the ridiculous huge super-lair of Blofeld in You Only Live Twice? I thought it was all very sub-par, and I don't care if it was the first movie.
Very, very disappointing. And too many beach scenes.
Well, while I'd argue that a full evaluation of Dr. No couldn't be had without watching the full film, you're probably right based on the last third of the movie that you wouldn't like the first two-thirds.
For me, I like those first Bond films because, although they have their share of Bond's slick, larger-than-life style, they seem more like classic spy stories (Dragon Tanks notwithstanding). From Russia with Love is about Cold War stuff, it's almost entirely internal to the spy world. It feels grounded, which makes the fantastic elements pop more without getting too carried away.
Moonraker is a good laugh - it's certainly fun - but it gets too far on the campy side of things for my taste.
It's a fine line, I think, between too goofy and too serious for my Bond enjoyment. But, I think this is part of the fun of Bond. It's like Batman. There are goofy, campy versions, and there are serious versions, and everybody's got a favourite.
What's your favourite Bond flick?
I don't have a single all-time favourite, I like about half of them.
I was just curious which ones you thought were top of the game. You mentioned Moonraker elsewhere here. Of the Roger Moore Bonds, I always like Live and Let Die, Spy Who Loved Me, and For Your Eyes Only.
shareOK, my favourite Bond movies are the ones I have on Blu-ray and on Google video, namely:
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Spy who Loved Me
Moonraker
Octopussy
A View to a Kill
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
Goldeneye
For Your Eyes Only
Live and Let Die
That's all of them. I'm not really a fan of Brosnan nor Craig.
I'd just like to point out two things:
1) The Bond films didnt have the budget for really spectacular lairs, until the first had made money.
2) There's goofy unrealistic shit in ALL the Bond films.