MovieChat Forums > The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (2001) Discussion > Bad Acting Spells Death for Show with Po...

Bad Acting Spells Death for Show with Potential

posted 17 years ago by lladon
4 replies | jump to latest

Hmm, I've just watched the first episode, and it's already evident why this show failed.
The actors are horrible. Nobody stands out, nobody even seems interesting. The main actors are dreadful, I am assuming their experience was limited to small soap-operas that didn't require any acting other than blank stares and bad hair.

Also, the cinematography was frustratingly poor. Most of the time the lighting looked like a soap opera, which means people will take one look and then shut it off.

The sets are fantastic, effects are good for their time, but the acting just destroys everything. I could have overlooked the soap-style cinematography if the acting hadn't been so bad.

Jules Verne has an american accent now, eh? Fairly sure he was French. Seeing as everyone else in 'paris' was french.

Come son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!

[–] xenario_13 15 years ago

I think Francesca Hunt's acting is quite good actually. The rest of them aren't terrible. I think Jules' has an American accent because they wanted to market this show in the US? It seems a bit odd at first but for me it wasn't too much of a distraction. I think the other actors warm up to their characters nicely as the series progressed and they all play off each other pretty well.

[–] MusicalMagpie 15 years ago

I am watching the show's pilot episode as I write this. For a low-budget Canadian TV series it seems extremely well done. The atmosphere, the sets, the costumes - superb. The cheesy sci-fi bits - suitably overdone. The natural lighting is particularly impressive.

Unfortunately, the show was ahead of its time and did not get the support it needed to continue.

[–] grendelkhan 15 years ago

Chris Demtral was definitely the weak link, though the rest of the main cast are outstanding. Guest stars and supporting cast could be quite the mixed bag; though I loved John Rhys Davies as Dumas.

[–] feroluce 15 years ago

I agree, in part.

This was the first show in HD, you have to make allowances for the cinematographers breaking new ground, they didn't know how it should be shot, a lot of trial an error here.
The actors are of a good caliber, the director was probably caught up in the aforementioned cinematography.
The lighting is dodgy, but again, pandering to the cgi.
The acting is dodgy, but only to match (the OTT faux Victorian) movies of the same genre.

This slots nicely into a genre that we comfortably make allowances for, it feels weird to make the same allowances for a modern series.