Despite being almost universally labeled as a failure, The Black Hole is actually not that bad. Not bad at all. The film is generally pleasing to the eye, fairly well-paced, and touches on some interesting issues. The film is hamstrung however by the fact that it is still a Disney film (despite the PG rating) and it therefore has to pander to the kiddies too much.

The story centers around a small spaceship (the Palomino) and her crew who are charting the deepest depths of space in the search for new life. Early on, they come across a giant Black Hole and notice a long-lost ship (the Cygnus) which seems to be parked right by it. The ship appears to be empty until closer inspection reveals it to be full of robots, humanoids made up of the old crew, and a mad scientist type of guy in charge of it all. He plans to take his ship through the Black Hole to see what wonders are beyond it. Needless to say, most of the Palomino's crew can tell what a nut this guy is, and they try to escape before he can take them with him. The story is paced by numerous shoot-outs between our heroes and the robotic army controlled by this lunatic. And what would the film have been without someone going through the black hole? Everyone ends up going through, and what they find might surprise you.

The film has some definite strengths. The film is visually impressive considering how much of it was created with matte paintings and lesser f/x. The ships are particularly nice to look at. There are some truly memorable shots, such as the crew scurrying out of the way as a gigantic meteorite comes rolling after them. Outer space looks very detailed, and the object of record is always spinning away in the background as the cast recites grandiose lines about it. The sound effects are also top-drawer.

There are some considerable faults, however. There are more than a few times where you can clearly see wires holding things up (particularly the robots) that should be floating on their own. This is particularly obvious on the DVD. The acting is passable at best with Schell coming off as the best simply because his character is so charismatic. The robots look like a rip-off from the Star Wars films, and are given cutesy Disney-like things to do and say.

The ending is somewhat intellectual and even dark, considering this is a movie ostensibly made for kids. We are treated to a pretty cool-looking vision of hell where our mad scientist has presumably been sent. As far as what happens to the crew of the Palomino, we can only speculate, but we have a pretty good idea. Small children are bound to be left with numerous questions for mommy and daddy, and their parents may have some difficulty explaining what they've just seen. That may be the biggest problem with The Black Hole. There are some deeper issues that are worth studying, but they get glossed over by the "kiddie" elements of the plot. The film tries to please two audiences, but may not have pleased enough people in the end.

At $18,000,000, this film had a considerable price tag for back then. It failed to make that back in theaters, but the market for home-viewing has more than made up this shortfall since then.

The verdict: 6 of 10 stars. The film is worth seeing, but it falls considerably short of the greatness its makers had in mind.

The Hound has spoken.

This was a strange movie, I had never heard of it until I came across a must watch sci fi list somewhere. I think not knowing helped me enjoy this movie. If I had known it was a Disney movie I probably would have been expecting a certain level of tameness.

There isn't any real gore but there is a lot of death in this movie, done in a family(ish) friendly way. Still I wouldn't watch this with my little she would find some of the scenes to scary.

All in all a decent sci fi movie that has a trippy as hell 2001 space odyssey type vibe to it (near the same point in the movie now that I think about it). You get the jist of what is happening but it's not super clear. I would recommend to anyone who likes campy 60's-70s sci fi. This one turned out to be way darker than expected.

"Haunting" is exactly the term for it. I know others have knocked the silly robots and laser guns.

But I have always felt The Black Hole's spooky emotional impact, through the visuals and music. Although the visuals are now dated, what they were aiming for strikes true. It's a vision of the future that strikes a chord in me: dark uncaring space, the black hole a crushing force more powerful than the sun, ego and insane genius, science and what's beyond science, the horror of the old crew's fate. The music with its heavy repeated theme is like the crushing presence of the black hole itself: relentless. A new God if ever there was one.

In my opinion it has more emotional impact than Solaris, which threw in too much "murder mystery" and sort of confused me. The Black Hole is simple: it is clearly beyond knowledge and all the spookier for it.

If you get a thrill from the idea of scientific discovery, give this underrated film a chance. You won't be disappointed.