And the end is just as priceless. With the prone body of the beast in front of them, and as the hero and heroine depart, presumably to get to know each other better (even though Calder has yet to sit through a moment’s worth of decontamination), the military and scientific men commiserate thusly, by asking, "Why is it always so costly for man to move from the present, into the future?" Didacticism is always good for a guffaw in sci fi films.

But, 20 Million Miles To Earth offers more than a few condescending chuckles; it offers a glimpse into a not too long ago time when wonder was still enough to propel a film. Nowadays, too many people ruin films by asking questions that the films acknowledge as givens, and need far too many special effects, as they are too lazy to imbue, and actively participate in art. Ray Harryhausen and Nathan Juran’s film does more with less than many films that came later, and even if that sentiment is trite, it’s also true.

20 Million Miles To Earth is a highly enjoyable film, no matter how cookie cutter it is. After all, what determines the success of a cookie is not its shape, but its taste, and that comes from its ingredients, not its mold. What Harryhausen had in his best films was a good recipe, and a lot of talent, to fit into some very old and familiar molds. Thus why they are still savored to this day, no matter how many times the hand has held such before.