When I was a child my mother had this movie on DVD and my siblings and I watched it till it wouldn't load anymore. Now that I'm grown up and have rewatched it I can honestly say that while it isn't bad, it isn't as good as my 10 year old self thought it was. Definitely worth the watch though, and showing it to your children a few times when they're old enough to appreciate the story line. Also, some of the reviews have mentioned Harry and Rachel's relationship and how it was built/forced. It said at the beginning that it was 4 years after Harry's fiance was killed plus they had a weak to get to know each other. And that doesn't take into account the fact that they were in a near death situation together. Another comment I found is how it's far fetched that Graham was able to drive Rachel's truck when he's about ten years old. Not that far fetched since in real life there was a six year old who stole his parent's car and drove it home because he didn't want to attend church. And, aside from that, yes some of the things in the movie are far fetched, I won't deny that, but they also have more scientific facts in it than some of the other natural disaster movies that are from recent years.

This is essentially the same plot as Jaws, but with a volcano standing in for the shark. Stupid town officials don't listen to the warnings of a scientist and boy will they regret it!

Although it's true that blockbuster movies have been dumbing down of late, I thoroughly enjoyed this clichéd but fun old-fashioned adventure yarn which has Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton on the run from all manner of special effects grooviness. Although the film has a slow first half, this is well worth sitting through as the incredible action climax has it all: lakes full of acid, flowing lava, falling ash and a huge, destructive, pyroclastic cloud.Okay, so I could have done without the incredibly annoying children in the film who repeatedly do stupid things and have to get rescued. I could do without the sickly sentimentalism which fills many scenes and the boring, needless character development. I could do without the stupid old woman who thankfully gets fatally injured but then takes about a year to die. I could do without Linda Hamilton's non-acting of a one-dimensional town mayor who is forever in peril. Come to think of it I could do without all of the expository prologue in which we get to know the characters: one long film of Brosnan escaping from various hazards would have done me just fine.Sadly, this is not the case, and it seems like an age for the action to really begin. But when it does, it really hits home, thanks to some really stunning CGI work which flawlessly recreates rivers of molten lava and huge ash clouds which demolish buildings in an instant. The film manages to evoke a whole load of tense moments when Brosnan's car gets stuck in the lava, when a van tries to escape from a broken bridge and when survivors escape over an acid lake while their boat gradually dissolves around them. The pace starts off slow but builds up to the top-notch finale.If you're looking for a dumb, mindless, action-filled extravaganza then you've come to the right place. Despite ripping off other films like TWISTER, this manages to be better than many an effect-led blockbuster thanks to a high mortality rate and plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments. Do yourself a favour, settle back one evening, rent this and switch off your brain.

USGS scientist Harry Dalton is sent to the small town of Dante's Peak to check on unusual activity. Spurred by the volcano related death of his previous love, Dalton urges Mayor Rachel Wando to put the city on alert. Dalton's boss arrives and countermands Dalton demanding scientific proof. When the proof finally arrives, Harry and Rachel must go to the volcano to rescue her two children and ex-mother-in-law. Danger arises as they try to reach safety while the town below is destroyed......It's your atypical disaster movie, but not like the ones that were more famous in the seventies like The Towering Inferno and Earthquake, it's more like the ones that were made on the tail end of the success of those films.This one feels more like Meteor, or that one with half the cast of Inferno in it, about a hotel near a volcano.And it starts as it means to go on, completely stupidly, but not having one inch of tongue in cheek about it whatsoever. And for this, it's unintentionally hilarious right from the moment a random piece of rock fall through Dalton's truck and kills his girlfriend....Flash forward a few years, and once the most aggressive push ups ever committed to screen are finished, it's back to your standard disaster movie of Dalton warning everyone, everyone doubting him, apart from Sarah Connor, who is falling for him.After all, if you can't find a Terminator, I'm sure Bond would suffice.As it goes, it's nothing really special it's The Deep impact to Volcanos Armageddon, it tries to be too serious, but when we have boiling bodies in hot springs, a woman pushing a boat through acidic water, and the funniest use of a Wilhelm scream ever, you cannot take the film for it is trying to be.Plus, the young boy will have you thinking its Joseph Gordon Levitt for the most part.Brosnan and Hamilton make it more classier than it should be, but I'll always go back to Tommy Lee Jones.After all, The Coast is Toast.