A big fat guy, who is supposed to be Zeus, can't get his thunderbolts to work. He draws in several women and a couple of idiot guys. They are of no help. Pretty soon people don't know what to do and the king of the gods doesn't seem to have any ideas. As is often the case, Melies blows up everything at the end. No wonder the world is in such a mess when these are the supreme beings.

And judging from Zeus in this one they seem to be clearly less capable in their profession than the film pioneer. One of the highlights are, as always with Méliès, the excellent visuals in this short film. Zeus is set in scene spectacularly, costumes and art direction couldn't be much better. And we don't even really see the colors.When it comes to the story, the God of the Gods is facing different all kinds of in his reign. Thank God, he has a couple assistants ready to come to help whenever there's trouble. When his scepter is not working properly anymore he's running around as if he's on amphetamine. It gets fixed quickly, but Zeus so eager to use it ends up burning his hand. The first half is pretty good comedy. Then it changes to Méliès usual sing and dance numbers which is also fine to watch, but has been executed more interestingly by the director in the past. Finally, the short film ends with some magic and lots of smoke. I'd have preferred if Méliès had carried on like in the first 90 seconds, but it still makes for an interesting watch.

In this brief film, Georges Melies depicts the Greek version of Jupiter: Zeus. There is no explanation for this shift in mythological focus, but the film is nothing more than an excuse for the Zeus character to fret and dance about while trying to figure out why his thunder balls do not work properly. In so doing, Zeus draws upon the muses to help him out it seems, but they do little aside from dancing about with him. The actual trick of the film is not featured until near the end, and it really is not much after all. This film is a one-note, one set film much like The Cake-Walk Infernal with the heavy use of smoke as a special effect. **1/2 of 4 stars.

The French call it "Le tonnerre de Jupiter " (The Thunder of Jupiter), but the character herein uses his Greek name, Zeus. It appears on a representation of the sun, as the film opens. Zeus is the leader of all Gods and also the God of Thunder. He appears to have put on weight, and has trouble getting his thunder to work. If intentional, this is a good bit of characterization. A man appears and dances, but Zeus still can't summon thunder. Next, Zeus conjures up some women. They sing and dance. Special effects fire appears. More dancers appear. The narrative suffers near the end. It's possible some of the film is lost.**** Le tonnerre de Jupiter (11/7/03) Georges Melies ~ Georges Melies