This SyFy Channel TV movie is an attempt to mix the life story of Sir Francis Drake, that heroic Brit who defeated the Spanish Armada, with some old-fashioned fantasy heroics along the lines of a Sinbad movie or JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. The resulting concoction is a silly mess of bad acting, poor plotting, and the usual excruciating CGI effects that the SyFy channel deliver.I wanted to like this film, I really did. I love all the old Harryhausen movies so something made as a tribute to them sounded good. Unfortunately, THE IMMORTAL VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN DRAKE is just too cheap to really work. The ships and sets are never convincing and the hammy actors in support are very poor indeed. Adrian Paul is awful too, particularly his broad farmer's accent which keeps drifting all over the place and had me cringing every time I heard it. The usual gamut of sea monsters and basilisks and the like turn up at every opportunity but the action is schlocky and will only be enjoyed by those in a very forgiving mood.

I wasn't expecting much watching The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake, but got a little better than I expected. I hate most of the SyFy originals, but found this one of their more tolerable efforts. The costumes and locations are great, the editing is a cut above the choppy feel I've often seen, the music score is grandiose and often epic, much better than the sluggish and over-bearing scores of most SyFy movies, the sword-fighting is decent and not as clumsy as I thought it would and the performances from Adrian Paul and Wes Ramsey. The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake does have its flaws though as well, namely the artificial-looking effects, the stilted and rather trite dialogue, scenes that aimed to have a tongue-in-cheek vibe but came across as lacking verve like the Turkish chase, clichéd characters and some of the other actors mumble through their lines. The story was a good idea to go on and had moments where it was crisply-paced and exciting, but others where it was rather dull and predictable. In conclusion, uneven but compared to other SyFy efforts it is reasonably entertaining. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I felt the film was as good as it could possibly get, being that it was a film on the Sci-fi channel. Personally, I liked The Immortal Voyages of Captain Drake. I felt it was fun and entertaining. It was Adrian Paul at his playful best. It seemed obvious that he relished the role and was having a lot of fun. When the actors on screen have fun I tend to enjoy the film a little more.The Immortal Voyages of Captain Drake was not the usual Pirate lark. I felt it was a touch Homer's the Odyssey and a touch Pirates of the Carribbean with a hint of Shiharazard and Aladdin. A story filled with magic, great sword fights, more depth than one would expect from the commercials. Its a very adventurous story with lots of great FX and CGI. Of course I laughed a lot because, hello, it was almost B-grade, can you say Giant Lobster Monster? But in spite of some of the hilarious FX it was quite the romp and quite fun. Delightfully fun!There seems to be a showing of this film tonight, Thursday, February 5 2009 on the Sci-fi channel at 8 pm or 9 pm. I look forward to seeing it again.

Well, I don't make a habit of watching television, and I certainly don't necessarily expect "fine art" when I DO. I was really looking very much forward to this and then rather disappointingly, fell asleep after about ten or fifteen minutes. But the part that I saw was exactly the lighthearted, entertaining fantastical fare I was expecting. I already KNEW from the ads that it wasn't intended to be a non=fiction piece and that it featured lots of CGI and special effects.. this is precisely what I was hoping. As to those who nitpick about "poor acting" and what have you, I will look forward very much to seeing YOUR efforts on the big screen very soon. My only regrets are that I wasn't able to see the whole thing, that I can't find any more listings or showings of it, and that it doesn't appear to be available on DVD yet.