Once I overlooked the slow moving action (at times) and hokey plot and dialogue, I found this movie really entertaining in a circus and carnival (freaky pirates, treasure, monkey, violence, wild colors in a rough landscape with spaghetti western flashbacks) sort of way. Seemed to really push the envelope for that time period in terms of gay and trans-gender undertones - what with the pirate captain's attachment to his butler and to his androgynous second in command (the character who paraded around in a dress and feathers and appeared much more interested in Will than in Arabella). I didn't even sense that the pirate captain was attracted to Arabella in a sexual way. Anyway,that made the movie all the more interesting and unique - although likely far removed from what Jules Verne envisioned.