Customer Reviews

Journey to the Center of the Earth [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Trevor: Hey, look at all the schist.
Sean: What?
Trevor: It's a metamorphic rock. Green schist, white schist, micro-guarded schist-
Sean: Oh. Schist.

This adaptation of the Jules Verne classic novel features Trevor, a goofy volcanologist (Brendan Fraser), his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and Hannah, a canny Icelandic tour guide (Anita Briem).

While on a hastily arranged expedition to Iceland to retrieve data from a previously dormant volcanic sensor gadget, the trio emulates Alice by falling down a hole. Curiouser and curiouser, they end up not in Wonderland, but in a lost world, where long-extinct phosphorescent birds flutter by and the flying fish have a serious case of overbite.

Using the storyline of a missing brother and misunderstood Vernian volcanologists, the little group wanders around the treacherous terrain, overcoming insurmountable odds and horrible hardship (Eat your Trilobite, Sean) before reaching the grandly preposterous finale.

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Three down the schist hole
2. Things start heating up
3. Underground ocean crossing brings separation anxiety
4. Tyrannosaurus wrecks
5. Geyser erupts with "flare"
6. Strong hint of "to be continued"

A little Goonies, a little Indiana Jones and a lot of tongue-in-cheek adventure, this movie is great as far as light entertainment goes, and can be viewed by the whole family.

[Warning: Beware of lame lines and ridiculous situations.]

Amanda Richards

This movie isn't blockbuster materiel and the 3D was one of the primary reasons for obtaining it. Unfortunately the 3D rendition, at least as seen on an LCD flat panel, was quite poor. There is a lot of ghosting and many double images.

The 3D was so poor that it became a distraction and we ended up watching in regular 2D. If they hadn't included the 2D version I would have retuned the disks.

I'm not sure that Jules Verne, who was a stickler for scientific detail - be it imaginary or real - would think too highly of this film, even though it's not a true adaptation of his original novel. In this cinematic world, scientific fact is the equivalent of a prize greased pig - everyone keeps chasing it, but no one ever catches it. If you're going to throw realism to the curb, though, you might as well do it in unabashed grand style - and that is precisely what you get in this 21st century Journey to the Center of the Earth. What you have here is your basic summer-time action comedy. These guys survive falls that Wile E. Coyote couldn't walk away from. Fortunately, the whole thing is entertaining enough to overcome all of the inanities that could otherwise have doomed this film into forgettable silliness. In other words, it's a Brendan Fraser movie. Every time I see Brendan Fraser in a movie, my immediate reaction is to say uh oh and expect the worst - yet every time I actually end up feeling entertained. That's not to say this is a good movie - it's more of what I call a "good enough" movie.

Fraser plays Trevor Anderson, a volcanologist dedicated to continuing his late older brother's studies. Max apparently got himself killed searching for the lost world described in Verne's novel, believing that the father of science fiction was describing fact and not fantasy. Just when his lab is stolen out from under him and all seems to be lost, a 10-day visit with Max's son Sean (Josh Hutcherson) brings with it new clues in the form of notes inside Max's copy of Verne's novel - and this leads uncle and nephew to discover a new site in Iceland they simply have to explore. The scientist they want to check with in Iceland turns out to be dead, but his hot redheaded daughter Hannah (Anita Briem) agrees to guide the two up the mountain to the site. Of course, they end up trapped by a cave-in and forced to explore the mountain cave system in search of an exit. They find a lot more than that, though.

The film's myriad of CGI effects aren't all that impressive in 2D, but I'm sure the 3-D version must pack much more of a punch. Either way, though, I was surprised at how few "prehistoric" creatures there were on display. For example, I expected to see people running from dinosaurs all over the place, but there's basically just one giant monster to be found here. The characters' falls are worth watching, though, especially the first big one. If there's a longer falling scene in any other movie, I haven't come across it yet. A roller coaster-like ride in an old mine system is also great fun to watch - and the adventure doesn't end there. Some critic said this film was made as if it were a theme park ride, and I think that sums the whole thing up quite well.

This movie is just tons of fun. Sure, there's problems; Fraser's wooden acting, the ludicrous premise, the fact that it steals from so many other movies, the surprisingly bad special effects. But despite all this, the movie is still a fine piece of entertainment. Great for kids of course, but it's not so cutesy cutesy and dumbed down that alduts won't enjoy it either.

Skip the movie and go straight to the extra features. There's a terrific one on the whole "hollow Earth" movement that fueled Jules Verne's imagination to write the terrific book on which this lame movie is based on.

No amount of special effects can save this as the movie just meanders all over the place. Brendan Fraser cannot carry movies unless they are comedies. The female actress (whose name I've forgotten already) is unmmemorable and if she's supposed to have an Icelandic accent it keeps morphing into British. The young kid is also hopeless in this.

Really, it's not any of these actors' faults as the script is just brutal.

Literally, I ended up doing chores around the house as this ran as after awhile I just gave up. It's beyond dull.

Avoid watching this one in 3D, the 3D fx rarely worked (magenta/green 3D glasses are required). The magenta/green shades virtually destroyed the true colours of the film and created double images - it was horrible. Don't even bother obtaining the 3D glasses, it's not worth it. Everyone in my family suffered from bad headaches while watching it. The 3D format works best in IMAX theatres with polarized glasses, not at home.

Onwards to the good part, the regular viewing format was loads of fun, perfect for the family on a lazy weekend. Lighthearted and easy to watch.

As always, Brendan Fraser, did a superb job with his witty personality (Encino Man, Blast from the Past, The Mummy). If you are a fan of Brendan, then you know to expect silly comedy and Journey to the Center of the Earth was no exception.

For the most part, it was a real treat to watch an adventurous film with an interesting story with the occasional lame joke. Many of the scenes were breathtaking and unusual. One exception is the mining car scene on the rail tracks which was from Indiana Jones.

The glow bird that stayed with the boy was adorable and sure to capture young hearts as well.

For more family fun, definitely take a gander at some of Brendan's other films, especially Blast from the Past or George of the Jungle.