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Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth
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“Journey of the Center of the Earth” is easily described as “The Da Vinci Code” for kids: Fast paced, never ending, and with a storyline made of pure cheese. This is not exactly the faithful adaptation of the classic book many Jules Verne fans are likely hoping for. While many of the events from the novel do show in some form or another, the movie revolves around modern day Brendan Fraiser, who is trying to find his brother, who disappeared years ago trying to find the center of the Earth. See, Fraiser’s brother is a Vernian, which is basically a person who believes that Jules Verne was some sort of genius who wrote the real truths of the world in his novels. Though I’d like to think there are people who can not possibly be dumb enough to believe this, after meeting people who believe 9/11 was a result of the government I guess this isn’t too much a stretch.
Anyway, the movie revolves around Trever Anderson (Fraiser), who is a science teacher on the verge of losing his job as a result of spending too much of the schools resources monitoring satellites in three different parts of the world. Just before he is about to be thrown out of his lab though, he discovers a forth satellite in Iceland has been awakened and leaves to discover what’s up. That’s the easy part. The hard part is that his nephew (Josh Hutcherson) has been dumped on him for the week, and where he goes so must his nephew. To make a convoluted story short, with the help of a sexy guide named Hannah (Anita Briem), they end up finding the satellite and fall into the center of the Earth.
There they encounter glowing birds, killer piranhas, dinosaurs, and rising heat temperatures. Yes, this is all as silly as it sounds. So is this movie worth seeing? It depends really. I’m not going to lie: This movie is about as interesting as watching a kid play a video game. Unless there is some form of involvement from you you’re going to lose interest fast. This movie was filmed with the special effects in mind over everything else, and it looks it too. And there are two ways you can watch this: In 3D or traditional celluloid. If you choose the latter you’re likely to get very, VERY bored with this film! If you decide to see this in 3D though you’re bound to have a lot of fun despite the storyline.
The movie looks like an extended theme park ride at Disneyland, and the 3D is so in your face all the theater needs is rumbling seats to make the experience completely immersive. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is likely not going to be a very loved film. Kids will enjoy the eye candy and the eye popping visuals, but in comparison to “Wall•E,” “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” and “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” this movie seems like a lot of noise and no substance. If you must see it I recommend seeing it in 3D. In 3D it’s fun, if not forgettable. In 2D though it’s simply forgettable.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -