Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 155
Fresh: 94 | Rotten: 61
Modern visuals and an old fasioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride.
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 36
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 12
Modern visuals and an old fasioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 242,597
My Rating
Movie Info
Academy Award-winning visual effects artist Eric Brevig makes his feature directorial debut with this adaptation of the classic Jules Verne fantasy starring Brendan Fraser. When an ambitious science professor (Fraser) develops a decidedly unconventional hypothesis, the mere mention of his name is enough to elicit laughter within the academic community. However, during a subsequent excursion to Iceland, the professor and his nephew make a major scientific discovery that sends them miles beneath
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Cast
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Brendan Fraser
Trevor Anderson -
Anita Briem
Hannah -
Josh Hutcherson
Sean Anderson -
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All Critics (158) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (95) | Rotten (63) | DVD (9)
Most of the movie, directed by Eric Brevig, is as daft, outlandish, and speedy as it needs to be, and, for all its newfangled effects, touchingly old-fashioned in its reverence for the Jules Verne novel that inspired it.
Top CriticPerfectly charming as well as predictably eye-popping.
Flat and predictable, though the visuals are often striking.
If 3D is indeed the future of movies, we're going to need something more substantial than Journey to the Center of the Earth to convince us.
If, at this moment, the child next to you grabs your arm and hollers "Duck!", the movie will have been worth the ticket price.
The absence of star charisma in Journey denies the audience some focus in a movie that keeps changing backdrops and is ultimately no more than the sum of its wild-eyed parts.
Brendan Fraser's physical dexterity and comic timing are laid out in good order here, and "Journey" is pretty much a Frasermobile. Without him, it just doesn't go anywhere.
Journey relentlessly dishes out the action and offers the bespectacled audience plenty of goopy, grabby 3-D jolts, but it all resembles a run of the mill video game. Brevig can't shake the material loose from its unbridled artificiality."
Whilst 3D glasses might mask this lapse of originality by putting it all in your face, from a standard visual plane, the creative potential of Verne's novel appears to be inexcusably wasted.
Overall, everyone involved does well, but no one besides the 3D is doing much to drop your jaw.
A live-action Looney Tunes cartoon!
For this adult...it was a chore, in 2-D or 3-D, and not even the high definition helped. (2-D/3-D Blu-ray Edition)
...rather juvenile...with many of its shots intended more to show off the 3-D process than to further its story line.
Brendan Fraser's playful force of personality rules, 3D or no 3D, one of the few funny guys who could grab attention away from a dinosaur in assault mode, in the center of the earth or anywhere else on the planet.
Many of the engaging scenes can be enjoyed the old fashioned way, minus the 3D glasses, simply for the sheer infusion of wacky humor and that playful force of personality Fraser provides. Who knew science fiction and comedy could reactivate Jules Verne.
The movie proves the perfect showcase for 3D. I can't say that it does the same for Fraser.
It's all good clean fun: a rattling good yarn, in fact, with mostly nicely modulated performances from Fraser, Hutcherson and Bream, emphasising confidence, growth, solidarity and self-reliance.
Fraser salvages his reputation as a solid, matinee-style action hero in this family-oriented fantasy.
Audience Reviews for Journey to the Center of the Earth
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Sean Anderson: Haven't you ever seen a dinosaur before?
- Trevor Anderson: Not with skin on it!
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- Trevor Anderson: What are you doing?
- Sean Anderson: I am Googleing at thirty thousand feet.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Journey to the Center of the Earth
September 8, 2011:
Eric Brevig and Brendan Fraser Reunite for William Tell 3DThe "Journey to the Center of the Earth" duo is back together again.
June 23, 2010:
Josh Hutcherson Talks Journey to the Center of the Earth Sequel, Spider-Man RumorsJosh Hutcherson is starring in the upcoming "Journey to the Center of the Earth" sequel -- and he...
April 28, 2010:
Sequels to Clash of the Titans, Journey to the Center of the Earth PlannedSequels to "Clash of the Titans" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" are on the way -- but the...
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Foreign Titles
- Die Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde (DE)
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth (UK)
