[Not] the worst way to kill a few hours. Just think of it more as an E-Ticket attraction and less as an actual movie.
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
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Reviews Counted:149
Fresh:91
Rotten:58
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Modern visuals and an old fasioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for intense adventure action and some scary moments.
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Jul 11, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $101,653,320
Synopsis: This 2008 movie update of Jules Verne's classic sci-fi/fantasy novel uses the 1864 tale as a template, with its hero, scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), referring to his missing brother's... This 2008 movie update of Jules Verne's classic sci-fi/fantasy novel uses the 1864 tale as a template, with its hero, scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), referring to his missing brother's notes on the novel. His nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) in tow, Anderson travels to Iceland to investigate his sibling's theories, enlisting a fellow scientist's daughter, Hannah (Anita Briem), as a guide. Soon the trio's Icelandic mountain trek descends into a cave and, then deeper still to, naturally, the center of the earth, where dinosaurs and other strange prehistoric creatures still dwell. After many dangerous encounters with the native flora and fauna, Trevor, Sean, and Hannah must find a way back to the surface or face being stranded miles below the earth's crust. Directed by Eric Brevig, a veteran Hollywood visual effects supervisor (MEN IN BLACK, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW), JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH clearly delights in unveiling eye-catching CGI creatures and landscapes. Presented in some theaters in 3D format, the film features lunging beasts and vertigo-inducing visions, which are effective even in 2D, while Fraser, working in the same amiable vein as the MUMMY movies, provides a human focus amidst the special effects. For fans of the ever-likable Fraser and/or the JOURNEY story, there is plenty to enjoy in this effects-heavy adventure film. [More]
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Jane Wheeler
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Jane Wheeler
Director: Eric Brevig
Director: Eric Brevig
Screenwriter: Michael Weiss, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
Producer: Charlotte Huggins, Beau Flynn
Composer: Andrew Lockington
Studio: New Line Cinema
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Reviews for Journey to the Center of the Earth
As it is with alot of gimmick movies, there is just not enough material to even sustain 90 minutes.
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.
It's as if the filmmakers added the 3-D element because they knew the movie would be too boring to be released without it.
Audiences' connection to this gimmicky mistranslation of a sci-fi classic is likely to be spotty.
It's mostly for videogame fans who wish movies were more like videogames.
Brendan Fraser is stuck inside Journey to the Center of the Earth, a movie with precious little new to say about journeys, centers, or -- amazingly -- action.
Briskly paced but soulless where it counts, the film acts as empty spectacle that, when it all comes down to it, isn't particularly spectacular.
Meant as a non-stop roller-coaster ride, it mistakes spectacle for energy, fancy effects for wonder, and a lazy meta-plot for a clever update of a classic.
3D is a nice twist for what basically is a made for TV family movie. Think of it as Jules Verne light.
Brevig does a barely competent job of imitating the Indiana Jones movies, and seems more hindered than helped by his chosen format...
In generating what amounts to a 90-minute theme park ride, the filmmakers lost track of the need to tell a compelling story to supplement the eye candy.
It's all curiously uninvolving, and it's only Fraser's goofy grin and slapstick physicality that hold any character interest whatsoever.
Director Eric Brevig (a special-effects whiz who helped create Disneyland's Captain EO) overuses the 3-D gimmick. A yo-yo bit is repeated so many times it's annoying.
Journey to the Center of the Earth isn't playing in 3-D in every theater, but that's the only way to see it. Even then you have to wait until the last half-hour for the good stuff.
A non-movie that whisks its premise by you with a perfunctoriness that suggests you've been standing in line with cranky kids for an hour in the hot Florida sun, so let's get to it. Even in the era of short attention spans, it is slight.
Latest News for Journey to the Center of the Earth
March 13, 2009:
Brevig Plots Another 3-D Journey ![]()
Thanks to a $240 million worldwide gross and some healthy DVD numbers, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" will be getting a sequel, with Eric Brevig back in the director's chair. More...
February 25, 2009:
Eric Brevig Directing Yogi Bear ![]()
One 3-D project deserves another, so Eric Brevig will go from directing "Journey to the Center of the Earth" to Warner Bros.' 3-D live-action/CGI "Yogi Bear" feature. More...
January 06, 2009:
Academy Names Shortlist for Visual Effects Oscar ![]()
The Academy has narrowed its choices for this year's visual effects Oscar, naming "Australia," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D,"... More...
October 27, 2008:
RT on DVD: Zombie Strippers, Meet Kit Kittredge!
For the week leading up to All Hallow's Eve, there's a surprising dearth of new horror releases hitting DVD. Rest assured, though, titillation and scares can be found in a trio... More...
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