How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:30
Fresh:23
Rotten:7
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Modern visuals and an old fasioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride.
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... [More]
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Jane Wheeler
Director: Eric Brevig
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.
Top CriticFlat and predictable, though the visuals are often striking.
Top CriticIf 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.
Top CriticIf, at this moment, the child next to you grabs your arm and hollers "Duck!", the movie will have been worth the ticket price.
Top CriticJourney shows that Brevig knows exactly what visual effects can do -- and more important, what they can't.
Top CriticA movie that's faithful to an idea, and to a sense of adventure, more than to a specific work.
Top CriticI don't know if 3-D could improve all movies (nothing could make The Love Guru funny) but it sure works here.
Top CriticJourney may be an utterly weightless movie, but in the end it floats rather nicely.
Top CriticIt has a just-rebellious-enough kid, just-goofy-enough hero, a cute competent heroine and plenty of bumper-car chase scenes and house-of-shocks surprises.
Top CriticUnusual for this genre, the script doesn't insult the audience's intelligence, and it mercifully soft-pedals its message about the virtues of reading.
Top CriticThe cast hits the right notes.
Top CriticClean, lightweight escapism with a top-notch gimmick.
Top CriticA virtual theme-park simulation and possibly a milestone of immersive entertainment.
Top CriticThat dinosaur looks like it's popping off the screen! Cool!
Top CriticA popcorn movie that delivers precisely what it promises. The dialogue is tepid and the outcome is preordained, but it moves at the brisk pace of a carnival ride, leaving you breathless and ready for another spin.
Top CriticWith crisp images and depth that makes you feel you could reach out and stick your hand into the middle of the action, the movie projected in digital 3-D form actually makes that theme-park ride kind of fun.
Top CriticThis is a fairly bad movie, and yet at the same time maybe about as good as it could be.
Top CriticEric Brevig, making his feature directing debut after a long career as a visual effects supervisor, lurches from one CG set piece to the next, though he's helped along by Fraser's easy comic touch.
Top CriticThe gimmickry can't lift the boats of a threadbare storyline. What the proselytizers and the investors forget is that if the characters and emotions aren't three-dimensional, the rest of the movie will always look flat.
Top Critic
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...
Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!
Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.
Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
RSS Feeds
Comment
