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List Price: $28.98 | | Label: New Line Home Video
Salesrank: 2526
Released: October 28, 2008 |
| Our Price: $2.76 |
| Used Price: $1.25 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother a scientist his nephew & their mountain guide discover a fantastic & dangerous lost world in the center of the earth. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 10/28/2008 Starring: Brendan Fraser Anita Briem Rating: Pg
Description of Journey to the Center of the Earth:
When a seismic geologist (Brendan Fraser) discovers his lost brother's notes in a copy of the titular Jules Verne novel, he and his nephew (Josh Hutcherson, Bridge to Terabithia, Zathura) head to Iceland. There, joined by a fetching mountain guide (played by Icelandic actress Anita Briem), they get trapped in a cavern and go down, down, down, finally arriving in a primeval underworld full of prehistoric beasts and carnivorous plants. It would be pointless to complain about the empty-headedness of it all; Journey to the Center of the Earth aspires to be a kinesthetic experience. It wants to engage your adrenal glands, not your brain or your heart (the dialogue and characters are so generic, the script may have been cut-and-pasted from previous versions of Verne's book). Fraser, with his goofy handsomeness and accessible presence, provides a reasonably human axis around which all the frantic flying and swooping CGI effects revolve. The movie is as hollow as the world it depicts, but as mindless action movies go, you could do a lot worse. (Note: Journey to the Center of the Earth was released in theaters in 3-D, full of whizz-bang demonstrations of how far 3-D technology had come--trilobite antennae quivering towards the audience, a T-rex lunging out of the frame, even affable star Brendan Fraser spitting on us--as well as a half-dozen action sequences clearly destined to become video games or theme park rides.) --Bret Fetzer
Journey to the Center of the Earth Reviews:
Journey to the Center of the Earth 
2009-12-09 - Story line taked from an old classic by Jules Vern in which this plot is derived. 3D special effects are good, even better on a large screen projector or LCD TV with 3D glasses, extra good with popcorn and a drink. Character acting is to say less than average but otherwise the 3D effects help to carring story line. Vern's classic novel is much better, sorry Vern.
good family movie
2009-12-05 - If you have a younger audience then this movie will be a good choice to watch. Not meant for the mature mind looking for a more thought provoking adventure. Special effects and story line are entertaining enough but if you are looking for an edgier story line then this may not be the movie for you.
Fun adventure/Guilty pleasure
2009-11-28 - 2008's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a loose adaption of Jules Verne's classic book set in modern times. Here, the story involves Professor Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and Hannah, an attractive Icelandic mountain guide (Anita Briem), and their many misadventures as they stumble upon a an old mine and "volcano tube" that drops them deep into a marvelous subterranean world. Can they make it out alive?
One glance at the poster or dvd and the viewer will instantly know what s/he is in for -- a fun, mindless adventure in the spirit of "Indiana Jones", which is understandable in view of the fact that the first Indiana Jones film ripped-off two scenes from the 1959 version of "Journey" (the 'guiding light' and huge rolling stone sequences). This 2008 rendition even features a thrilling rollercoaster-like railcar sequence a la "Temple of Doom," although it's done better here IMHO. There's also a t-rex sequence reminiscent of "Jurassic Park," but the oversized reptile is more cartooney here (interesting how filmmakers still aren't able to outdo that t-rex sequence a full 15 years later!).
I won't compare this version to the 1959 rendition with James Mason, Pat Boone and Arlene Dahl since that film was made a half century ago! Needless to say, these are two totally different movies from two totally different eras. I will say, however, that it's not as long & tedious and there's no pet duck -- lol (not that I dislike that one).
Normally I'm not into mindless "blockbusters" like this but if they're done right and I'm in the proper mood for mindless fun adventure I'm usually able to acclimate and enjoy them for what they are. Such is the case here. Brendan Fraser is the perfect actor for these types of films (e.g. 1999's "The Mummy); he's got that likable, benevolent 'everyman' charm. In addition, Anita Briem is easy on the eyes. It's surprising that there are only three main characters in the entire film, but they have great chemistry and you can tell they had a fun time filming; it transfers to the viewer.
This is a family-friendly misadventure with the requisite goofy humor, which caused me to bust out laughing numerous times. I think it's better than the three Indiana Jones sequels ("Temple of Doom," "Last Crusade" and "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"). The only reason I detract a Star is my mind started wandering a bit after the t-rex sequence late in the film. Other than that, this is a highly entertaining zany adventure flick full of spunk and wonder. That said, I'm glad it only runs an hour and a half as films of this ilk should stay around the 90-minute mark so as not to risk overstaying their welcome (e.g. the three "Pirates of the Carribean" flicks).
I also enjoyed the desolate, mountainous Icelandic locations seen early in the picture.
One last thing: The dvd features the option of viewing the film in 3D or regular (one side or the other) and provides four pairs of 3D glasses for the former. I tried the 3D version and wasn't impressed; the 3D gimmick just doesn't do much for me and I especially dislike the dingy overall picture it offers. Needless to say, I recommend viewing the film in non-3D.
CONCLUSION: Turn off your brain and have a blast!
Good for kids, but not for me 
2009-11-02 - received this movie from Netflix last night and was in the mood for a good adventure flick, so I decided to give this movie a try. From the opening scene I started to have this bad feeling in my gut as Trevor Anderson(Brendan Fraser) is having a nightmare about his brother Max running from a very silly looking CG Dinosaur and falling to his death. Still I figured it's just a dream sequence I'm sure the movie won't be as bad as the first minute, so I decided to continue with hope. In the first few scenes we see Trevor is not fairing to well at his job as a volcanologist at a school, infact his office is about to be shut down by some wormy looking guy you just want to hit. When Trevor goes home that evening and listens to his answering machine he is reminded that is thirteen year old nephew Sean(Josh Hutcherson) is coming to stay with him for the next ten days. When Sean's mother drops him off she gives Trevor a box with some of Maxes old stuff including a book Journey To The Center of The Earth.When Trevor opens the book later on he finds notes written by his late brother indicating he might have actually found the center of the earth. After going to his lab to look into it Trevor decided to head to Icland to investigate and brings Sean. So they get to Icland and pick up a guide Hannah(Anita Briem) and after a series of events get stuck underground where they end up in a world inside our own world, the center of the Earth.
So here's my take on this movie. It had it's moments, but they were few and far between. The effects weren't that good in my opinion, maybe if this was a made for TV movie but not up to par for blockbuster movie theater standards in my opinion. Most of the scenes look like they were real people with a moving picture behind them, and any of the creatures in this movie look so fake, almost cartoonlike with there expressions, infact this movie was like watching some kind of looney toons cartoon with live people. They can fall for miles and somehow survive without a scratch. The movie was released in 3-D in the theaters and maybe it looked good in that setting, but on DVD it just looks silly. I'm going to give this movie a 2 out of 5 I say if you have kids under ten it might be worth watching with them, otherwise I'd stay away from this one, there is a 1959 movie of the same name maybe oneday I'll check that one out.
A brief comment 
2009-10-21 - Please note that I watched this on my LCD TV on the HBO channel so I can't speak to the quality of the 3D, but after reading several of the reviewers here who know something about it, it looks like I didn't miss anything since they say the polarized 3D method that was used wasn't that good.
But I thought the movie itself was great for the spectacular special effects. Some are eerily beautiful, like the phosphorescent pools and the luminescent birds. The CGI animation, such as in the chase with the tyranosaurus, is also outstanding. The movie only loosely sticks to the original book, but then most people don't know the original book anyway. (I don't either, I only read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which is the more popular of the two books).
By the way, a little trivia here, Verne originally got started writing westerns, only set in South America, oddly enough, but later turned to writing sci-fi, which is what he's best known for.
The acting is also fine and Brendan Fraser projects a sort of goofy benevolence and exasperatedness which gives him an engaging on-screen presence--actually very similar to Cary Grant in many of his movies. He'll probably never be considered a truly great actor like Grant because of the movies he's been in, but he brings something to his roles that perhaps no one else but Grant did.
So overall a fun CGI and special effects filled romp that, while nothing profound, is still worth watching for the stunning visuals and also suitable for the whole family.
