What? Was there actually a journey?
 Jan 13th, 2009
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Director: Eric Brevig
Screenplay: Michael D. Weiss & Jennifer Flackett
Novel: Jules Verne
Genre: Action - Adventure - Family - Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Certification: 12+
Language: English
Released: 3rd November, 2008 (DVD)
MAIN CAST:
Brendan Fraser (Pof. Trevor Anderson)
Josh Hutcherson (Sean Anderson)
Anita Briem (Hannah Ásgeirsson)
As everyone already knows, this is a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake… all of them loosely based on Jules Verne's extraordinary novel.
The original 1959 movie was probably the one that remained the most faithful to the novel, although it was not the best of them all… nor is this one, regardless that Brendan Fraser makes an appearance. Unfortunately for Brendan, although 2008 was a busy year for him with 'Inkheart', 'The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor', and 'The Air I Breathe' which came out only last year, apart from 'Inkheart', which I haven't yet
seen, the only good movie he's appeared in has been 'The Air I Breathe'. Brendan's third Mummy movie was a total disaster, and so was this high-budget fiasco that had the potential to sweep viewers off their feet, but chose, instead, to create a staid version that is absolutely pathetic. Brendan Fraser plays the adventurous professor, Trevor Anderson, who will journey to the centre of the earth, however, not for any of the reasons Jules Verne noted in his book. This professor Anderson will travel to Iceland with his teenaged nephew in order to find his brother who disappeared years earlier whilst visiting the country. When the professor and his nephew arrive in Iceland, it's only to discover that the only person who could have given them any information has passed away, leaving only his pretty daughter, Hannah, to answer the duo's questions. Unable to find answers even there, the professor asks Hannah to take him and his nephew to the site of the volcano monitor his brother had inspected just before he disappeared.
Arriving at the site of the monitor, a storm sets in and Hannah, the professor and the nephew are forced to take refuge in a cave… which just happens to collapse because of the storm, trapping them inside, which, in turn, forces the trio to find another exit… which leads them to a gap, which they just happen to fall through (without injuring themselves)… which in turn, after a drop of thousands of metres, takes them to the centre of the earth where they will discover the professor's long-lost and long-dead brother, and a steaming jungle which is getting all the hotter. The trio must make their way through the jungle, travel across the water while dodging killer flying fish, and then outrun a hungry T-Rex once they reach the other side. Unfortunately for the professor, life gets a whole lot more difficult when the teenaged nephew gets carried away, literally, by a gust of wind, and he and Hannah must find him in a strange and hostile land.
Unlike all its predecessors, there are no indigenous tribes in this movie, no pterodactyls, no human-eating plants, no lost cities, and definitely no breathtaking scenes. There is one T-Rex, a high-octane fall towards the centre of the earth, a rough journey on the water with deadly fish and a brow-sweating run through caves to escape a dinosaur… all in all, one of the most boring versions of Jules Verne's novel. Brendan Fraser's presence in this movie sets us up to expect a lot… way more than we're given. The magic of Jules Verne was lost on the director and both screenplay writers, and they totally massacred Verne's novel. Instead of wowing us with incredible scenery, fierce natives and prehistoric creatures, the writers focused all of their attention on four scenes - the one in the cave when the actors are falling, the scene on the water when they are trying to get to the other side, the scene where they are being chased by a dinosaur, and the scene when they make use of a geyser to take them back up to the surface. In between these scenes there is… nothing… nothing of interest.
The truth is… I felt cheated. I have always loved Jules Verne's novel - I've seen every movie ever made, read the book half a dozen times, and even watched the television series… and I can say only this, the latter, made for television, was far more awe-inspiring than this latest 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'. . As for the 3D aspect of this movie - I can't say that I actually noticed it.
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26.07.2009 16:24
i think the point was it wasn't really a remake in the traditional sense, it was more a what if the original adventure really happened, if anything it's a sequel
20.04.2009 18:00
Sounds really bad, I won't be watching this!
13.01.2009 17:21
There is nothing worse than feeling cheated after going to see a film....well there probably is..................!! I was under the impression this film was a success tho...your review has certainly changed my mind xx