The story: scientists follows in the footsteps of his passed away brother to find the world within a world at the centre of the earth. He takes along for the ride his nephew and son of the deceased scientist and an Icelandic guide. They get caught in all sorts of scrapes, none of which are particularly terrifying nor do they ever appear in any real danger. I won't tell you how it ends, but I'm sure you can guess...
Given Hollywood's love of remaking old classics badly, it comes as little surprise that Journey To The Centre Of The Earth has had yet another remake. Unfortunately, as is usually the case it adds little to the original and takes alot away. Cue corny one liners, cue irritating bolshy kid, cue overblown special effects to try to mask the fact that the actors can't act.
This film is not very good. Where the original was charming and entertaining, had a great star in James Mason and a brilliant score by Bernard Hermann, the remake lacks charm nor thrills, Brenden Fraser as the lead is wooden and bland and the musical score is a bore so generic for the genre you can almost sing the next orchestral burst before it's upon you.
What are the positives? Special effects? Not really I'm afraid. Because the film is caught between making a sci-fi film and a 3D gimmick the effects look fairly bad throughout. It comes across like TV CGI where you would expect more from a Hollywood budget.
Anything else? Anita Briem is OK as the Icelandic guide I suppose. She at least doesn't irritate like the mugging Fraser or the gurning kid. I know it's a film for children but that doesn't mean it has to be made, scripted and performed badly - many have proved this does not need to be the case.
But it's 3D. Who cares? That's not going to save it. This was frankly a waste of 1 hr 28 minutes of my day... I suppose at least the film is mercifully quite short.
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Based on the classic novel by Jules Verne Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D stars ... more
Brendan Fraser as Trevor, a science professor whose radical theories have completely tarnished his reputation. While backpacking across Iceland with his nephew Sean (...
Oct 18th, 2009
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