Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Eric Brevig

Writers (WGA):

Michael D. Weiss (screenplay) and
Jennifer Flackett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 July 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Same Planet. Different World.

Plot:

On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Mushroom | Tree Fern | Stalactites | Castaway Awakening On Beach

Awards:

1 nomination

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Brendan Fraser	...	Prof. Trevor Anderson
Josh Hutcherson	...	Sean Anderson
Anita Briem	...	Hannah Ásgeirsson
Seth Meyers	...	Professor Alan Kitzens
Jean Michel Paré	...	Max Anderson
Jane Wheeler	...	Elizabeth Anderson
Frank Fontaine	...	Old Man
Giancarlo Caltabiano	...	Leonard
Kaniehtiio Horn	...	Gum-Chewing Girl
Garth Gilker	...	Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson

Also Known As:

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (USA) (3-D version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for intense adventure action and some scary moments.; Rated PG-13 for some bloody sci-fi violence. (special edition)

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Icelandic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:12A | Ireland:PG | Malaysia:U | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | Hong Kong:IIA | USA:PG (certificate #43069) | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:6 | USA:PG-13 (special edition) | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company:

Walden Media

Trivia:

When Trevor opens the box of stuff belonging to his lost brother, he pulls out an odd wooden item, declares that he doesn't know what it is, and sets it aside. The item is a Holmes Stereoscope, a device designed in 1861 by the American physician and writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes, for the viewing of so-called "stereocards". A stereocard is like a postcard which has a Left-view and Right-view photograph mounted alongside one another. When viewed through this stereoscope, the photographs are merged into one 3-D image. The Holmes Stereoscope was a great source of entertainment in the Victorian era. It was, in a sense, the Home Entertainment Centre of its day, as it transported its users to exotic places all over the world. People bought packs of stereocards for their entertainment - in much the same way as we buy DVDs today! (Thus, a character in a 3-D movie having no idea what a stereoscope is, makes for a cute little 3-D in-joke...)

Goofs:

Factual errors: A steam geyser capable of lifting a boat with 3 passengers several hundred meters would scald the passengers to death.

Quotes:

Trevor: [sees Sean playing a PSP] What is that? A... Gameboy?
Sean: PSP.

Movie Connections:

References "Family Guy" (1999)

Silly, but surprisingly enjoyable anyway

The reviewers of "Journey" are probably all correct: the logic is spotty, the premise is silly, and the requirement of the audience to suspend disbelief is beyond a typically successful film. However, despite all of that, I liked it! I went to see it because in my small town the offerings are rather slim, and I had seen everything else (is it me, or did this summer's films seem a bit clichéd and lame?).

Brendan Fraser has always been a great actor, with an agreeable presence. That he was the star here helped a lot. As did the newcomer actor, the Icelandic lady- Anita Briem. Somehow, one never seems to think of film stars as coming from Iceland. But she is comely and interesting to watch, and she looked good with Fraser. The supporting cast (and there wasn't much of them, as it was mostly CGI stuff, and not really populated with many humans, except for brief appearances) was also adequate, albeit they had little to do.

Overall, then, this was science fiction with an emphasis on the "fiction." Little here was even remotely believable. Yet taken together, it made an interesting visual contemplation of "what if?" and an enjoyable couple of hours at the cinema (for example, the characters free-fall to the "center of the earth," which would be 4,000 MILES down. Allowing for the rather slap-dash explanation of "magma envelopes" and all, we are nonetheless asked to believe they fell thousands of miles in a few seconds. The lava tube they fell down, fake as it was, was kind of evocative--- it did bring to mind a sense of mystery, and the powers of nature that are WAY beyond our everyday experiences, even if it was rather silly).

Oh, BTW, an obvious logic flaw--- if there really was a magma envelope surrounding the interior ocean and lush tropical paradise--- why didn't the free-fall take them through that, it being a sphere and all? Don't even think about it! Just enjoy the fairy tale.