Gefährliche Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde

Okay, this is getting old now. I'm binge watching Jules Verne's classics, namely 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island and Journey to the Center of the Earth and let me tell you a lot of writers have gone into business for themselves over the years.

What I mean by that is just how few are actually following Verne's work, most use the concept/title and little else. This made for TV effort barely takes the concept and is really just in title only.

Feeling and ending like the pilot episode of a Scyfy original television series it has little to nothing to do with Verne's work and is another example of creators taking liberties with time tested material.

We see a group of adventurers visit the center of the earth via a mole machine and a volcano and it erm.....flies, for some reason. While down there they come across Harry Henderson, vampire slime bat things, cavemen and an evil faceless foe who speaks in a voice that would be cheesy even by 1980's kids show standards.

Sadly the cheesiness doesn't end there, the performances are the over the top, the sfx are exactly what you'd expect for the time and the whole plot is yet another mockery to Verne's classic.

If you're seeking an adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth this very much needs skipping over. If you're looking for a cheesy dumb 1990's scifi movie starring Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager and Lurch from the Adams Family then this is the film for you.

The Good:

90's nostalgia novelty

The Bad:

Awful cgi

Has little to do with Jules Verne's work

Needlessly cheesy

Incomplete

Hysterically awful TV update of the classic story clearly (or hopefully) wasted most of its budget on beer, because the special effects stretch to little more than a bloke in a bizarre furry white suit and a dizzily-whizzing, chirpy female head in a bubble (which may remind Brit viewers of a certain recent Building Society Ad). And F. Murray Abraham's in it! It's less than a decade since the Oscar, for God's sake, 'F'! But its fun. GREAT fun. Watch it AFTER the pub, as I'm ashamed to say I did not, and its a classic.

This movie at first looked like the simplistic movie that could be entertaining on a Saturday afternoon. One never thought it would be great, but the hope was there for a pleasant if not simple few hours.

This movie could not even achieve those simple explanations. The movie started with some good scenes and some interest. But after a bit the acting seemed to grow much worse. The creatures looked sort of like people in gorilla suits - who also seemed to be guilty of bad acting. The Plot seemed to quickly drift downward into filling up time. Awful. It is hard to imagine a movie that is not even good enough to take a nap to, but this one seems to hit that level.

Really from 1993?! The special effects indicate that it could be an end of 60's movie. Awful creatures. Bad "Drilling machine" that look like some enormous Phallus. The evil fish looks like some candy children eat, and the worst of all must be the effect/spiral they use to go from one scene to another. This guy should never be allowed to make any movies, unless it was meant as some bad joke.

I've seen many, many movies in my time. Many were very good, and many were very bad. Then there was "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Of all the films I've seen in my 21½ years of existence, I've chosen "Journey..." as the worst that I have ever seen. Okay so it was a TV movie. But still, a mess of a picture like this shouldn't be allowed to waste people's time like it did. It aired 6 years ago (on NBC) and it still lingers in my mind of how distasteful and laughably silly it was. Poor F. Murray Abraham. He went from winning an Oscar to landing a brief supporting role here. Also, I am currently trying to get "Journey..." on the IMDb "bottom 100 movies" list. Please, if you could help, vote for this film, even if you haven't seen it, and give it the biggest 1 you've ever given in your life! Please??