Viaggio al centro della Terra

This film tries to adapt to the cinema the sci-fi novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne. Book and author are even abundantly referred in the film. However, it creates a new story around the book that is a far cry from what was written by Verne. To begin with, this film doesn't happen in the nineteenth century but rather during our time and the original novel was about a scientific expedition into a volcano, not an occasional incident that runs by chance. The script is pretty basic and far-fetched, runs over science in favor of dramatic effect and abuses the usual clichés of adventure movies, with poorly constructed and undeveloped characters escaping from certain death always at the last moment. There is a lot of silly stuff in this movie and it harms it's quality. The film has a nice cinematography and the fast pace that it takes, along with its short lenght, helps to make it more enjoyable because we forget mistakes and failures that we would be thinking about, focusing on what is happening.

About the actors I can only say that the cast is regular, tries hard but doesn't have much quality material on which to show talent. Brendan Fraser is the sounding name here, but it doesn't surprise the audience. His character is similar to what he had in "The Mummy", reason why it doesn't require a major effort of the actor, whose career fell into the doldrums after his sudden success. Anita Briem is a perfect stranger to me but plays the hot girl contested by the good guys while Josh Hutcherson is the revolted teenager.

In short, this movie is the typical adventure movie in which nothing is credible but makes the public have fun, with appropriate doses of humor and action, some silly romance and a forgettable story. Worth watching if you just want some quick entertainment.

A scientist(Brendan Fraser, also producer) and his niece (Josh Hutcherson) undergo an hazardous voyage to find clues of his father, along the way they face numerous dangers and risks. During the trip, the scientific and his niece hire a wealthy scout (Anita Briem) to find the father who disappeared several years earlier during an expedition to a center of the earth at Iceland. The trio descend into deep caverns and discover a tunnel-rail system leading to the planet's center. They have to deal with lightning storms, endure torrential floods, volcanic eruptions, prehistoric animals and discover a forest of giant mushrooms, but not the lost city of Atlantis as happens in the classic novel.

This spectacular adaptation is a special version of the Jules Verne adventure yarn . There're rip-roaring action, spirit of adventure, derring-do, thrills and results to be pretty entertaining. It's a great fun with nice special effects , breathtaking set decoration and impressive art direction but with excessive use of computer generator. Lavish utilization of 3D cinematography and superb, imaginative soundtrack . Highlights of the voyage includes a roller-coaster trip, strong storms, magnetic rocks, a terrifying odyssey in sailing, prehistoric reptile, a Tiranosaurius Rex, and many others.

Other renditions about this know story are the following : Classic version (1959) by Henry Levin with James Mason as Lindenbrook, Pat Boone,Diane Baker and Arlene Dahl; Spanish version by Juan Piquer with Kenneth Moore, and TV adaptation by George Miller with Treat Williams, Jeremy London and Bryan Brown.

Starting with the pros of this film, it looks fantastic. The scenery is imaginative, the cinematography is inventive the costumes are well-designed and the 3D is absolutely mind-blowing. The score is excellent, and the direction isn't too bad either. The acting is pretty decent, nothing great, but nothing awful. I liked Brendan Fraser in the first two Mummy movies and he is good enough in the lead, while Josh Hutcherson who was so good in Bridge to Terabithia is even better. Also the pacing is pretty brisk.

Don't expect a brilliant script or a big, complex plot though. The script can get a little lame and clichéd, while the plot is rather predictable with one too many silly and dumb moments. The ending felt a little rushed too, and the characters are lacking in depth.

Overall, not a masterpiece, but fun enough in perhaps a mindless sort of way. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Brendan Fraser again is an amiable action hero with a young nephew (Josh Hutcherson) in tow for a buddies adventure that includes a pretty (but boring) female guide as Fraser's eventual love interest. Let's fact it--nothing original about the story but it does feature some neat special effects (courtesy of CGI), not all of which are totally convincing, but hey, this is a kiddie romp if ever there was one.

Josh Hutcherson is especially good as the adventurous nephew who trades quips with his fun-loving, equally adventurous uncle who is able to strong arm himself out of every incredible predicament.

The scientific angle of the film is just plain silly but the film is fast moving enough to help us ignore all the lack of credibility angles. The roller-coaster ride in the mine is probably the high point of 3D effects if you can see it in that dimension but it's equally thrilling on a big flat screen TV.

The only real asset the film has, aside from a script that is full of some good byplay between Fraser and Hutcherson, is the fact that the center of the film is Brendan Fraser who has lost none of his appeal as an action hero. He keeps the entertainment factor alive throughout.

Fans of Jules Verne will no doubt forgive a lot of the goings on and view this as light entertainment aimed at kiddies more than grown-ups.

I was not dreading watching Journey To The Center Of The Earth, but at the same time I was not thinking it was going to be the best movie ever either. I was simply ready to be entertained. Well, when it started up, I immediately became interested, because it looked enjoyable and entertaining and I was being fair on it, no matter how much it was against my nature to try and bash it.

After awhile, as the movie continued on, I got a little restless, and at points flat out bored and uninterested. It was a good movie, but a lot of things were just unneeded and uninteresting, and also they tried to hard to make a cool, awesome, totally tricked out film when they should have focused a little bit more on plot and character structure. (They tried to hard to please the audience, as far as I could tell.) The performances were decent enough, I should add, as well.

Well, overall, it was a nice, enjoyable film, but it is nothing that I would just praise down to the very core of the film, or really care to watch again, because there is not much that absolutely "wows" you throughout the movie, but it entertained, and there were some pretty cool action scenes I guess. Watch with an open mind.