Journey to the Center of the Earth

Inspired by Jules Verne’s eponymous novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth follows Brendan Fraser’s Trevor Anderson as he and his nephew (Josh Hutcherson’s Sean) uncover a passage deep into the planet’s core – where they, along with Anita Briem’s Hannah, discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world. It’s clear immediately that Journey to the Center of the Earth‘s biggest hurdle to overcome is its astonishingly, palpably low-rent atmosphere, as filmmaker Eric Brevig delivers a chintzy production that’s rife with laughable computer-generated effects and less-than-subtle instances of 3D-geared elements – with the far-from-cinematic vibe compounded by an ongoing emphasis on action sequences that would generally be more at home within a video game. There’s little doubt, then, that the movie’s watchable vibe comes as a fairly pronounced surprise, and it’s apparent, ultimately, that the picture’s affable feel is due almost entirely to the efforts of the small yet uniformly personable cast – with Fraser’s typically charismatic, commanding performance matched by costars Hutcherson and Briem. The inclusion of a few genuinely exciting set-pieces, including a mine-cart chase lifted directly out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, cements Journey to the Center of the Earth‘s place as a forgettable yet basically entertaining endeavor, which is impressive, to be sure, given just how cheap and unpolished the whole thing generally appears.

**1/2 out of ****