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REVIEW: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

In Summary: Thin plot, great effects - worth a look just for the novelty factor.

Trailer for Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

I got to preview the upcoming Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which is the first live-action film to be shot in 3-D and despite my initial doubts (I am not a huge Brendan Fraser fan) it was actually an impressive experience, much more for the special effects than the plot - which is about as thin as Brendon's real hairline.

The film is an adaptation of the 1864 novel by Jules Verne of the same name, and for people who've read the book, it takes the basic premise of the story and gives it a twist by making the novel with handwritten notes the central manuscript which is now deemed to be true instead of the runic script in the original story.

Brendan Fraser plays Professor Trevor Anderson, a down-and-out scientist whose brother Max disappeared while exploring volcanic tubes that allow access to the earth's core. Max was a "Vernean," who believed Verne's book weren't speculative fiction, but scientific studies of an existing world. Trevor finds a copy of the book owned by his brother with notes and deciphers them to realise that conditions are exactly the same as the day his brother disappeared. He decides this is the best chance to find out what happened to Max and jumps on a plane with his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) to Iceland where his brother was last seen.

There he hires an attractive icelandic guide Hannah (Anita Briem), whose father was also Vernean and they set to find Max's tectonic sensors on a remote mountainside. This is where the roller-coaster ride begins (literally) and the film really makes the most of the 3-D technology.

A lightning strike sees the three trapped in a cave, when it's deemed they can't dig their way out, they set off on a journey which, after a series of hair-raising events lands them in the centre of the earth - a beautiful ancient world filled with prehistoric creatures and a rising temperature that threatens to vapourise them. Pretty soon after they arrive it's a race to get back to the earth's surface again, but not before the wonderful imagined world allows the 3-D technology to be pushed to its full effect. Flying toothy prehistoric fish (you can guess that some head your way), carnivorous plants (a favourite scene of mine that adds new meaning to the term *****-whipped) and a magnetic rock field stand in the way of the travelers and their passage out of inner earth. With a cast of three, the movie feels a little short on characters, but I'm guessing what they saved on actors they spent on effects.

There's the obligatory Hollywood father-son paradigm and the popcorn romance as well, but this is really a light romp to show off new technology and for that I think it delivers. It also opens ones mind to the world of possibilities of future 3-D films - will this become the norm and will we see remakes of the likes of Star Wars in 3-D? DreamWorks and Disney/Pixar have vowed that all upcoming animated films will be released in 3-D.

And as the few of us noted on leaving the film - imagine how popular this would be in the porn industry!  The film opens September 25. Don your plastic glasses and enjoy.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xtff1ROz10