?Journey to the Center of the Earth?
D: Eric Brevig
S: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem
MANILA, Philippines?Brendan Fraser has made a career out of playing dorky jungle men (?George of the Jungle,? ?Encino Man?), making deals with the Devil (?Bedazzled?), or fighting stubborn corpses (?The Mummy? movie franchise).
In Eric Brevig?s ?Journey to the Center of the Earth,? he battles flying piranhas, famished Venus Flytraps and an irritable T. Rex?and makes the whole experience look like a visit to the Warner Bros. theme park.
Codes
He plays Trevor Anderson, a luckless geology professor who follows a trail of clues and codes that he finds in his long-missing brother?s, copy of Jules Verne?s 1864 science-fiction novel.
With sensors transmitting confusing seismic signals in Hawaii, Bolivia, Mongolia and Iceland, he ventures into the volcanic terrains of Iceland. But, after a fateful electrical storm, he finds himself?along with his 13-year-old nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson), and their mountain guide, Hannah Asgeirsson (Anita Briem)?trapped in an abandoned mine!
As they begin to crawl out of the strange cavern, they find diamonds, rubies and emeralds lodged in its walls. Soon, however, they fall into a volcanic tube that leads them to the center of the earth, a nitrogen-poor underground terrarium of breathtaking beauty that supports a number of life forms that have long been considered extinct, like electricity-producing birds, therapodan dinosaurs, Lochness monster-like creatures and carnivorous plants!
But, there?s a catch to its seemingly untarnished, pre-historic beauty: The temperature in this underground environment is unstable, and its laws of gravity defy scientific reason (check out those terrifying huge boulders suspended in mid-air!)?and Trevor, Sean and Hannah only have 48 hours to find their way out, or fry to death!
Fraser works well with Briem and Hutcherson, and this shared chemistry is one of the movie?s strong points. But, while it has enjoyable bits and eye-popping visuals, this cinematic yarn moves at a predictable pace: It?s fairly easy to second-guess what they?ll do next or what?s going to happen afterwards.
Premise
For impressionable grade school-age kids, this scenario could feel like the adventure of a lifetime. But, Brevig?s tenuous premise fails to go beyond the production?s impressive special effects and glossy visual beauty (shot on Sony?s HD F-950 camera).
And, it?s hard for a movie to sustain viewers? interest and attention if it doesn?t have much conflict to move its narrative flow forward?a storytelling element that this production clearly lacks.
Granted, Brevig?s ?Journey to the Center of the Earth??the first full-length, live-action feature shot in digital 3D?looks better in the 3D format, but just how long can a film rely on technological gimmickry before its novelty runs its course?
