Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

Director:

Eric Brevig

Writers (WGA):

Michael D. Weiss (screenplay) and
Jennifer Flackett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 July 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Same Planet. Different World.

Plot:

On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.

Plot Keywords:

Center | Missing Brother | Earth | Cave | Mountain

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Jan. 1	11:30 AM	MAX
Tue. Jan. 5	4:50 PM	MAX

Cast

Brendan Fraser	...	Prof. Trevor Anderson
Josh Hutcherson	...	Sean Anderson
Anita Briem	...	Hannah Ásgeirsson
Seth Meyers	...	Professor Alan Kitzens
Jean Michel Paré	...	Max Anderson
Jane Wheeler	...	Elizabeth Anderson
Frank Fontaine	...	Old Man
Giancarlo Caltabiano	...	Leonard
Kaniehtiio Horn	...	Gum-Chewing Girl
Garth Gilker	...	Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson

Also Known As:

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (USA) (3-D version)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Australia)

MPAA:

Rated PG for intense adventure action and some scary moments.; Rated PG-13 for some bloody sci-fi violence. (special edition)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Icelandic | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:12A | Ireland:PG | Malaysia:U | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | Hong Kong:IIA | USA:PG (certificate #43069) | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:6 | USA:PG-13 (special edition) | Finland:K-11 | Peru:PT | South Korea:All | South Africa:10V (theatrical rating) | South Africa:13V (DVD rating) | New Zealand:PG | Germany:12 (f) | Sweden:7

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company:

Walden Media

Trivia:

The Trevor character's brother is named for famous playwright Maxwell Anderson.

Goofs:

Continuity: From the giant mushroom scene to the "sunset" scene on the beach, the sweat on Trevor's, Sean's, and Hannah's shirts keeps disappearing and reappearing.

Quotes:

Hannah Ásgeirsson: No one gets dibs on the mountain guide.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#7.60)" (2008)

A Fun Movie For Kids Mainly

Plain and simple: this is a kids' movie. If you're an adult and you saw the previews with some genuinely-scary looking scenes and thought, "Wow, this looks cool" - be warned. Some of it is cool, but most of it isn't.

Most of it is Brendan Franser doing his "George Of the Jungle" routing of yelling and screaming, either trying to find this teen kid or in terror as he falling for being chased by something. In fact, the last half hour of this film will give you headache with all the yelling by all three major parties.

I didn't realize this film was out in 3-D. I saw it on a regular DVD and the special-effects, in 2-D obviously, looked so cheesy. Some of these scenes looked like they were right out of the Tarzan movies of the 1930s with the obvious screen in the background and the actors on a stage in front of it. So, see this 3-D, if possible, otherwise expect it took look pretty bad.

Teen girls in the audience will like Josh Hutcherson ("Sean"), a handsome young kid who looks ad sounds good, until he gets excited and his voice cracks. Ah, the joys of puberty. Meanwhile, teen boys will get an eyeful with Anita Briem ("Hannah"), a very attractive new face. Actually, Anita has a lot of credibility in this role, playing a character living in Iceland who, in real life, was born and raised in Iceland before moving to England at the age of 16.

As for the story, it's a re-make of the famous Jules Verne story about discovering a whole new world (without people) in the center of the earth, complete with amazing birds and frightening animals and fish. Despite the dumbness of the dialog, the first hour was watchable. As with many adventure stories, though, it gets totally carried in the final third of the film.

In all, the movie is fairly entertaining to the degree that adults wouldn't be bored if they took their kids. It's not really offensive except for one stupid play-on-words which is totally unnecessary. Other than that, this is a very clean film safe for kids of most age. There are parts, however, that are way too scary for the real young ones.