frenchmills's Blog

It doesn't follow Jules Verne's novel, for sure.  It is set in the early 21st Century, with technology playing a large part in it.

Of course, the technology of note is the REAL-D 3-d of the movie itself, using polarized glasses instead of the usual red/blue.  The movie is only slightly fuzzy without the glasses.  With them on, the 3-D effects do stand out (sic).  Especially smaller items, such as chunks of matter flying across the screen and seeming almost out into the audience, or tentacles or voracious big-teethed, sharp-teethed fish mouths.  With a few sound effects to accompany a particular object jumping out at you, it can cause you to jump.

The story hinges on Jules Verne's novel, but of course doesn't follow the original story line.  Brendan Fraser stars as Trevor, a professor of plate tectonics, and Josh Hutcherson as his nephew, who reluctantly stays over at Fraser's (messy) home.

The university is about to close down the project that Fraser's brother (Hutcherson's father) started because he disappeared 10 years ago and they see no use to the project.

It's just a returning to operative mode of a sensor in Iceland (hints of Verne's novel) and notations in Verne's novel that was left in a box of other belongings given to the nephew that spurs Fraser to explore the Iceland sensor.

From there, it's a series of accidents that propels these two, plus Anita Briem, as Hanna, the daughter of the head of the institute that the brother visited, into the Center of the Earth.

The story there moves from crisis to crisis, much like a  classic cliff-hanging movie, where the heroes almost face disaster and yet are rescued.  It is a fun, roller-coaster ride (a ride in a mine train is added for such effect) throughout the movie from one danger to the next.

I am sure critics will have a problem with this movie, because it has a simple, linear story-line, with not too many surprises.  It would seem that it hingeson the special effects.  But it is what you'd call a fun movie, and one that you can feel comfortable taking children to -- in fact, activity books and such are aimed at young people, with education in mind. 

My only problem is that the movie took a little too long in the setup, and not enough time was spent in the actual adventure in the Center of the Earth.  I feel we could have had more fun with more dangers had more time been spent underground.

But overall it's a good movie.