Review

Review Date: 13-July-08
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008)

Journey to the Center of the Earth is the first 3D movie I have ever seen. When I put on the glasses at the start of the show, my initial thought was that the 3D effect added little to the experience. Even after Brendan Fraser spat on me I could not see how it was going to enhance my enjoyment of the story or my treasured Saturday matinee. But after a while I got it. The theater in which I sat was small and packed, and whenever something seemed to fly off the screen everybody oohed and aahed, flinched back or swatted the air in front of them. The 3D tradition is kitschy and goofy and marked by excess, and the audience responds with enthusiastic glee. That alone justifies its use, and Journey to the Center of the Earth is well suited to the format. This picture aims to be the lightest of escape-the-heat fun and succeeds at being just what it is.

The three actors who make the journey also succeed at being just what they need to be. Fraser's big, friendly presence fills out the role of a scientist studying tectonics or some such thing whose long-lost brother disappeared while searching for volcanic shafts. He is a nice guy, of course, but as a slightly geeky bachelor he flounders when visited by his unhappy teenage nephew. The boy is played by the excellent Josh Hutcherson, who winds his way down the path of paternal attachment and blossoming manhood with grace. To hasten their descent to the advertised destination, he stumbles upon a breakthrough in his uncle's research that sends them zipping off to Iceland. There they team with a trim blonde, whom newcomer Anita Briem dignifies with the tough but kind capability that has become the standard for women in action movies, and pleasantly so.

Anyone who has seen the trailer or has a decent imagination (or, possibly, has read Jules Verne's book) knows exactly what happens when the trio gets inside a mountain; this is not a movie that hides tricks up its sleeve. The visuals are not especially impressive, but there are some cool sea serpents and an endearingly silly prehistoric bird which takes a liking to the boy. There is also a wild ride on an old mining tram that is remarkably similar to the one in the second Indiana Jones movie (which, now that I think about it, might have led to the popularity of the self-sufficient female since Kate Capshaw was so damn annoying). The journey is simple: the gender- and age-diverse trio falls, bonds, and rises again. And because American happy endings require lucre, they emerge richer financially as well as emotionally. Just hear the bespectacled crowds shout "Hooray!" It ain't high art, but it is a good time.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.