JOURNEY
TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
By
Jacqueline Monahan
Jacqueline
Monahan is an English tutor for the GEAR UP program at
UNLV. She is also a consultant for Columbia College
Chicago in Adjunct Faculty Affairs.
jaxn8r@msn.com
Who doesn’t love a good story about shifting plate tectonics and isolated
seismic activity? Good point, that would be most people – which is why all
of that scientific double-talk is squeezed into a 92 minute, 3-D film,
loosely based on Jules Verne’s 1864 novel of the same name. The special
effects thrill ride makes the science go down (to paraphrase Mary Poppins).
Professor/Geologist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is haunted by the
disappearance of his brother ten years earlier and determined to carry on
his life’s work, that of finding the center of the earth. His sarcastic
nephew, Sean, (Josh Hutcherson) arrives for a visit, accidentally helping
Trevor discover that worldwide volcanic activity is exactly the same as the
day his father (and Trevor’s brother) disappeared. So it’s off to Iceland
with the two of them where they meet mountain guide Hannah, (Anita Briem)
who declares that both her father and Trevor’s brother were “Vernians,”
scientists who believes Verne's works weren't science fiction, but fact.
From this point on, it will
help to check anything you know about physics at the door. Fasten your
seatbelt for a simulated, multi-dimensional roller coaster ride through
mountains, mines, and orange-tinged interior landscapes (all that magma, you
know). In discovering inner-space, the trio stumbles upon several types of
phosphorescent lighting, including flocks of blue birds, an underground
ocean stuffed with carnivorous creatures, giant Venus fly-traps – although
in this region they’ve got nothing to do with either Venus or flies. A human
head could easily fit into its snapping pod.
T-rex pays a visit; apparently not all of them got swallowed up in tar pits.
Meanwhile, the temperature is rising, like it tends to do at earth’s core.
This is the birthplace of volcanoes after all, and the three characters we
spend 90% of the film with had better devise a way to return to the surface
of the planet with their fantastic findings.
How they accomplish this will
make you think the writers are out of their skulls (when really only one
hapless dinosaur is – and they use his as a makeshift boat).
Will Trevor get his scientific proof? Will Sean get some respect for his
uncle? Will Hannah get a new American man and ultimately a green card…just
kidding. There’s a bit of a tease about another lost civilization to
explore. The guys will be back; let’s see if they trade in the girl for a
newer model.
Brenden Fraser hoists himself through one dangerous predicament after
another with only his wide eyes to show fear. Anita Briem adds a love
interest and Bjork-like accent to the proceedings. Josh Hutcherson as
obnoxious nephew-turned-adventurer makes the transition from bored teen to
Trevor’s biggest fan. It just took a few volcanoes, a T-rex and a sea full
of flesh eating fish to do it. Seems being at death’s door does wonders for
familial devotion.
Special effects
artist-turned-director Eric Brevig (Pearl Harbor, Hook) keeps the action
coming, almost too quickly. There’s no time for the trio to regroup or
strategize about their predicament. It’s all reaction with no dead ends or
else our brave trio will wind up super-heated, virtually boiled alive - yet
the audience panics more than the characters do.
3-D effects are sporadic, inspiring gasps of excellence at times and seeming
to disappear at others. Trilobite antennae, a yoyo, and discarded toothpaste
will all find their way into your eyes. A tiny bird will make you want to
capture it and take it home with you. Beginning and ending credits had
audience members reaching for the lines of letters. Then whole passages of
time go by without remembering that 3-D is part of the deal.
The script, credited to
writers Michael Weiss, (Octopus, Crocodile) Jennifer Flackett, and Mark
Levin, (Nim’s Island) is unremarkable and flat. Words take a definite
backseat to action sequences and digital creations. "I just remembered
something," Trevor says, as he hangs by his fingertips onto the edge of a
cliff. "I hate field work." A clever observation, but hardly something to
bother to utter so close to permanent annihilation. Even if you lived
through this event, a more pressing objective would be finding a change of
underwear.
This latest version of the Jules Verne classic, Journey to the Center of the
Earth (a 1959 film starred James Mason and Pat Boone) will delight younger
audiences with its amusement park atmosphere, threadbare plot and fanciful
creatures. It’s a journey worth taking if you are willing to suspend all
brainwave activity. For some, that will be its biggest selling point.
For others, the journey continues…
