Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
7/16/08
Here is a movie that is headed
in two totally different historical directions, both of them pretty delightful.
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (not to be confused with the
plain old Journey to the Center of the Earth those of you in 2D
theaters are seeing) represents the cutting edge of digital 3D technology
(it's the first scripted live-action movie shot in RealD) at the same time
as its' story hearkens back to a simpler time when movie characters were
mostly unencumbered by vast conspiracies, dark character arcs and Shaymalanesque
plot twists, and knew that solving their interpersonal problems was as
simple as outrunning the nearest rampaging dinosaur. The kid in you
will have a ball. Those without much kid in them might want to bring
a book.
The story beings with a man
(Jean-Michael Pare) being chased through volcanic underground tunnels by
a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He slips and falls into a magma-filled crevice.
Fast forward ten years and we learn that man was Max Anderson, the brother
of scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Frasier), who's about to lose all
funding for his ongoing monitoring of his brother's fading system of seismic
sensors. He's also got an unwanted guest on his doorstep, Max's surly
young son Sean (John Hutcherson), whose mother leaves him with Trevor while
she scouts out a new family home in Canada. No sooner has the kid
dropped his bags in Trevor's living room than those sensors start going
crazy and a box of Max's old stuff reveals a heavily marked-up copy of
Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth with co-ordinates
matching the current readings. It seems Max believed there was some
truth to Verne's classic, and that it could be used as a road map to find
the Center of the Earth. With Sean in tow, Trevor heads for
Iceland to consult an expert on such matters, but finds only the late scientist's
daughter, mountain guide Hannah (Anita Briem). She leads them on
a perilous hike to the source of some of those readings, which leads in
turn to a REALLY deep hole...
Ah, the Center of the Earth:
in a long cinematic tradition that dates back to Verne's original work
(which we're assured here is based entirely on fact, although strangely
no one ever thinks that means the author made the trip himself), it's a
prehistoric playground filled with giant mushrooms, dinosaurs, vicious
flying fish and man-eating plants. And it's here that director Eric
Brevig, who's already treated us to a marvelous ride on out-of-control
mine cars, really cuts loose with his 3D toys. Understand that Journey
is an FX action movie, so the Real D experience you're going to get has
little in common with the gloriously rich concert images of the year's
other live-action 3D flick, U2 3D. Instead,
it's an old-school Comin' At Ya! extravaganza backed with newfangled
technology that makes everything from flying fish jumping into our faces
to yo-yos spun at the screen more realistic than we've ever seen them before.
Moreso that last fall's Beowulf, where the animated
cast was part of the CGI world around it, at times Frasier and company
look like Skrinky Dinks drifting through digital surroundings. But
the integration is better than we have reason to expect on the first try,
and I expect future RealD movies to improve on Journey's achievements.
The greatest visual strength of the format continues to be water and reflective
surfaces, but Brevig also gets a lot of mileage out of depth: you've
seen a lot of characters in movies like this hanging onto rocks and cliffs
for dear life, but you've never had such a vertigo-inducing sense that
what lies beneath them is a long, long way down. Perhaps the movie's
most memorable sequence forces Sean to cross a chasm bridged only by a
series of floating magnetic rocks that not only don't stay in one place,
but drift end over end, forcing the kid to hang on for dear life lest he
drop to his death.
When it's not busy throwing
stuff at you, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (the “3D” has
been dropped from most of the ad materials, but still appears onscreen)
is an aggressive throwback to the adventure movies of the 70's and 80's,
with a simple, highly linear plot, virtuous, uncomplicated heroes, and
no human villains. Something else it's got that you pretty much never
see anymore is a real sense that reading and knowledge are important.
Modern movies value expertise, but they also have a way of suggesting that
if you're not The Best at any field of study, there's really no point in
knowing anything about it at all.
Virtually all of the film's
screen time and dialog is given to its' three stars, and they all acquit
themselves well. Fraiser is right in his Mummy wheelhouse,
combining kid-friendly intelligence, matinée idol daring and an
infectiously cheerful goofiness. Reliable movie kid Hutcherson doesn't
get bogged down by Sean's poutiness and handles the physical action very
well. Briem, who kinda reminded me of Diane Kruger, is both a spunky,
believable tour guide and a nice, chaste PG love interest for Frasier.
Journey to the Center
of the Earth 3D once again shows off the ability of the RealD technology
to add immediacy to action sequences and elevate a pure popcorn movie experience.
The film itself is light on plot but heavy on charm and high spirits, exactly
the kind of vehicle that will benefit from having its' hero not just have
a fistfight with a carnivorous plant, but having that fistfight... IN 3D! |
