Much of Journey plays like a thinner version of an Indiana Jones movie – a series not noted for its stoutness to begin with.
Comment
07/11/08
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
61
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:149
Fresh:91
Rotten:58
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Modern visuals and an old fasioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Sep 25, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $101,653,320
Synopsis: This 2008 movie update of Jules Verne's classic sci-fi/fantasy novel uses the 1864 tale as a template, with its hero, scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), referring to his missing brother's... [More]
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Jane Wheeler
Director: Eric Brevig
Reviews for Journey to the Center of the Earth
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
This is a fairly bad movie, and yet at the same time maybe about as good as it could be.
07/11/08
Top CriticEric Brevig, making his feature directing debut after a long career as a visual effects supervisor, lurches from one CG set piece to the next, though he's helped along by Fraser's easy comic touch.
07/11/08
The movie's manic, superficial energy [is] easy to enjoy.
07/11/08
The gimmickry can't lift the boats of a threadbare storyline. What the proselytizers and the investors forget is that if the characters and emotions aren't three-dimensional, the rest of the movie will always look flat.
07/11/08
Simplistic as can be with its cliched squabbling-family dynamics offering little more than a hook for the 3-D technicians to hang their hats on. But for most audiences, this one included, that was plenty.
07/11/08
If Journey to the Center of the Earth is not a ride, then what is it? One thing it may not be, quite, is a movie.
07/11/08
Top CriticIts 3D effects aside, this latest big-screen adaptation of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth unreels like a Hollywood adventure film made many decades ago.
07/11/08
At times, Journey has an enjoyably stupid feel. At other times, it's simply stupid. But it does have one thing going for it: being released in 3D in many theaters.
07/11/08
It's as if the filmmakers added the 3-D element because they knew the movie would be too boring to be released without it.
07/11/08
I was full of constant wonder, as if I was a kid again.
07/11/08
Brendan Fraser is stuck inside Journey to the Center of the Earth, a movie with precious little new to say about journeys, centers, or -- amazingly -- action.
07/11/08
Light as a feather, but never boring, Journey 3-D, brought me back just a little to my days as a youth watching adventures and for 90 minutes it was a welcome spelunk.
07/11/08
The screenwriters seem to have dedicated far more time to trying to shoehorn in as many gags involving things flying off the screen than into trying to come up with an interesting story in which to frame them.
07/11/08
...a fun amusement part ride that may actually get some young moviegoers to read the Jules Verne novel that inspired it.
07/11/08
As it chugs along like a novice marathon runner aware of its inability to win the race, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D does nothing to dissuade us from its earnest need to entertain.
07/11/08
Director Eric Brevig knows he's not really shooting a Jules Verne mind-blower; this is pure blockbuster, and it's a fine specimen.
07/11/08
A perfectly good way for a family to spend a Saturday afternoon, particularly if that family has a lot of 8-to-12-year-old boys.
07/11/08
Meant as a non-stop roller-coaster ride, it mistakes spectacle for energy, fancy effects for wonder, and a lazy meta-plot for a clever update of a classic.
07/10/08
If you can get past the first 20 minutes of the film and turn off all criticisms of bad acting and awful clichés, then you will enjoy this special effects filled adventure.
07/10/08
Latest News for Journey to the Center of the Earth
March 13, 2009:
Brevig Plots Another 3-D Journey 
Thanks to a $240 million worldwide gross and some healthy DVD numbers, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" will be getting a sequel, with Eric Brevig back in the director's chair. More...
February 25, 2009:
Eric Brevig Directing Yogi Bear
One 3-D project deserves another, so Eric Brevig will go from directing "Journey to the Center of the Earth" to Warner Bros.' 3-D live-action/CGI "Yogi Bear" feature. More...
January 06, 2009:
Academy Names Shortlist for Visual Effects Oscar
The Academy has narrowed its choices for this year's visual effects Oscar, naming "Australia," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D,"... More...
October 27, 2008:
RT on DVD: Zombie Strippers, Meet Kit Kittredge!
For the week leading up to All Hallow's Eve, there's a surprising dearth of new horror releases hitting DVD. Rest assured, though, titillation and scares can be found in a trio... More...
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