DVD Spotlight

Journey to the Center of the Earth

posted November 2, 2008 9:09 AM

By Joe Galm

It should be stated that the full potential of 3D has yet to be realized. Its uses thus far have been overtly gimmicky and the two-toned glasses negate much of the quality of the actual cinematography. Too much effort seems to be placed in producing situations that warrant such effects and the rest of the picture suffers. Of course, I am not speaking of one particular film per se but Journey certainly is guilty of all of the above.

My complaints aside, the public continues to eat up said technology. After an opening weekend that brought in more than $21 million domestically, Journey was able to be triumphant during a competitive summer season (it opened the weekend before The Dark Knight) on its way to grossing a total of around $102 million while seeing a high of 2,830 locations. Obviously this spells success for 3D films, as well as for first time director Eric Brevig but, as of now, he has no other projects slated for the future.

The film itself follows a very basic concept and decides to run with it, trying to cram as much action and “fun” into its 93 minute running time as possible. It seems as if Brevig was shooting to create a B-film through and through but this hardly excuses the absurd lengths he goes to in trying to craft action. Yes, most will realize that such an expedition is impossible; one cannot actually journey to the center of the Earth. This is easy enough to ignore but the manner in which they get there (and subsequently escape - happy ending included) are so poorly contrived that you may question what brought about such ideas. The answer would be the need for convenient 3D gags, which run rampant and basically control the narrative. This is an obvious example of quality taking a backseat to technological needs. The mentality seems to be that featuring 3D means that it must be utilized to the fullest, but the technology is still not adept at establishing background depths with any type of clarity. It is also not convincing in the manner which it demonstrates people moving against said backdrops. I will say that the 3D presentation on this DVD is an improvement from Hannah Montana’s movie but I feel it’ll still be quite some time before we see it applied to a good film.

Distributor: Warner Bros.
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem
Director: Eric Brevig
Screenwriters: Michael Weiss and Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin
Producers: Beau Flynn, Cary Granat and Charlotte Clay Huggins
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
Rating: PG for intense adventure action and some scary moments
Running time: 92 min.

3 Comments

Copper said:

The fact that they named it after a great Jules Verne novel kind of irked me. Personally, I would've gone with the title "Brendan Fraser, token kid and token blonde star in a bunch of excuses to use CGI strung together (that is not The Mummy Returns)" but I can see how that'd be too long (and too accurate). But did they have to name it after a novel that they barely followed? That's just wrong, especially in light of the probability that now people will pick up the novel and go "Wait, where's the part where the hero fistfights plants?"
The sad thing is, the novel, if adapted faithfully, would make a good 3D movie, and a good story to boot.

November 3, 2008 6:13 AM

JoeGalm said:

To me, the entire idea of using Verne's novel as a jumping off point seemed like an ill conceived, undeserved ode to the likes of National Treasure and/or The DaVinci Code. While, yes, they did physically travel to the center of the earth I don't see why the inclusion of such a name was needed either. It seems a bit insulting, even for a children's film, to name it after one of the more acclaimed expeditionary literary works of all time. This, coupled with the idea that there are those who take such a work as fact, and then indeed "prove" it to be so, is just unwarranted.

I like your title, Copper; it's fitting. I'll suggest "Defiling Crime & Punishment" for its sequel in which Fraser and company go back in time to 1800's Russia to stop Raskolnikov and go on an adventure with his pawn broker victim, who actually is a magical witch. Think of the artistic implications and how great an axe swinging would look in 3D!

November 4, 2008 9:58 AM

februarystar33 said:

Yeah, this movie pretty damn awful- it isn't made for anyone over the age of 12, and even the presentation in theaters was not so good. However, all the kiddos in my theater seemed to love it- I just wish that filmmakers/studios would try a little bit harder for that audience, and give them more substance.

November 4, 2008 10:43 AM