It's interesting to note, however, that this most lightweight of summer action blockbusters is the only one adapted from a dense, "classic" novel rather than a comic book.In this autobiography you get to see the chaos and eccentricity that reigned over Alexi’s mind, a chaos needed to reach greatness. But at least the movie retains the respect for exploration and the pursuit of knowledge that characterized Verne's work, and encourages young viewers to seek out the story's source novel. In comparison, most of the "science" in the 3D"Journey to the Center of the Earth" is ridiculous. The science-fiction novels of Jules Verne were scrupulous in their attention to scientific plausibility, at least by the standards of Verne's era. Thus, a spinning yo-yo is more threatening than a colossal sea monster a spatter of drool falling toward the moviegoer is more startling than the drool's origin point, the jaws of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Directed by longtime visual effects supervisor Eric Brevig, the new "Journey" is set in the present, and casts the affable Fraser as Trevor, an American scientist who travels to Iceland in search of his missing volcanologist brother.Īccompanied by his initially surly but ultimately likable teenage nephew (Josh Hutcherson, of "Bridge to Terabithia") and a pretty mountain guide (Anita Briem, an actual native of Iceland), Trevor discovers that Verne's novel was not just science fiction but a fact-based guide to a subterranean world-within-a- world of giant mushrooms, carnivorous plants, prehistoric monsters, bioluminescent birds, dandelion fluff and other objects that can be made to appear three-dimensional.Ī paradox of 3D is that simple objects that appear to be small enough to fly out of the screen and "hit" the viewer usually prove scarier than gigantic menaces. "Journey to the Center of the Earth" takes its inspiration from the 1864 Jules Verne novel, but it's not really a remake of the earlier adaptation of the book, the famous 1959 film with Pat Boone and James Mason. (The movie acknowledges this with a lengthy underground-mine "roller-coaster" sequence, ripped off from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.") In contrast, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is, essentially, nothing but a thrill ride - the cinematic equivalent of an amusement-park attraction. "Beowulf" was effective, but it presented itself as a meaningful examination of the value of myth as well as a monster-vs.- barbarian crunkfest. (The audience went wild when Jason squeezed a guy's head and his eye popped "out" of the screen.) More recently, I saw Robert Zemeckis' computer-animated "Beowulf" at the Paradiso, also in the digital 3D process. ![]() ![]() I saw "Friday the 13th Part III" (1982) in a very memorable opening-night midnight screening at the old Paramount theater in the Eastgate Shopping Center. I saw the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ripoff that sparked the shortlived 3D revival of the 1980s, "Comin' at Ya!," at the Ridgeway Four in 1981. I've attended three-dimensional revivals of "House of Wax" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon," two of the more popular films from the first 3D wave, which was initiated by the movie industry in the 1950s to combat the threat of television. Somehow, I've managed to see a lot of 3D movies in theaters through the years. Projected as a "normal" two-dimensional film (as it will be at most area theaters), "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is an implausible, amusing and somewhat old-fashioned Saturday matinee-style kid-friendly adventure film. Unlike the flimsy red-and-green-lensed cardboard glasses of old, the new 3D frames are large enough to fit over your existing spectacles. Yes, you have to wear those 3D glasses, but it's worth it, even if you already wear glasses to correct your vision. If you do see it in 3D, you'll think you've experienced the greatest tooth-brushing scene in movie history. ![]() If you don't see the movie in 3D, you'll wonder why the filmmakers decided to include a sink's drain point-of-view shot of Brendan Fraser brushing his teeth and spitting directly into the camera. Having said that, let me tell you that you're a chump if you go to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth" anywhere but at the Malco Paradiso, the DeSoto Cinema 16 or the CinePlanet 16 in Atoka, where the movie is being projected in digital 3D. I want all Mid-South movie theaters to be successful, money-making ventures. I encourage everybody to go to the movies.
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