Overview / Story: The movie kicks off with a semi cheesy opening nightmare scene where Brendan Frasier *the lead* has a horrible dream about his brother falling into a random abyss in the depths of the Earth... While being chased by a dinosaur, almost pretty hilarious. Kind of reminded me of Mortal Kombat's opening scene. In any case, Frasier is on a quest to figure out what happened to his brother who he happened to share a life's amount of work with. The brother believed that the novel written by the dude who actually wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth was actually a documentary, and not a sci fi novel. Eventually Frasier's kid nephew had to be thrown into the mix because this movie very clearly targeted families and pre teens. Frasier and the nephew apparently decided to have a 'lets hang out with family week.' While doing so they discover evidence which gives them a clue as to the whereabouts of their missing brother / father.
Story Rating: 7
Special Effects / Stunts: The special effects in this movie had some very pretty CG elements in them throughout most of the movie. Obviously it was done well and considerable time was put into making you believe that there is an alternate world at the center of the Earth, no matter how unbelievable that is. However it is all to painstakingly obvious that 90 percent of this movie was shot in front of a green screen. And due to this, the movie really looks quite similar to Spy Kids 3d from a few years back.. Which all in all, really looks quite cheesy that most 8 year olds and under should be able to tell that it's really fake. It's almost as if they realized this and didn't care that it looked so cheesy and fake. Some of the worst CG in the movie was when the kid nephew was being chased by a T-Rex, which happened to be one of the most crucial scenes of the movie.
Special Effects/ Stunts Rating: 7.5
Sound / Music: The soundtrack unfortunately was very forgettable. No worthwhile music comes to mind. The movie only offers other generic family themed melodies, but even so, the composer didn't bring forth a memorable piece. The actual sound in the movie was well done and everything was mixed to today's industry standards.
Acting / Casting:
I can't really complain to much about the casting in this movie. Brendan Frasier provided his natural humor and charisma like he usually does to most of his movies. And he was complemented by an actress lead who I've never seen before but she played her part as the mountain guide / love interest hard to get type quite well. My main problem with the casting was the little kid shit head who they got to be the nephew. This kid obviously walked straight out of a Nick comedy skit show. Even still, he wasn't horrible, he made you believe he was a teenager shit head who grew to like his uncle throughout the course of the "Journey".. But, you can't help but think he's too annoying.
Acting/Casting Rating: 8
Summary: In conclusion, Journey to the Center of the Earth is a fun family adventure with some pretty neat CG / 3d effects. While it is certainly not the best movie ever created and there are definite flaws... I can recommend this movie to be highly considered when it comes out later this year as a rental for the whole family to enjoy. It's a "feel good" type of movie. You can't go wrong if you have kids.
Overall Rating: 7.25 (WORTH RENTING)
*Mummy (2000)
*Mummy 2 (2002)
*Mummy 3 (2008)
*Spy Kids 3D (2003)