Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

Image by Thomas Roche via Flickr

Same Planet. Different World.

director:  Eric Brevig

actors:  Brendan Frasier (Trevor Anderson) , Josh Hutcherson (Sean), Anita Briem (Hannah)

opening:  My heart still belongs to the somewhat dopey 1959 version with Gertrude the duck.  But this version sticks closer to the original novel.

plot:  A benignly mad volcanologist Anderson and his nephew Sean travel to Iceland to find the center of the earth.  In Iceland, they acquire their skeptical guide, Hannah to lead them to the amazing underground world.

my take:  It’s a pity that they do stick closer to the original because it was dry read as I recall.  They could have souped it up a bit.  It is a visually attractive film – the “ocean” voyage was particularly impressive.  There are a few caving jokes that made my caving friend laugh, so that’s a plus.  It’s also family friendly (some of the sexual tension between James Mason and Arlene Dahl is a bit weird nowadays).  Frasier and Briem cause any trouble in that way.  Sean and Trevor seem to fit better as would be adventurers – if the film hadn’t kowtowed to the special effects department and upped the two-guys-seriously-adventuring vibe, it might have worked.

tidbits:  My caving friend stated that the rappelling that Trevor does in the movie is very difficult and it was very impressive.

It was originally scripted by Paul Chart but he left the project which doomed it.

Conclusion:  It was OK, innocuous but not worth making.

Reviews:

Reel View link – negative

Roger Ebert link – indifferent

Salon.com link – positive

Flick Filosopher – link – positive

Christian Science Monitor – link – negative

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• 5 reviews of Journey to the Center of the Earth (rateitall.com)

Inkheart (2008)

Cover of Inkheart

Story:  A girl and her father go on a quest to save her mother who has vanished by magic.

Director:  Ian Softley  (Hackers, Wings of the Dove)

Author:  It’s based on a trilogy of  fantasies by Cornelia Funke.  They are Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath. I attempted to read the first book this summer but failed.  I might try again now that I’ve seen the movie.

Cast:  Brendan Fraser (Mo); Eliza Bennett (Meggie); Paul Bettany (Dustfingers); Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent

Comments: I enjoyed seeing Brendan Fraser again.  I seem to have lost track of him but maybe he’ll make a few more movies.  I also was happy to see Paul Bettany again since I liked him so much as Chaucer in A Knight’s Tale.

Helen Mirren is a treat in the movie, and lent it an air of authenticity as it grew more fantastical.

The concept of reading stories aloud can make them real is an entertaining one.  However, it begs the question why unscrupulous people wouldn’t read a sci-fi military book and pull out  a bunch of advanced weapons and take over the world.  Apparently, the books on hand were set in historical periods.

Roger Ebert pointed out that it might scare children that if they read aloud, their mothers will disappear.  That’s a good point, although it can’t be much more disturbing than Labyrinth‘s premise.

It takes the movie an extraordinarily long time to reveal why and how the mother went missing.  Once the action starts up, everything moves along smartly.

Worth it?  Yes.

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• Inkheart (popsyndicate.com)