Tools
Journey to the Center of the Earth
dir. Eric Brevig
The old red-and-blue specs may have been upgraded to spiffy Foster Grants, but as far as entertainment delivery systems go, 3-D still feels mired in the gimmick phase, the sort of thing best briefly experienced at a Disney pavilion on a hot day. Adapting the technology for everyday, non-headachy use in movies—assuming that the process really does have anything to offer other than View-Master depths of field and random objects zooming into your face—still seems beyond the ken of long-form filmmakers.
The comin'-at-ya effects are certainly state of the art in the new Journey to the Center of the Earth, but any hopes that the film might blaze new trails are squashed the first time someone picks up a paddleball. Kids should lap it up; for anyone else, Dramamine is advised.
Stranger Personals
The story wastes little time getting to the dinosaurs and lava slides: On the trail of a vanished Jules Verne–fanatic scientist, the scientist's nerdy geologist brother (Brendan Fraser), hipster teen son, and Icelandic mountain guide are trapped by a cave-in and find themselves on a, well, what the title says. Give first-time director Eric Brevig credit for keeping things hopping (an extended set piece involving flying prehistoric piranhas carries a few genuinely duck-worthy jolts), but the best reason to keep the glasses on and reach for the aspirin later is Fraser, who, as in the Mummy flicks, plays off the nonsense with a disarming blend of straight man and un-self-conscious goof. It'd be a shame if he didn't have another Gods and Monsters stretch in his future, but for any director looking for someone to convincingly throw down with a critter to be added in later, he's the ideal lug for the job.
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