Journey to the Center of the Earth (1989)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Instant Favorite.

A Masterpiece!

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

From an early age I've loved films based on Jules Verne's "Journey To The Centre of Earth", Edgar Rice Burroughs' "At The Earth's Core", Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" and countless other tales of hidden realms populated by strange civilisations, weird creatures or dinosaurs, no matter how loosely they followed the original, how many liberties they took with it or how much they "borrowed" from each other. I'm also a fan of cheesy 80's fantasy, so generally I can be forgiving towards wobbly special effects, but even I must draw the line somewhere! My main problem with this isn't the terrible acting or the dodgy special effects (anyone waiting for stop-motion dinosaurs, please move along. There's some men-in-suit monsters, I'll get to those in a sec) but with they fact that this "story" has no structure to it whatsoever. Characters that start of being the main protagonists end up being side-lined or even just forgotten (I would imagine they couldn't afford the actors after filming started and they just walked off set), plot lines are set up then are not resolved and it literally ends with "And then someone just does something and makes everything OK- THE END!". Halfway through the film the characters have dream sequences, one of which shows the protagonists shooting up through a tunnel in a large stone bowl, reminiscent of the ending of the Disney film of the same name, another shows one of the heroes rescuing the others and a character that is yet to be introduced played by Emo Philips (who's name receives top billing) from large, shambling monsters. Later in the film Emo Philips does indeed turn up, albeit in a different costume and wig to that he had in the dream and you go "Aha! The characters were somehow predicting their own future!" but that isn't the case! Philips character is just another "wacky" minion who doesn't effect the story whatsoever!If films were cars you'd have some that were finely crafted Rolls Royces, some that were sturdy, reliable functional trucks and others that may be cheap and badly made or old and rusted and falling apart. Journey To The Center of the Earth isn't even one of these, it's just some assorted junk that someone has assembled in the shape of a car. Seriously, this film should never had been released.

I guess the answer to my own question is that it is so bad it's good. Fans of the book will probably well and truly dislike this film, but while some of it was like viewing a train wreck, I did find myself moderately enjoying it.The cast is pretty electric and do their best. They don't have much to work with and the results overall are a mixed bag, plus I admit there were some questionable casting choices initially, but I could actually sort of see some effort. The pacing is pretty good, the direction was at least okay(in some ways) and the film is a good enough length, maybe not long enough to cover the whole story but it wasn't too short or too long in my opinion.However, I have to admit there are a LOT of problems with this film. The story is incoherent and sometimes hard to follow, while the script has a lot of ups and downs. Complete with some garish cinematography, some amateurish sets and some half-baked special effects. And in case you're wondering, it does bare little resemblance to the book- not that it is a flaw or anything, but in case you love the book and are thinking of seeing this film, I am just warning you in advance it has a number of changes.Overall, has its moments, but it does have this so bad its good value, so it's watchable but don't expect a masterpiece. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Rusty Lemorande's ' Journey To The Center Of The Earth ' should not be regarded as a sequel to Albert Pyun's ' Alien From L.A. '. Although released in the same year as that movie ( 1988 ) and utilizing some of the same sets and characters, Lemorande's ' Journey... ' actually pre-dates it, production having begun around 1986. Unfortunately, financial problems apparently halted filming and Pyun was later brought in to make the movie his own, the latter half of the story altered to tie-in with the release of ' Alien.. '.Loosely based on Jules Verne's classic novel and aimed squarely at a teen audience, ' Journey... ' is a fun science-fiction fantasy adventure that has a likeable young british nanny named Crystina ( Nicola Cowper ) plummet to the center of the earth whilst exploring the volcanic landscape of Hawaii with two young american boys, Richard ( Paul Carafotes ) and Bryan ( Ilan Mitchell-Smith of ' Weird Science ' ).The first half of the movie belongs to Lemorande and concerns Crystina's arrival in Hawaii and her eventual descent into the center of the earth. The latter half belongs to Pyun and has Crystina wander into ' Alien From L.A.'s ' punk underground world of Atlantis. The first half is the most interesting and showcases some truly amazing special effects. The latter half is less so and is somewhat slapdash in comparison.I would hope that one day ' Journey... ' will get a release in it's original cut. For snippets of Lemorande's original vision, very different from the final cut and edited into the movie as dream sequences, has Crystina and Richard captured by underground trolls and rescued by comic book fan Bryan! Who knows, maybe an alternate version of the movie will eventually see the light of day on a special edition DVD? It would certainly make interesting viewing.

This film is the worst film I have ever seen. The story line is weak - I couldn't even follow it. The acting is high-schoolish. The sound track is irritating. The attempts at humor are not. The editing is horrible. The credits are even slow - I would be embarrassed to have my name associated with this waste of film. Don't waste your time even thinking about this attempt at acting.