Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999)

The Worst Film Ever

good back-story, and good acting

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I read the reviews before watching this and was intrigued by how polarised they are. I'm somewhere in the middle - I was entertained by the movie and thought it was well cast and acted. The standards of production are good for a made-for-TV movie, and the effects are not exactly Avatar, but OK for 1999.The lack of faithfulness to Verne is irrelevant - they have to acknowledge him for the idea and theme, but there's no obligation or expectation to act out the book in every detail.The main weakness for me was the childish humour and the usual prudery in bathing scenes etc, It's funny what convention allows audiences to see and hear, or not. In summary, not a waste of time if you like this sort of thing, but pitched mainly at kids; it would have been more fun with a harder dramatic edge.

This is a grab bag of elements of the Verne story filled out with various Rice Burroughs staples: fights, captures and escapes surrounding a patriarchal tribe whose men dress caveman-style and whose flawlessly-complexioned women wear little leather skirts and bikini tops; Amazon warriors; humanoid lizards; and a seasoning of dinosaurs. The whole thing is given a weird gloss by filtering out greens - presumably a cheap way to get the blue-foliage jungles - so the whole thing is in a blue/brown/red palette. I sort of enjoyed it; but being in hospital the day after an appendix operation, I guess I wasn't in a critically demanding mood.

A slow moving, made for TV movie. The acting, while not quite abysmal, never is convincing enough to develop any degree of concern for the principle characters. The animated creature special effects look really fake, though the rubber suits look pretty good considering the other production values. Some of the landscape backgrounds are pretty interesting, and there is one actress who is stunningly attractive. This would be a great film for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" to parody. "Oh, no! We're being taken prisoner by the Chipendale Dancers!" My wife brought this home, her latest selection in a run of made for TV movies she has found at the video store. She said this one was a Hallmark Hall of Fame piece; no wonder it sucks. Take a pass on this, it is a complete waste of time.

Minor SpoilersThe following is in My opinionI thought this film was going to be spectacular with all kinds of dinosaurs and action!Boy was I disappointed:(I don't mind films that have a lot of dialogue but this was supposed to be an adventure/dinosaurs film and is I got was the relationships between the people.This was well over two hours and I believe it was about three in a half or so and I was so disappointed about this.If want to rent or purchase this film please don't rush it because if you like any Jurassic Park film of any dinosaur film for that matter I think just about any dino movie would beat this any day because at least even the worst dino films had the guts to show the dinos and don't let the box of th film fool you because that great looking T-Rex on the box is no where to be seen in this never ending no-dino fest:(Avoid this movie!