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Rating:
Currently showing at the best cinemas (sic) is "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D," a movie you would never go to see if someone hadn't already booked your ticket (without your knowledge). As you can immediately infer from the title, the highlights of the work concern the reference to the eponymous novel by Jules Verne and the three-dimensional special effects.
The film has the great merit of not being deliberately a cinematic adaptation of the book: my heart wouldn't have withstood the blockbuster Americanization of the delicate French pages. Instead, the plot features a Geology professor (with Brendan Fraser's large face) embarking on a journey to Iceland to reach none other than the center of the Earth, guided by the book written in 1864 and the notes on it annotated by his missing brother. He is joined by his nephew Sean and the Icelandic guide Hannah, as hot as she is cold. They will succeed in their quest only after risking their lives countless times, between crevices, magnetic rocks, carnivorous plants, underground oceans, sea monsters, dinosaurs, scorching magma, and—not least—a Neapolitan farmer whose vineyard they will destroy after being "spit out" by Vesuvius.
The Los Angeles production does its dirty work: a triumph of upturned noses and regulation light eyes, jokes about "saving our butts with style," baseball, and various "yeahs" soothe the child in front of the more impressive scenes (and, amid one ball after another falling to the ground, elicit a few laughs from the adult). Jules Verne himself comes to the director's aid by imagining the sudden rise in temperature in the huge crater: what better opportunity, in fact, to finally allow the brawny Fraser to show off his mighty biceps (a characteristic trait of any respected Geology professor) and the lady in question to widen the viewer's perspective on her cleavage? The thirteen-year-old Sean, for his part, is the classic American nerd addicted to his PSP, who in the end becomes the classic American who has turned from a PSP-addicted nerd into a sensitive young man. Dulcis in fundo, a pearl of unpredictability: the kiss between the professor and the feisty Icelandic girl.
The special effects are pleasant, even if perfectly analogous to the 3D cinemas that have existed in amusement parks for twenty years, so nothing groundbreaking.
That said, I cannot express a negative judgment on this work, for several reasons:
- It's less awful than I expected;
- It's overall fun. On a few occasions, you might even jump from fear (Warning: jump with caution. Breaking the fantastic 3D glasses involves a cost of 40, I say 40 euros). In short, it's pure entertaining;
- It's funny to see the idiotic faces your friends make when they wear the clumsy 3D glasses (Warning: your face will also become idiotic wearing the fantastic 3D glasses). This goes for your girlfriend/boyfriend too (Warning: libido might drop).
- It gives an idea of what the hell might have been going through Verne's mind one hundred and fifty years ago (150 years ago! Damn, even the Moka didn't exist!) and might lead the young one to want to read the book, or the less young one to reread it—as in my case.
So two and a half stars that become three because I am in a good mood. A piece of advice: go see this movie with many negative preconceptions but a serene soul, and the evening will smile upon you, the world will seem lighter, and you won't have to inevitably insult each other on the internet to vent all the frustrations of this infamous world.
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