MPAA Rating: Rated PG for intense adventure action and some scary moments
Recommended for ages 6 and up.
Run Time: 92 minutes
Quick Take: Spend the extra dough to treat the kids to the 3-D version of Journey. Bonus: They can keep the cool shades.
The Story: Geologist Trevor Anderson is obsessed with solving the disappearance of his brother, Max, a scientist who set out three years ago to prove his theories about volcanic activity, and who hasn't been seen since. With Max's son, Sean, in tow, Anderson jets off on an impulsive trip to Iceland, where he finds a reluctant guide and an eventful trip to Jules Verne's prehistoric "world within the world."
Good If You Liked: The Mummy, The Indiana Jones movies, National Treasure
Heads Up: Not much. The adventure's so clean, one wonders what the PG is for. There's not one moment you'll mind sharing with the kids. Action scenes might be a little intense for young dispositions (under age 6), but nothing even close to your average video game (although small children do have a tendency to be especially frightened by monsters of the fanciful variety). The word "shist" is a comic euphemism for another word, but expect the kids to get the joke -- and repeat it often. Two monsters -- the killer plants and fanged fish -- are particularly ugly. The de rigeur kiss at the end is harmless -- unless you're under the age of 10, in which case, it's just icky.
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Spectacle (and a Cool Pair of Shades) Rule This Family Journey
The first thrill you get from this latest addition to the 3-D movie universe is the glasses. They're cool. Forget those old unstylish paper models heaped upon movie-goers in another generation. These babies are smart (dark frames, lenses to match), sort of like Ray Bans à la futuristic Men in Black (although the package dutifully warns that they're not effective for use as sunglasses).
Even better, they work -- really, really well. No squinting, no eye straining. All the better to soak up all the 3D wizardry lurking in the new Journey To the Center of the Earth adventure flick. Pop-off-the-screen action? Yep. Yo-yo in your face? Oh yeah. Menacing dino? Indeed. Good luck not recoiling when those explosions start coming at you.
Filmmakers seem to be having a field day playing with their 3-D toys (today's visuals are so clear), and the fun is infectious. Why quibble about plot development (the missing fourth "D?") when you've got a Saturday-matinee ride? Careen down a mineshaft! Run the rapids! Dodge mutant fish (really ugly mutant fish, by the way). There's a story and a bunch of actors (sorry, Brendan Fraser), but the real stars are nuclear-sized mushrooms, stalking dinos, slithery sea monsters -- all so vividly 3-D, you may find yourself occasionally whipping off the specs to see if those oversized jungle plants really are creeping down from the ceiling (they're not).
Director and special-effects guru Eric Brevig keeps the you-better-duck moments coming right through some of the credits, but mercifully wraps up the flick in just over 90 minutes. That's just enough time to be wowed by the spectacle but still leave the theater with only your 3-D glasses -- not a 3-D headache.
Kids Will Like:
This update of the beloved 1959 classic will no doubt net a whole new generation of Verne admirers. Expect kids to be totally wowed by the 3-D effects, especially young children for whom the pop-off-the-screen pictures could be a first. The moment when a slobbery dino slimes Sean? Nirvana. Fanciful scenery is a bit like Willy-Wonka-meets-Swiss-Family-Robinson-meets-Jurassic-Park -- three kid favorites that make the whole world-within-the-world thing seem like a paradise (except, of course, for the man-eating dinos.) Brendan Fraser is his usual wise-guy self, and kids will love his characteristic comic quips. Count on the friendly little electro-bird to be a big hit -- they'll all want to bring the little guy home.
Parents Will Like:
Ninety minutes of 3-D is surprisingly easy on the eyes: none of that eye-straining fuzzy stuff that caused headaches in 3-Ds of yore. Fraser's loveably goofy persona is even more loveable -- and a lot goofier -- in 3D. Still, you may never let your children go off with an eccentric uncle again. P.S. The 3-D version is only on about one-third of Journey screens. Pay the extra admission for 3-D. Without it, there's not much of a flick.
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