Finally, a summer action movie with a woman

[klwilliams]

I saw "Journey to the Center of the Earth" tonight with acanthusleaf, and while I thought it was a terrible movie, it was fun. More to the point, one of the three main characters was a woman, who was smarter and more competent than the two guys (one man, one boy). She was a mountain guide who actually came prepared for their journey, bringing rope, belaying equipment, miners' lights, food, and lots of common sense. The main male character was played by Brendan Fraser, who is very well built, so I wonder if the movie makers realized that their target audience would include women.

When I saw the preview for this movie, I thought it might be for a remake of "Land of the Lost". I think if that had been the case it might have been a better movie. It pretty much screamed "video game". But, the characters were interesting, the setting pretty, and the plot fast-paced, so for a popcorn movie it would be worth a matinee.

Comments

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Actually it's a remake of.... 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' from... ooh I guess the late 1950s or maybe 1960. I remember seeing it as a kid and I liked it a lot better than this one despite the fact that Brendan Fraser is undebiably cute and yes the Icelandic mountain guide was good, too. Of course the original had Pat Boone in it who was very cute to my eight/ten-year-old girlie brain _then_. (Okay, okay, what _was_ I thinking???) It also had James Mason, dinosaurs, giant mushrooms (edible not fossilised) and an ocean at the centre of the earth... and they got out by riding a geyser in a giant clamshell IIRC.

The original also had Pat Boone singing 'My Love is Like a Red Red Rose' which is still a beautiful melody - a Robert Burns song, of course - and one of my earliest introductions to the lasting power of a good folk song.

It's one of those movies they rare;ly seem to show on TV amd if I saw it again today I'd probably see great gaping holes in the production values and plot, but (then) it seemed pretty good, even though the dinosaurs were obviously some kind of frilled lizard or iguana filmed against a model background to make them look huge and terrifying. (Acyually they were kinda scary and I was only eight/ten-ish.)

This new one had only man against the lements as a plotline. The original one had man against man against the elements as there was a rival expedition led by an unscrupulous scientist IIRC.

I also found the 3D extremely annoying on the new one. I would go so far as to say that I not only hate 3D but I really resent paying twice as much to see it when I don't seem to have a choice. Given a choice i wuld see the non 3D version of a movie any day.