User reviews

But I have to say, it takes a set of balls the size of ostrich eggs to make a movie and put a title on it that belongs to an entirely different story. Jules Verne is spinning in his grave on this one, believe me--this isn't even vaguely in line with the book. None of the characters even have the same name, fer crying' out loud! There's tribes of lizard men and humans living down there, AND THE HUMANS SPEAK English!!

I did find the movie entertaining however, my only real issue with it is blatantly stealing the name of one of the greatest science fiction fantasies ever written in history and dropping it on another story in the blatant interest of tricking people to come in and think that they're about to witness the real thing. For God's sake, they even credit Jules Verne!!! For what, writing the title? On the up side, the women are all beautiful, but on the other hand, the men don't look like any of them, at least the subterranean dwellers, have bathed in years. What IS that stuff on them, anyway, if not dirt.

I hear that they're remaking Plan 9 From Outer Space next year, and they're going to call it Gone With the Wind.

Plot

Remake of Jules Verne's classic story finds adventurers seeking a mysterious hidden land. They are joined by the wife of another man, who had previously gone on a similar expedition and disappeared.

Cast

Treat Williams and Jeremy London are a talented pair and make for some good casting. Bryan Brown, less so. Petra Yared however was a wonderful surprise.

Verdict

How many versions of this have there been? Ever since the original back in 1959 we seem to have had a fair few, varying budgets, varying quality. So where does this Hallmark version sit on the scale? Not great, not great at all.

Now to be clear I like Williams I think he's a great b-movie leading man and both the London twins have been in plenty of great films so I consider myself a fan. So here, they had the cast to pull this off.

What didn't they have? Well to start off I'd say the budget, they didn't have the budget. Some partys looked worse than the worst Scyfy original as far as CGI is concerned and some of the practical effects were Jason & the Argonauts level.

What else? Decent writing, a consistent supporting cast and something, anything to make it stand out from the those before it (In a good way).

Without all this we have an often ugly, poorly acted, unoriginal, tacky movie that for it's 3hr runtime is exhausting.

If you binge watch multiple adaptations expect this to be a low point.

Rants

I mean seriously that scene with the large creature that won't be elaborated on as this is a no spoiler review! The CGI there was, I mean truly next level and by next level I mean last level, I mean oldest level, I mean give a computer to a cave of neanderthal men and I'm confident they'd do better! Yikes, that was just embarassing.

The Good

Two leads are great as was Yared

The Bad

Brown is just obnoxious and unlikable in everything he's in.

Hugely ugly in places Some very weak writing Some even weaker acting with some of the supporting cast.

Now let's get one thing straight before I fire my gun: I'm a BIG fan of Treat Williams (and I am not ashamed to admit I LOVED "Deep Rising"). I even like both the London-brothers, and fondly remember young Petra Jared from the TV-show "Sky Trackers". BUT what's with all these positive user comments? It doesn't make sense compared to (at the time of writing) a user rating of 4,6!

And here's why, I am sad to say, it deserves just that low rating: it's god awful BORING! It goes on for three hours and barely nothing happens!!! Sure, a few cool monsters here and there, some "cavemen", and the presence of Treat Williams, but still: this Hallmark production doesn't come close to the excitement of reading the original Jules Verne classic.

1/3 of the time is spent in a monotonous climb through caves (which all look like they are walking through the same studio over and over again). Then they reach to the "center", where another 1/3 is spent on another sound stage made to look like a village surrounded by a deep forest (for the occasion spray painted in blue). Two or three times they are attacked by some badly computer animated dinosaurs. Definitely not what one would expect from any studio SIX years after the lifelike "Jurassic Park".

And not forgetting the worst thing of it all: the soundtrack! What soundtrack? It reeks and stinks so bad I could not believe it made it to a production of this magnitude. This is one time I actually believe it was written by a computer! It doesn't fit any of the action, come to think of it: it is so simple, so without charm or any redeeming qualities what so ever it could fit ANYTHING. As a big fan of movie music I can't in my wildest dreams even begin to imagine what creature actually got paid for composing it! The end credits even tell us the crap is available on CD!!! Oh... my... God!

A nice bonus however is the appearance of some real maori tribesmen, and the fact that it is shot on location in New Zealand and Australia. All that said, this re-telling of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" isn't that bad. It just has cheesy effects, a laughable "soundtrack", and is presented in an excruciatingly boring way! And this comes from someone who has never had a problem sitting through looong movies, or mini-series for that matter.

To all viewers, do not be fooled by what appears on the front cover for the VHS of this made-for-television movie. If you want to see explorers running away from a tyrannosaurus rex or from velociraptors as the cover indicates, you will be disappointed. "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is not a film about dinosaurs. There are a few dinosaurs in it, but they're just a minor, almost unimportant subplot. The film revolves more around explorers in a prehistoric world deep underground making friends and relations with a tribe of primitive humans who are at war with a race of humanlike reptiles called Sauroids. The film was made on a limited budget, as one can tell by its at times, bad graphics. But what it does manage to do is to become entertaining with a well-acted cast, at times silly dialogue, fun action sequences, and is overall, a film that is just as long as it should be, at least for me.

Oh my, such a great tale so artlessly told. Verne, for those of you that don't know, is (or rather was)one of the true visionaries of science fiction literature. JTTCOTE is one of his evergreen tales that has been endlessly re-made and re-worked by Hollywood. It even spawned a long-forgotten 70's cartoon series.

This film is does not serve the Verne's legacy well. There has clearly been money spent on it - some of the special effects are workmanlike - and a few of the c-list actors can turn in a decent performance when put to it. Here however, they are there for the paycheck and nothing more. I could live with that if they were at least working with a good script but everywhere you look there is cliché piled upon cliché and sloppy directing and production design.

I guess if you really want to know about this film, watch it and see for yourself but I warn you now, it's about fifteen hours long. At least that is what it felt like! But I guess the best flavour of the piece comes from the fact that the women of an underground undiscovered tribe of natives wear make-up, speak English in a late 20th century idiom and shave their armpits with some kind of incredibly close shaver. And they dance disco style! All this in the nineteenth century...

Go on, try it. It's one of those "so bad, it's good" type movies...

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.

I should start off and say that I have no problem with women in the movies, I like to think that no one would have taken the above statement that way. But in the two adaptations of Journey to the Center of the Earth, women have been added to the expedition, this time in spectacular fashion, and to the overall detriment to Verne's story, which was about exploration and discovery and not about romance. But whatever, being what it is, the 1999 version at least had a moderately interesting story, although one which had little to do with the source material.

Sadly, this made for TV movie is packed with cheesy sets, goofy acting, ridiculous caricatures and atrocious special effects. Obviously, they had to make the film with what budget they had available to them, and I imagine they probably did a great job for what they had to work with, but this three hour epic takes great care to follow some parts of Verne's novel, and in other parts, the entire second half, for example, it flies off on a tangent and goes in a totally different direction. I'm all about creativity, but ever since I read JJules Verne's novel I have been dying to see a film adaptation that was at least moderately interested in adapting the actual story to the screen. So far no such luck.

Among the many things that I found disappointing about this movie, and the one that I had most hoped would have been improved upon from the 1959 version, is the subterranean sea and the surrounding environment. There are some fairly impressive special effects shots that show that there is a ceiling of granite over this massive ocean, but then the rest of the movie that takes place in this underground cavern was simply filmed outside, sunshine and all. You literally have to keep reminding yourself that this all takes place underground because it is so obviously not. And the thing that kills me is that if they had altered the color of the light that was lighting everything they could have solved that. It's right there in the book, it was described as a sort of luminescent, soft, electrical glow, I'm picturing something with a greenish tint. All that natural coloring just kills the whole effect.

Then you have the creatures that they ran into in the novel, literally they caught glimpse of some strange looking humanoid creatures and then took off running, but this movie turns them into an entire society of English speaking people, a full on culture of tribal inhabitants, the interaction with whom provides the majority of the conflict in the movie, and thus is where the real point of the novel is lost completely. The story is no longer about journeying to the center of the earth, but is instead about these outsiders arriving out of nowhere into this society, causing some dangerous conflict with the humanoid underground dwellers that live in the woods near them, and the ultimately trying to make everything right.

Oh yeah, and of course everyone in the movie has some love interest, except for the Scottish, ah, tour guide with the mysterious tattoo on his nose. But he's really only there for comic relief and brute force when needed, so that's to be expected. Needless to say, the young subterranean lover that Jonas, the strapping young explorer, meets in this underground kingdom is not the vaguely humanoid kind of creatures that were described in the book, but a stunning redhead who speaks perfect English. Now, it doesn't bother me that they speak English, because there is a sufficient reason given for that. But to have English speaking people on the journey to the center of the earth is a little distracting. As soon as Ralna say something in English you know the rest of the book is out the window. I just really don't think that anything like this is even remotely what Jules Verne had in mind

This one is an unimpressive adaptation of one of the most important novels of Jules Verne known as the writer who creates science fiction as a literary genre (in fact, Journey to the Center of the Earth is credited by Arthur C. Clarke as the best novel of Verne). This version have some good special effects but lacks impact and originality. If you want to see a better view of the same novel, see the version with James Mason instead. I give this a 4 (four).

i haven't read the book but i have to say that the movie is amazing! i just saw it few days back ...believe me i would never have rented a movie with such a name but i saw it on TV when i had nothing better to watch and i got mesmerized by it.The acting is indeed superb and though there have been computer animations but 90% look real...making a movie like this is indeed a difficult task hence all hats off to the director who deserves a great big round of applause. so people watch this even if you're not thrilled to see the cover its not about dinosaurs and monsters its actually a tale of a brave women going in search of her long lost husband and the difficulties she faced with them in her journey and the discoveries they make!

The movie strays pretty far from the book by Verne, yet it shares some similar elements. The story is exciting nonetheless. The creatures are fun to watch. If you enjoy science fiction or fantasy and like adventure stories, you'll probably enjoy this film.

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.

I went into this movie expecting crap, because it was made for TV, but I was pleasantly surprised. The acting was very good, with each actor seeming very comfortable in their characters. Treat Williams and Jeremy London worked very well as a uncle/nephew team, and Hugh Keays-Byrne delivered some serious laughs as Scottish gun smuggler-turned-guide McNiff. Bryan Brown portrays the film's antagonist with equal arrogance and intensity; very entertaining.

The problem is most people were expecting a good quality movie. The reality is, this was made for TV, and if you lower your expectations completely, it's actually a good movie.

The science is flawed, but so was Verne's, so no harm no foul. The special effects are bad, but like I said, it's made for TV. The scenery and locations are engaging and very cool. The caves are somewhat cheesy at times, but that's easily unnoticed if you pay attention to the characters. The action is visibly fake at times, especially the gunfire and fistfights, but not in a bad way.

All in all, the film contains very likable characters, genuine humor, and a very good soundtrack (another thing most reviews fail to mention). Just watch it in good humor and enjoy the story.

I liked this version of Journey to the Center of the Earth. A lot of computer animation which I liked. The Sauroids eyes I thought were cool. The only thing I didn't like was that sometimes the computer animation was too obvious. But the only reason why I gave it a 7 and not a 6 is because I liked how they did some of the backrounds.

I purchased this DVD in the Walmart bargain bin, it was bundled with a free copy of the 2005 TV movie "Jules Verne's Mysterious Island" starring Rene Mac Lachian. This made for TV movie (JTTCOTE) does have some decent special effects but the story line takes too many liberties and detracts from the original Verne novel. It's a mediocre watch but the special effects makes it somewhat palatable. The acting is above average with Jeremy London (JONAS LYTTON) putting forth the best performance of all the actors. All in all it's something to watch on a rainy day when you want to watch a science fiction movie with better then average special effects.

Technically and with re: to flow of the script, this movie is excellent, as well as graphic detail. Though I have not read the original book, I DID like the JTCOTH with Pat Boone. Not because of Pat Boone, though he's one of my present-day heroes, for his part wasn't, I thought, all that below-the-earth-shattering. But the complexity of detail in that movie was better than JTCOTH with Jeremy London. Of course Jeremy London, as all characters did equally well, expressed insightfully great facial expression. The Pat Boone (Jonas part) DVD though I have it, haven't seen that version (no DVD player puts a crimp on that). Have had no chance to see the credits from Jeremy London's JTCOTH, but the credits for the Pat Boone movie are good (Carlsbad Caverns). God bless!

This film was just an ego-trip for evolutionists, allowing them to bring across that they teach 'the truth' and that everyone else is wrong. They try to do it in a way that is subtle, hoping that it won't be so offensive that way, but it still is.

Even without this, the film is bad bad bad. The story-line and acting are nothing short of pathetic, especially the chick who falls in love with Treat; did they pick her up from the streets or something? If you want to see a good TV film, watch Jason and the Argonauts instead; Jason is much better than his brother Jeremy.

Entertaining but waaaay too much creative license, from the time frames to the tint amount of supplies. I'm only 3/4 hours into to the movie and laughing at the absurdity. Big one, foremost on my mind? How were they able to carry miles worth of climbing rope? Four people, four separate lines would have weighed a ton, not to mention very unwieldy for 4 people to haul to the first descent. We're talking Hemp rope, which is heavy and thick, not modern nylon which is obviously lighter and thinner. Traveling with a child bearing age female in a skirt. Supplies for monthlies? Dropping long, heavy fabrics to relieve herself? Water and food for 4 physically active adults?

Good thing I'm not a Verne purist or I wouldn't have continued watching. But I love a good yarn and I like all the actors. I'm just here for the fun, not science or geography lessons.

For some reason I thought I was renting (from the machine at Safeway) the LATEST version of this film with Brendon Frazier as they usually have new releases there. How stupid of me. It turned out to be the 1999 version with Treat Williams. Only a few minutes into it I realized it was a made for TV by Lifetime. The producers had a lot of nerve coming up with this comic book adaptation of such a great novel. Poor Jules Verne. It was not too bad until they reach New Zealand and enter the cave leading to what they call the center of the earth that turned out to be a movie set with blue painted trees and studio made mache rocks. They all act as if they're at Disneyland on an underground ride. And when they meet the creatures who speak English it's beyond belief. Obviously there was a ballet school somewhere behind those rocks, even with a choreographer, as a full corps of ballet girls were dancing with ballet steps mixed with disco dancing. Totally ridiculous. The husband of the Carnegie heiress who they were looking for and found, speaks with an Australian accent and doesn't give a damn after finding out that Treat Williams had screwed his wife someplace behind a rock, but more unbelievable is that Treat would fall in love with her anyway as she's not at all attractive besides being one of the worst actors I've ever seen. Where did they find her? In a High School play? Then, of course, there's an evil Queen but I fast forwarded over most of that scene so don't know what she was up to. Should I care? The only thing worth looking at is Treat Williams who seems to have kept his youth remarkably. Now I can't wait to see the Brendon Frazier one that's still playing in the theaters in 3D. I should have known better.