WORLD'S MOST OUTRAGEOUS IMAGINATION

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Eric Brevig/2008/USA)

Fantasy adventure family films--these visual stunners and ultimate entertainers never fell short in mass popularity and general divertion. Journey to the Center of the Earth is enchased with astounding human and technological creativity bringing us in an experience so fascinating that is so eye-poppingly captured for the screen.Brendan Fraser of The Mummy series has really proven himself an icon of this genre movies; nevertheless with the help of Bridge to Terabithia's Josh Hutcherson.

The film is about Trevor Anderson (Fraser), a volcanogist/professor who is on the verge of losing his laboratory because of its long time unproductive status. Together with his nephew to his brother Max, Sean (Hutcherson),he goes to Iceland to meet a professor Max has named on his book before he died. To their surprise, that professor has died and instead they have been accompanied by his daughter Hannah (Anita Briem) in to the mountains and yes, until they made their way to the center of the Earth and their way home home which are characterized by hollow deeps, dizzy mine railways, jewel chambers, illuminated birds, giant mushrooms, sea filled with ghastly breed of fish and friendly water horses.

Journey to the Center of the Earth is a film about determination, an adventure that subjugates the idiosyncrasies and insecurities of the modern and competitive life under the captivating pleasure of what we can find because of a goal strengthened simply by love. The center of the earth is a metaphor of what we want, of what we aspire, of what we wish for. This sweet pursuit of dream is made bone chilling by by astonishing special effects and lavish production design. Certifiably an eye-candy, a chocolate for the soul of our eyes, it is nothing less a candy shop for the most outrageous imagination.

This family movie though is not perfect and could have been stretched more its potential. The journey of the three could have been elevated by probably bringing in in some greedy scientific/career rival of the Andersons that will give more action in an already action packed-able setting.There are some points in the film where I felt like the presence of the three characters is too small for the Center of the Earth and to reiterate or rephrase, the spectacularity of the visual composition is awesome but the thrills are a little boxed by the location.

The film, though improvements could have been done in the narrative itself particularly the addition of a stock character--the villain, is still a great Hollywood visual stunner. It is one of the most visually-rich family adventure out there that I've seen. The film is not perfect, it may even seem a little shallow and less socially relevant but if you want to have some departure from our complicated life on earth, you might as well want to visit the center of the earth. Try this one and have your eyes blown out of their sockets.