Nov 23, 2008

Journey to Iceland

Or, to be more specific, Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008). I've been waiting for this to be available through Netflix. While the reviews haven't been stellar, I was looking forward to a movie with a touch of Iceland. After all, it features Snæfellsjökull and Icelandic actress Anita Briem. Alas, that isn't enough.

As the film began, my impressions were: It's got everything! Disneyland rides, longing for a lost Dad, technicolor terror, a history mystery. But then the opportunities to suspend disbelief started to become too numerous.


I asked John if he thought the film was campy, tongue-in-cheek? He asked me to think about who the film was intended for. Hmmm. That put it in a different light. Kids? Young kids? Kids too young to tell the difference between a bad movie and a really bad movie? Well, that would be really young kids.

The Iceland shots were enjoyable, and...note for dads of really young kids... Anita Briem looks great in a wet t-shirt. But ...moms... Brendan Fraser doesn't--really he doesn't. The best line was when Sean (Josh Hutcherson) said he wished he had read the book.

Kinda fun but gets old fast, some cool scenes and effects but also a lot of really pathetic ones. Anyway, you can skip this one, and if you don't believe me you can take Batty's word for it.

I award it two puffins (assuming the intended viewer is about ten years old).

3 comments:

John Duke said...

Maybe twice as many puffins as it deserved.

Annie said...

Anita Briem was supposed to be working with us on 'The Tudors' this season but she pulled out at the last minute. Such is life.

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

Annie, when I'm watching The Tudors I'll look at the wallpaper very carefully. I'm thinking if I look really close I'll bee able to discern a tiny cowgirl boot motif...