Wonderful character development!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Since the early 80s, it seems the only way to convey a "bad guy" in a sci-fi movie is to use a guttural, speaking-while-burping, type voice most commonly associated with Dr. Claw in the cartoon version of "Inspector Gadget". That voice is SO PLAYED now that I literally have to just stop whatever is using it and walk away because I find it so annoying and irritating. This movie had a chance, albeit a tiny one, for me as I enjoy sci-fi with a good larf to it but that chance evaporated as soon as the "bad guy" made his appearance and sounded like Dr. Claw. It's weak, stupid, trite, LAZY and awful. NO MORE DOCTOR CLAW PLEASE!!!! Please, God, PLEASE!! LOL What a star studded cast too. Justina Evans, who's been associated with all things silly, was a nice add. Poor John Neville, who must have rued the day he signed the contract for this A-Bomb, could have saved this. And my favorite, Tim Russ from "Star Trek: Voyager" - who also could have saved this.Why did this potential serial fail? First, because they went with a script that had no ending! Even if you plan on sequels or an entire TV series, the big "crisis" that draws the audience in has to have some kind of resolution with an obvious hint that more such adventures are to come. This movie just dead-ended with plot holes everywhere you could drive a truck through. Second, the special effects were just god-awful. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" was out at this exact same time and even with a different nose prosthesis for each species separating out the various space characters (Note to Star Trek, be more creative please! Tentacles shouldn't be out of the question), the special effects in DS9 were infinitely better than this piece of dog doo! Honestly - drooling, fanged-manta-ray puppets?! C'MON! Last, BORING! This was so god awful boring and silly and hokey and just inspidly stupid it never should have seen a millisecond on air. Worst movie EVER! (And I sat through all of "Howard the Duck" - IN THE THEATRE!) You know what's really sad? To date, the 1959 version of this title still sets the high bar. Even the most recent production wasn't as interesting to me as the original. Sad.I gladly give this a 1. They got it the old fashioned way, they EARNED it. *grin*

I saw this movie recently on late night cable. It has to be the worst adaptation of Verne's work ever. And to make it even worse, it has the stench of pilot all over it. The open ending leaves me in no doubt that someone intended this to become an ongoing series. Thankfully that didn't happen.The plot was a jumbled mess. The acting was bad. The science in the science fiction was non existent.Here's an example of the stupidity. They meet a yeti. He doesn't speak English so they quickly rig up a headset translator for him. After about a minute he takes the thing off and now can somehow speak English without it.

This was a piece, and not a good one. The 'updating' was stupid. The moronic synthesizer was lame, and nothing even close to what was needed. Of course, with what was on the screen, maybe it was the best inspiration that the composer could get, OR, the budget could afford. To have taken what Verne wrote and stayed with that context would have been excellent. This is more like something from Edgar Rice Borroughs, and a really poor attempt at his work. I guess that if you were four years old in 1993 and knew nothing better, this would be a good show. However...... Oh, and the constant narrative by the "hero" was annoying. It would be good to heed the advise of all the others (and me) and pass on this one. You won't regret missing this one.

"Journey to the Centre of the Earth", the name brings to mind one of the world's best sci fi writers. And what do the Americans do to this pearl of literature. RUIN IT! I am surprised that the Jules Verne estate don't have an automatic chance to preview all films carrying the name and say whether or not it should be shown at all. My vote for this film:Special Effects 5 Cast 3 Plot -2Overall average 3.4 out of 10