Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

As Stevenson once said "to travel is a better thing than to arrive". Unfortunately, this TV movie doesn't offer neither travel nor destination worthwhile. The travel through the Earth is dull and rushed: expect no thrill and no wonderment. And when they arrive in the center of the Earth, all looks exactly the same than the surface, with a sepia tone. The last part adds to the Verne's novel a very forgettable story about Indians and a lost husband that will make us want to run away from this place as soon as possible... and to condemn the entrance of the cave to prevent from returning by mistake.

If I'm being totally honest I recorded this version of Journey to the Center of The Earth believing it to be the 2008 remake with Brendan Fraser (I wasn't aware that there was a TV version till now). Having realised that it wasn't the version I expected once the opening credits started I decided to stick with it and here's what I thought....One thing I will say is that I think it's unfair to come down hard on this film purely because it's a 'TV movie' film. The acting was pretty bad, the animal effects were laughable (they weren't great in the original, but to be fair that was made in 1959). Despite all this, I did find this TV film to be fairly enjoyable. In this TV film we are treated to a voice-over narrative from Abel (whereby he is articulating notes that he's putting in his diary). At times, I thought that this was a nice touch as it does help to give a basic understanding of what some of the characters are thinking and how they feel. This narrative is also quite informative and helps to explain some of the things that they've discovered whilst they're in the cave. Where this falls apart slightly is that it's over-used and there are occasions when it's used to explain what's going to happen next - which is pointless as we'll know what will happen eventually. This isn't a major criticism as I found the voice-over work to be more of benefit than hindrance. I also thought that it got going fairly quickly and it was generally better paced than the original. It was all OK up till this point, but then came the final third....In this TV version of the film, our intrepid adventurers stumble across a tribe of people who have descended from earth down to the Centre of the Earth centuries ago. Just when you think it can't get any more ridiculous we then find that the tribal people are worshipping Martha's missing husband as some sort of god. I mean really? Before our adventurers met the tribes people my biggest criticism is that there was a lack of tension because no-one was pursuing them or following them like we saw in the original - alas this objection was answered at this point, but it was answered in a ridiculous and nonsensical way. The issue of food was ignored initially, but then answered when our adventurers are treated to a 'Last Supper' style feast - quite where all the food came from is a complete mystery. What I can't understand is that a film of this nature is supposed to be shrouded by mystery, our adventurers have had to use a map and a modicum of intelligence in order to get to the area that the tribe are inhabiting and yet we're supposed to believe that this tribe of people have discovered this area by mistake. It just requires too much suspension of disbelief and doesn't give the film any kind of intensity. In the original, you really felt that the team were isolated and you felt that they'd achieved something by the end, but you don't get that feeling here and it ultimately made this film a lot less rewarding and a lot less enjoyable.Up till the 60 minute mark I did think this was an OK film - it was reasonably enjoyable without being anything special. However, it's ultimately ruined by its final 30 minutes where it descended into absurdity, implausibility and downright stupidity.

may contain some spoilers, skip if you don't want movie tidbits i expected some good adventure just like the other movies with the same title, but this version of - journey to the center of the earth was pure boredom even the scenes where excitement should of ran high with a viewer, made me just yawn and wonder why....over half the movie was pure boredom, unless u count rick shroeder chasing a thief, which looked like it was filmed in 10 minutes the decent through the earth could have been made so exciting, but in this version, it was like watching a documentary on A&E. WHERES THE ACTION, SNAKES, BUGS, CAVE-IN???? 1 little fall off a ledge, heck, I've had more dramatic falls on vacations, lol why in this age of computer wizardly cant a movie put more excitement and creativity into itself.a bear supposedly attacks horses, they show a 2 second clip of a bear roaring, thats it! horses scatter and after looking for the horses for 2 minutes they say horses are gone? i mean come on, show some mauling prehistoric birds attacking, well, what a joke. i see more action on 1970's land of the lost TV show.the only good graphic in this entire movie was a sea creature jumping up and eating a bird, a whole 10 seconds total.lets talk about the acting.....if they let rick shroeder be more exciting in this flick, it would have been more fun to watch. seems to me they held him back, with poorly written script and directing the woman, martha, did a OK job, but again, script kept her boring now, PETER FONDA! oh good lord, the only reason i think he was in the film was for his name to market this movie. fonda actually ruined this film to the point of fast-forwarding the DVD. he was so boring, so un-emotional, so... blah!! to me he seemed drunk or on medication as he filmed. i coulda found a more exciting and better actor than peter fonda at the local old folks home. and paid him 1/100th as fonda!! this version of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH was made to make money off its jules verne title alone, cuz the only award it will win from this reviewer is = STINK-A-ROO !!! that being said, its worth a watch if your bored, but if you see another movie on at same time that has a fun sounding title, id choose it over this 2007 version of jules vernes journey to the center of the earth learn by your mistakes Hollywood....

A half-baked remake of the 1959 classic, and it lacks one rather important feature -- an actual journey to the Center of the Earth! Instead, the viewer is treated to a world within a world (the Earth is hollow -- who'd have guessed?!?) where there is a sky and actual sunlight (how else would vegetation grow?? the bigger question is: how does a star exist within the center of the Earth and not burn it to cinders?) The actors are passable, not good. The characters are foolish: the main female character decides to take a swim in a lake.Nobody bothers to tell her "Strange world, stay on the land." (A lake, one asks?? Yes, if there's sunlight, how could there not be lake? If one must be stupid, well then, lets be completely stupid.A good point: the only consistency in the movie is stupidity, so go with the flow, must have been the thinking. If they'd thought less, it might have gotten better.) Then,throw in to the mix, the usual "savages," indigenous to this world and an us vs. the savages ending and you have nothing out of the normal. Oh, by the way, everyone talks in 20th century English, as usual, although it's the 19th century. Writers lack any sense of the speech of different eras, common in writers under the age of 30. Watch. Snooze.