Journey to the Centre of the Earth

I enjoyed every minute of the movie “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”. Must say I was a bit apprehensive about sinking my hard-earned money on another Brendan Fraser starrer. I haven’t yet fully recovered from the disaster called "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" But I have enjoyed reading Jules Verne’s "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". Since I had not bothered to check the story line on imdb.com when I checked the movie’s rating, I assumed that it is based on Verne’s novel of the same name. During the first few minutes into the movie I realized that that’s not the case.

Ok, I will let you in on a secret here. I didn’t get the storyline 100% but what little I could glean I will put forth here. Brendan is a scientist who teaches as well as does research using the lab founded in the name of his brother who was lost years ago on one his expeditions. Now the university is pulling a plug on the project as the theories they are working on are deemed impossible. Just when he is figuring out if there could be a way to save the lab, his sister-in-law dumps his teenage nephew at his doorstep as she arranges their immigration to Canada.

Brendan is just learning to cope with the teenager when he realizes that one of the probes set up by him on some remote location is showing signs of a seismic activity. The readings in 3 other locations match up exactly with those jotted down by his lost brother in the pages of Verne’s book. So Brandon goes to check on the probe with his nephew in toe. In walks a beautiful mountain guide whose late father also believed in those theories. Thus begins the journey to the centre of the earth!

I am glad that though I didn’t get the storyline in its entirety that didn’t stop me from enjoying the movie. Oh, I don’t mean to say that I believe that there are dinosaurs in a world deep within the earth’s core. That thought is downright scary and exactly the stuff nightmares are made up of. But I liked the old abandoned mine, the scary free falls and the entry into a world that humankind has never rested its eyes on. I was mentally tired of reading books that talked of what was happening to people in flesh and blood in some country. And so I was glad for this escape into a world of fantasy – even if it showed a cell phone getting a reception deep down in the centre of the earth :-)

If you guessed that I will find time to go through Verne’s original novel, you guessed it right pal! Jules Verne, here I come :-)