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"JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH" (2008) (Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons None Minor Moderate *Heavy None Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild Mild Heavy None *None Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Mild None Heavy Moderate Mild QUICK TAKE: Adventure: A scientist, his teenage nephew, and their mountain guide find themselves living out part of the plot of Jules Verne's novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth." PLOT: Trevor Anderson (BRENDAN FRASER) is a geologist who's just learned that the university where he works is shutting down his lab. If that's not bad enough, his sister-in-law is dropping off her sullen teenager, Sean (JOSH HUTCHERSON), to stay with him for a bit before the mother-son duo moves to Canada. The new houseguest makes Trevor think of his brother, Max, Sean's father who's been missing since 1997. But when going through notes Max wrote in his copy of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," Trevor notices striking similarities between scientific readings back then and now. Without much of a plan, Trevor reluctantly drags Sean along with him to Iceland where they end up hooking up with local mountain guide Hannah (ANITA BRIEM). Following a bad lightning storm, the three end up trapped inside a cave when the entrance collapses, cutting off their exit. Hoping to find another way out, they end up headed down -- way down -- when they fall miles down a shaft into an underground ecosystem at the center of the Earth. Realizing that what Verne wrote was actually true, the trio tries to make their way out, all while avoiding rising air temperatures, carnivorous plants, and a hungry T-Rex. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? It's possible, especially considering the thrill-ride look to it, while fans of anyone in the cast might also be interested. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For intense adventure action and some scary moments. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: BRENDAN FRASER plays a scientist who reluctantly takes his teenage nephew with him to investigate some peculiar geological readings in Iceland. After ending up in the world within the world, he does what he can to protect himself as well as Trevor and Hannah. JOSH HUTCHERSON plays his teenage nephew who isn't crazy to be stuck with his uncle and then finds himself in an experience he couldn't have imagined. He must also contend with the confirmation of his long-missing father's death. ANITA BRIEM plays an Icelandic mountain guide who ends up stuck at the center of the Earth with those two and does what she can to get all of them out safely. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a brief summary of the content found in this action/adventure film that's been rated PG. There's no profanity (although there are two sound-alike "s" words), while some colorful phrases are present, and a teenage boy states he has "dibs" on an older female mountain guide (who briefly kisses the boy's adult uncle, and shows varying amounts of cleavage). All sorts of perilous moments are present (including being chased by a T-Rex, having to fight off carnivorous plants and scary-looking fish, etc.). Some bad attitudes are present, as is some tense family material regarding parental deaths in the past (and one is confirmed during the story), while some material might be enticing for some kids to imitate. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from lightning in several storms. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's a roller coaster type point of view sequence through tunnels and tracks in old mine cars. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE None. BLOOD/GORE Hannah's hands are burned by a rope slipping through them (and may be a bit bloody from that). When Trevor kills a huge carnivorous plant, he gets goo all over his hands. A large amount of drool from a T-Rex drips down onto Sean. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Sean isn't happy to be dropped off at Trevor's for a 10-day stay (and before moving to Canada with his mom). Accordingly, he has a bad/sarcastic attitude, at least at the beginning of the film. Trevor's boss has a condescending attitude toward him and his associate. FRIGHTENING SCENES The following may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material, but probably few others (who instead will probably find it as only adventurous). And that will be exacerbated if the movie is seen in theaters in 3-D. We see a man running from a T-Rex that's chasing him, followed by the man falling and then dangling from a cliff above lava into which he then falls (we don't see the impact, and this turns out to be a nightmare Trevor's having). With a storm approaching as they hike across mountainous terrain, Hannah tells Trevor and Sean they should seek cover. Lightning strikes then begin, with several hitting near Trevor as he races to get into a cave. He realizes what he's carrying is attracting the lighting, so he throws that aside and lighting hits it, blasting it to bits. The three then race into the cave, followed by the entrance collapsing in a massive heap, thus preventing any chance of escaping that way (leaving Sean scared). While heading through a cave, Hannah stops Trevor just before he steps off the edge of a sheer cliff. Trevor ignites a flare to illuminate a chasm, not realizing there's magnesium in the walls. The flame of the flare then causes that to ignite, resulting in an explosion. While rappelling down a 200 foot tall cliff inside a cave, Trevor loses his footing and ends up sliding a long way, with their counter-weight system then pulling Hannah higher up in the air. Hannah then starts to cut Trevor free, with both him and Sean panicking, but Trevor only falls the remaining few feet to the bottom below (and is unharmed, with Hannah having realized the height of that drop). The trio comes across a long-abandoned mine, with Hannah stating 81 people died in it 60 years ago, with only one person surviving. They then find old mine cars on a mine track, board them, and then end up going on a roller coaster type ride, zipping along in all directions. During this, they realize the track is out, but they manage to jump that successfully and land on the opposite side. Soon, however, all three are separated in different cars, with Hannah having to jump over to Trevor's just before her car crashes into a wall. They then must grab a rope or cable that yanks them from their car just before it crashes. They land hard, but are okay. The trio discovers that they're on a very thin layer of muscovite that's now starting to crack under their weight. They slowly try to walk off it, but it keeps cracking until it finally gives way. They then scream as they plummet, but then realize they're headed down a tube of sorts to the center of the Earth (thus they fall for a long time). When they finally reach the bottom, they hit gushing water along the walls that slows their fall, but then takes them to an underground body of water. They then swim underwater, but when Trevor and Sean surface, they realize Hannah is not there. Trevor dives back in and finds her struggling underwater with her heavy backpack. He then frees her from that and swims her to safety. After realizing that what Jules Verne wrote in his novel is actually true, Trevor and Hannah worry about the dangers that were included in that book. Hannah reacts to the sight of human remains (but we don't see them). The trio experiences various brief earthquakes while underground, and must also contend with rising air temps (up over 100). The trio builds a boat and then sets out across an underground ocean. During that, they encounter large, scary-looking fish that leap from the water at them (with Trevor catching one and barely holding back its sharp teeth -- seen from his POV). The three then use various things to whack those fish away, with one nearly biting Hannah on her clothed butt. Large sea dinosaurs then show up and eat the fish, and the trio initially seems to be in worse trouble, but the dinosaurs are only after the fish. During all of that, they must also contend with rough seas during a t-storm. That then gets worse, with the rope holding their sale burning Hannah's hands at it slips through. Sean then grabs the two ropes, but the strong wind rips the sail from the boat and lifts him high into the sky and then out of sight. Trevor and Hannah realize they're standing near large, carnivorous plants that try to attack them. Trevor decapitates one, but must then rescue Hannah (while fighting with/off others) who's been grabbed by one's vine that's now wrapped around her neck. Trevor comes across an area where the magnetic field isn't acting normally. He must then cross a series of large rocks that are floating high above a chasm (by jumping on one, thus causing it to float over toward the next, etc.). One, however, starts to rotate with him on it, and he barely holds on as it makes one revolution and then leaves him isolated from other rocks to jump to. It then rotates again, and he barely holds on as it gets him over to the other side. Those with vertigo and/or a fear of heights might find all of that unnerving. Sean comes across a huge dinosaur skeleton and then hears the real thing somewhere nearby, including with thunderous footsteps. Sean hides, not realizing the massive T-Rex is directly above him (with drool from it landing on Sean). It then bites down at him several times, with Sean then fleeing and the T-Rex chasing him. Sean ends up rushing into a cave, but the T-Rex bashes its head through the opening and tries to bite the teen who barely stays out of reach of its jaws. Trevor then comes across the scene and digs from the other side to rescue Sean. He succeeds, but the dinosaur then pursues both of them as they flee. Trevor then has them split up and leads the T-Rex out onto a thin layer of muscovite that starts to crack under the weight. It nearly gets him when the muscovite gives way, sending the dinosaur falling away and Trevor dangling from the broken edge. Trevor and Sean encounter a river too hot to get into, but Hannah then shows up in a huge dinosaur skull she's using as a makeshift boat. As the river runs out, they end up falling down a shaft in which the boat-skull becomes lodged. With lava below them rising, and needing a source of water to turn into steam to blast them out of the shaft, Trevor repeatedly tries to ignite magnesium in the shaft's walls, but is unsuccessful. Realizing he needs to find a drier source of that, he then lowers himself from a rope below the skull-boat, and tries throwing a flare to the dry walls, all as the skull-boat shifts a bit. The explosion finally takes place, resulting in the wall giving way and water pours out, down to the lava. As Trevor scrambles to get back into the skull-boat, the steam and water come racing toward and eventually blast them up and out of the miles-long shaft. They then slide down a vineyard hill, but are unharmed. GUNS/WEAPONS None. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "We're in deep schist," "Negatory," "Thrilling, eh?" (said in a Canadian accent), "Doing dude stuff that dudes do," "Welcome to the 21st century," "Are we there yet?" "I got dibs on the mountain guide," "Shut up," "That was awesome," "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the center of the Earth," "Doesn't that completely blow your mind?" "Humongous fungus," "I must be losing it" and "Let's just say I fell into a small fortune." We see Trevor's work associate with his tongue stuck to something frozen he's working with in a lab. Realizing his sister-in-law is about to arrive, Trevor races to hide his mess, including stuffing things in various spots, including the fireplace. Trying to be funny, Trevor comments on and points out "you were about that high" when he last saw his nephew. That causes Sean to look down at Trevor's finger that he then flicks up to get Sean on the nose (in a playful fashion). JUMP SCENES A large fish with sharp teeth suddenly leaps from the water at Trevor. When Sean comes to, he sees a dead, scary-looking fish right by his face (accompanied by sudden music on the soundtrack). MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY While no "s" words are used, Sean mishears the geology term "schist" for that word, but later uses it as a replacement for a term that usually uses the "s" word ("We're in deep schist"). SEX/NUDITY Hannah shows varying amounts of cleavage (usually just a little) in several scenes (with a lot in one from a downward camera angle). Sean states that he has "dibs on the mountain guide" (Hannah). Hannah briefly kisses Trevor for good luck, and once they're out of their predicament, he kisses her back, but more passionately. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Sean isn't happy to be dropped off at Trevor's for a 10-day stay (and before moving to Canada with his mom). Accordingly, he has a bad/sarcastic attitude, at least at the beginning of the film. We hear that Sean and his mom are starting over by moving to Canada. Sean then tells Trevor that his (Sean's) mom doesn't talk much about his (Sean's) dad who's been missing since 1997. We hear that Hannah's dad died three years ago. SPOILER ALERT: Hannah reacts to the sight of human remains (but we don't see them), and then shows Trevor. We then see him topping off a makeshift grave, with him and Trevor then being sad about the discovery of his long-lost brother/Sean's father. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Jules Verne's novel. What it's really like at the center of the Earth. Dealing with the deaths of parents. 3-D films. VIOLENCE Trevor shows Sean a yoyo and ends up accidentally breaking a trophy with it, followed by Sean accidentally breaking a mobile of sorts with the pieces then falling down on Trevor's head (played for comedy). Trevor ignites a flare to illuminate a chasm, not realizing there's magnesium in the walls. The flame of the flare then causes that to ignite, resulting in an explosion. Hannah has to jump over to Trevor's mine car just before her car crashes into a wall. They then must grab a rope or cable that yanks them from their car just before it crashes. They land hard, but are okay. The trio builds a boat and then sets out across an underground ocean. During that, they encounter large, scary-looking fish that leap from the water at them (with Trevor catching one and barely holding back its sharp teeth -- seen from his POV). The three then use various things to whack those fish away, with one nearly biting Hannah on her clothed butt. Large sea dinosaurs then show up and eat the fish, and the trio initially seems to be in worse trouble, but the dinosaurs are only after the fish. Hannah's hands are burned by a rope slipping through them (and may be a bit bloody from that). Trevor and Hannah realize they're standing near large, carnivorous plants that try to attack them. Trevor decapitates one, but must then rescue Hannah (while fighting with/off others) who's been grabbed by one's vine that's now wrapped around her neck. A T-Rex bites down at Sean several times, with the teen then fleeing and the T-Rex chasing him. Sean ends up rushing into a cave, but the T-Rex bashes its head through the opening and tries to bite the boy who barely stays out of reach of its jaws. Trevor then comes across the scene and digs from the other side to rescue Sean. He succeeds, but the dinosaur then pursues both of them as they flee. Trevor then has them split up and leads the T-Rex out onto a thin layer of muscovite that starts to crack under the weight. It nearly gets him when the muscovite gives way, sending the dinosaur falling away and Trevor dangling from the broken edge. Reviewed May 15, 2008 / Posted July 11, 2008

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