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This latest reimagining of Jules Verne’s subterranean adventure is not so much a remake as it is a layer added atop the author’s work. The premise is that the novel was not a work of fiction; rather, it is the documentation of an adventure experienced by intrepid explorers. But the filmmakers chose a younger demographic as the target audience, virtually eliminating Verne’s drama and danger. This is first and foremost a kid’s film, and just to ramp up the tickle factor, it’s been produced in 3-D.

Professor Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) teaches an undergraduate class based on his specialty: tectonics and vulcanology. His class is under-populated with bored students, but he finds the subject fascinating. He, and his missing brother, believes that lava tubes provide access to an underworld that’s waiting to be explored. Alas, when his brother tried to find such a passage ten years before, he vanished without a trace. His legacy is an array of seismic sensors spread out all over the world that relay through radio links data to Anderson’s lab at the university. But soon, even his lab may vanish; funding cutbacks have targeted the lab and it’s threatened with closure.

With all that going on, it’s not surprising that Anderson completely forgot that his nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson) is coming for a ten-day visit. When Anderson’s sister-in-law drops Sean off she also gives him a cardboard box full of his brother’s memorabilia and research records. Within the box, he finds an annotated copy of Jules Verne’s novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth; the notes in the margins hint that the novel is actually more of a diary. Add some intriguing readings from his brother’s remote seismic sensors and before you can say Sigurbjorn Ásgeirsson, uncle and nephew are on their way to Iceland to find his brother’s mentor and a prominent expert on the theory of subterranean ecosystems.

The bad news is that the expert died a few years earlier. The good news is that his attractive twenty-something daughter, Hannah Ásgeirsson (Anita Briem), is a mountain guide and for five thousand Kroner per day, she’d be delighted to take the two of them to the location of one of his brother’ sensors so Anderson can collect the more detailed data stored in its memory.

Atop a dormant volcano, a lightning storm chases them into a cave, and one fearsome bolt causes a cave-in that traps them. They have no choice but to explore deeper and deeper into the cave system, and wouldn’t you know it, this is the very cave system that his brother followed to a fantastical world deep below the Earth’s surface. Luminescent birds, giant mushrooms, precious gems, carnivorous plants, horrific fish and large aquatic animals in a huge sea, and a particularly hungry beast that should have starved to death long ago for lack of food. All that remains is a clever way to escape and return to the surface with their lives.

The film has great production values, humor, adventure, impressive creatures, and even a bit of romance, but the writing aims low. The PG-rated film seems intended for preteens and young teens. The 3-D effects are obvious even in 2-D, bug feelers extend at the viewer, a tape measure, a yo-yo, balls, birds, and all manner of animals pop off the screen with little or no story value. There’s even a mine car ride reminiscent of Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom but even more rollercoaster-like; it seems intended exclusively to show off the 3-D effects. Even so, the cast is charming and the film will amuse adults seeking a little mindless escapist entertainment that they can share with the kids.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in a good looking high definition transfer compressed with the VC-1 video CODEC. I first watched the film in 2-D. I was immediately struck with how much the brightness had been pushed. Black levels were poor. Some scenes looked washed out. And then it suddenly occurred to me; when watching in 3-D, image amplitude is lost due to the inability of theatrical polarized glasses to pass full brightness. The same is true of alternating shuttered LCD glasses (when they become available for BD 3-D movies) and the lame red-green anaglyphic glasses that come with this disc. But the contrast and brightness could have been rebalanced when the transfer was being captured in the telecine bay. Sigh. When the brightness doesn’t intrude, color levels and natural flesh tones are quite nice. Small object detail is okay, but finely grained textures are a tad suppressed. The bit rate isn’t very high and I suspect the 2-D and 3-D transfers were highly compressed to make room for two feature- length movies plus the supplements on one disc.

This is the first 3-D presentation I’ve experienced in high definition and I was shocked at how effective the reconstruction of the third dimension is from this disc. I’ve seen similar attempts to present anaglyphic 3-D on standard definition DVD; Spy Kids 3- D comes to mind. But the softness of DVD made the 3-D effect less effective; on this BD, with its sharp edges and good small object detail, the viewer can easily focus on depth cues that would have been obscured by a DVD. Of course, color rendition is sacrificed for the 3- D effect; chroma is completely obscured by the red and green lenses. By the way, I found the provided glasses to be a bit uncomfortable; the sharp edges dug into the backs of my ears, causing pain and discomfort. I can’t wait for full color 3-D standards to be established (I hope with shuttered LCD glasses) and the first such BDs released to market.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is pretty good, but the lossy nature of the track gets in the way. The surrounds are very active with pans and discrete sounds, from the subtle to the bombastic. Enable EX dematrixing for the best possible presentation. Deep bass is present; T-Rex footfalls shook my pants legs. The action score by Andrew Lockington is pleasing and presented across a broad soundstage enhanced by leaks into the surrounds. Sound effects have a great dynamic range and fast attack times. Dialog intelligibility is never an issue, but even at low levels, the distortions caused by lossy compression rob the voices of persuasive timbre.

The optional subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

We begin with a commentary by Brendan Fraser and Director Eric Brevig. This is a pleasant enough track. When it first began, I thought I was in trouble; Frasier started narrating the film. Fortunately, that didn’t last very long. He may return to the storyline from time to time, but the bulk of the track is chock full of anecdotes and production details. Like when Fraser was injured by some pyrotechnics early in the film when the characters discover magnesium in the cave walls. I was amused to learn a new term for a new age. This film was shot digitally, so the director coined a new phrase. Rather than “check the gate” when a take was found worthy of being printed, he called out “check the chip.” I think tongue was firmly in cheek; each take can be viewed immediately from tape or hard drive, so any flaw would be apparent. Pleasant, informative, and amusing, this is a worthwhile track.

A World Within Our World (10:08, 1.78:1, 1080p) is a short featurette narrated by Anita Briem (who played Hannah Ásgeirsson). It traces the history of the hollow Earth theory. It begins with Sir Edmund Halley, the astronomer who discovered the comet that bears is name. The short proceeds to describe other 19th and early 20th Century misguided theories. I was particularly intrigued by a religion that was formed based on a hollow earth concept; I think Bill Maher might be intrigued as well. I find it incredible that there are people today who believe that the planet is hollow. I suppose the existence so many politicians who are anti- science and the people who vote for them, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The Being Josh featurette (6:00, 1.78:1, 1080p) follows young actor Josh Hutcherson during a day on the set. We watch as he goes to hair and make-up and he chats with us about his aspirations and his experiences. But a more interesting aspect of the short shows how the floating rock sequence was filmed. I hadn’t realized how much of it was practical.

How To Make Dino Drool (2:47, 1.78:1, 1080p) is pretty a straight forward featurette. We learn about the three different concoctions made by the practical effects people. It took three to satisfy the director that the viscosity, stringiness, and, uh, contamination were just right. And, of course, we get to enjoy once again Sean getting slimed.

New Line has included a Digital Copy disc containing a standard definition version of the film that can be transferred to a portable device.

To view the 3-D version of the film, you’ll find four pairs of 3-D glasses in the keepcase.

The 93-minute film is organized into twenty-one chapters.

Final Thoughts

Light on the intellect, lighthearted, and lightweight for the young, this film has its charms but won’t fully engage adults. A good 2-D presentation, a surprisingly effective but color-useless 3-D presentation, and some modest supplements make this a mild recommendation for adults, but a reasonable recommendation for the kids.