Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

George Miller

Writers (WGA):

Jules Verne (novel)
Thomas Baum (teleplay)

Release Date:

14 September 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Plot:

Remake of Jules Verne's classic story finds adventurers (Treat Williams, Jeremy London, Hugh Keays-Byrne) seeking a mysterious hidden land...

Plot Keywords:

Expedition | 1870s | Rescue Mission | Cave | Dinosaur

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Treat Williams	...	Theodore Lytton
Jeremy London	...	Jonas Lytton
Tushka Bergen	...	Alice Hastings
Hugh Keays-Byrne	...	McNiff
Bryan Brown	...	Casper Hastings
Tessa Wells	...	Helen
Petra Jared	...	Ralna (as Petra Yared)
Sarah Chadwick	...	Mashowna
Peter Kaa	...	Te Mahua
Joe Bugner	...	Boxer
Alan Hardy	...	Reverend Polson
Bill Charles	...	Doctor
John Forsyth	...	Society Member
Warwick Begg	...	Policeman
Christopher Christo	...	Johnny Alcott

Runtime:

180 min (3 parts) | Germany:178 min | USA:188 min (DVD version) | Finland:180 min (4 parts)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Hallmark Entertainment

Quotes:

Helen: He's going to the center of the Earth. You get dizzy on the botton rung of a ladder.
Jonas Lytton: Not the *bottom* rung.

Movie Connections:

Features 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997/II) (TV)

Completely ridiculous!

For some reason I thought I was renting (from the machine at Safeway) the LATEST version of this film with Brendon Frazier as they usually have new releases there. How stupid of me. It turned out to be the 1999 version with Treat Williams. Only a few minutes into it I realized it was a made for TV by Lifetime. The producers had a lot of nerve coming up with this comic book adaptation of such a great novel. Poor Jules Verne. It was not too bad until they reach New Zealand and enter the cave leading to what they call the center of the earth that turned out to be a movie set with blue painted trees and studio made mache rocks. They all act as if they're at Disneyland on an underground ride. And when they meet the creatures who speak English it's beyond belief. Obviously there was a ballet school somewhere behind those rocks, even with a choreographer, as a full corps of ballet girls were dancing with ballet steps mixed with disco dancing. Totally ridiculous. The husband of the Carnegie heiress who they were looking for and found, speaks with an Australian accent and doesn't give a damn after finding out that Treat Williams had screwed his wife someplace behind a rock, but more unbelievable is that Treat would fall in love with her anyway as she's not at all attractive besides being one of the worst actors I've ever seen. Where did they find her? In a High School play? Then, of course, there's an evil Queen but I fast forwarded over most of that scene so don't know what she was up to. Should I care? The only thing worth looking at is Treat Williams who seems to have kept his youth remarkably. Now I can't wait to see the Brendon Frazier one that's still playing in the theaters in 3D. I should have known better.