Toms View of the World

Oh dear.

Oh dear.

(note, this review may contain spoilers)

Mainstream 3D films really need to get past the “playing with 3D” gimmicks before they’ll be taken seriously.  Beowolf 3D was good - because it used the 3D to add depth - it was like “looking through a window”, rather than having characters in the film throw/push/hold things into the forground all the time, which is precisely how Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3D spends it’s time.

Once you’ve survived 20 minutes of balls, sticks, and tape measures being waved into the foreground space - the film picks up, but only by lifting a series of set pieces from other blockbuster movies of the past - and it’s just soooo predicatable as a result.

Underground - check.

Mine car “rollercoaster” from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  Check.

Swams of insects/birds/bats/fish flying through the screen (as seen in pretty much every themepark 3D film). Check.

Floating Rock Stepping Stones (from pretty much every Super Mario Bros. game)

Implausable creatures underground.  Check.

Inifinite Fall sequence where the characters stop screaming, have a conversation, then start screaming again.  Check.

Well, as a technical demonstration for live action 3D movies, it’s passable, but as an action adventure movie, it’s not a patch on either National Treasure 2, or Indy Jones 4.