Review in a Hurry: Brendan Fraser takes a break from battling mummies to journey to...well, you know...where he battles a T-Rex, Venus flytraps and fanged fish—oh my! Inspired by the Jules Verne classic, this fun-size popcorn movie packs enough adventure and humor into every bite to please the whole fam. Just be sure to catch it in 3-D.
The Bigger Picture: You gotta love 3-D movies. There's always something being jabbed at your face or hurled into your lap. And Journey doesn't skimp on the gimmicks—you'll be ducking rocks, a yo-yo, dinosaur drool, etc., even Fraser's backwash. Fortunately, some appealing actors and exciting action are also thrown your way.
Hunky charmer Fraser—again proving he has the perfect light touch for this kind of material—plays geology professor Trevor Anderson, whose brother Max mysteriously died during an Icelandic expedition. Max's 13-year-old son Sean (Josh Hutcherson) comes for a visit and brings along his late father's notes about accessing the Earth's core. Eager for answers, Trevor jets to Iceland—with moody, PSP-playing teen in tow—and hires a sassy Scandinavian mountain guide, Hannah (Anita Briem).
After this somewhat-lengthy setup, the action starts coming at you fast, as the three adventurers get trapped inside a dormant volcano and fall—and fall and fall—through a portal to the core. The "world within the world" they discover is gorgeous but also deadly, so they have to escape, stat.
Will they find a way out? Will nephew and uncle bond? Will things heat up between the cool Icelandic babe and the geeky-beefy prof? Duh...Sure, the functional plot and characters are less dimensional than the layers of CGI F/X, but who cares when everyone, including you, is having so much fun?
Journey mixes chuckles—and even a few poignant beats—into all the thrills (Mine-shaft rides! Carnivorous plants! Sea serpents!). And with a breezy pace that's perfect for a summertime diversion, this crowd-pleaser wisely avoids the excesses of other lost-world flicks (looking at you, King Kong).
I can't wait for the JTTCOTE theme-park ride. 'Cause you know there'll be one.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Among the exotic creatures are flocks of glowing bluebirds. Sure, they're pretty, but does one happy little tweeter have to befriend Sean and help lead him to safety? The cutesy birdie stuff is just too Mary Poppins.