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Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne's classic tale of an expedition to the Earth's core, has seen its fair share of adaptations to the big screen, but the latest incarnation comes to us courtesy the small screen. This Hallmark Entertainment miniseries tells the story of Dr. Theodore Lytton (Treat Williams), who leads an expedition that also includes his nephew (Jeremy London) to find the missing husband of the beautiful Alice Hastings (Tushka Bergen). The band of explorers find Casper Hastings (Bryan Brown) in a lost underground realm, where he has been crowned "teacher" to a tribe of humans long unknown to surface-dwellers. The doctor and his friends find themselves caught up in a conflict between the tribe, who are battling a neighboring clan, as well as a reptilian race evolved from dinosaurs called the Sauroids. Throughout this adventure, the group encounters death, finds love, and discovers new wonders unbeknownst to them before. All this and a happy ending with room for a sequel to boot. Hallmark — known for their fantastical movies like Gulliver's Travels and Merlin — have put together another show that follows a proven formula. Why mess with success? However, the film, like a great deal of TV miniseries, suffers from lackluster effects, uninspired acting, and a clichéd plot. Spin this one if you're looking for a Jules Verne fix. Artisan's DVD of Journey to the Center of the Earth is presented in full-frame (1.33:1) with audio in 2.0 Dolby Surround. Both picture and sound are clean without any noticeable defects. However, the disc is void of additional features, other than cast and crew information.
—Joe Barlow
