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Gone are the days of “chocolate-box” lenses. Settling down into FACT’s plush seats with a pair of wannabe Ray-bans on is, when all’s said and done, a cool experience to say the least and the prospect of a good family-orientated movie just adds to the experience.
Right from the opening shot the audience is diving to the left – or back in their reclining chair – in order to escape what’s coming towards them and so the fun begins … except it doesn’t. Not as far as the movie itself goes, anyway.

Yes the 3-D stuff is fabulous and the promise of most new films – and some old ones re-cut – to fit the criteria is an exciting prospect.

Having seen U2-3D recently, the more the merrier as far as gigs are concerned.
But feature films need to have that little something extra that makes them stand out. A story would be useful and this rehashing of one of the great classic novels so that it becomes so paper-thin it is almost transparent, borders on the criminal.

Still, the majority weren’t here for the story – they weren’t here for the acting or credibility of plot either – they were here for the effects and they got them by the truckload. Even with Brendan Fraser being, well, Brendan Fraser, (that is to say, the same bloke he played in The Mummy, The Mummy II, Bedazzled, The Mummy III et al) the audience came out chuckling and gasping to their heart’s content.

Let’s be fair, is there another actor around who plays the same part over and over again, with such consistency, whose name isn’t Morgan Freeman? The only difference is that Freeman has been in some damn good movies (Seven, Shawshank Redemption, March Of The Penguins … okay, he wasn’t in the last one, but he made the film with his sultry tones) whereas Fraser has been in some damn bad ones (The Mummy, The Mummy II, Bedazzled, The Mummy III et al) and this is no exception.

When all is said and done, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 3-D is fun for the five year olds but – effects aside – it’s pretty gruelling for the rest of us.

Picturehouse at FACT opened in February 2003, as the first independent cinema
to open in Liverpool’s city centre in over a decade.

FACT, the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology. 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L14DQ
T: +44 (0)151 7074444           Email: info@fact.co.uk

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