10/10
I love this novel, and I love Jules Verne. However, I understand that Verne does not appeal to everyone. His science fiction is much more focused on the science than contemporary entrants to the genre (although it’s all pseudo-science, so it is still fiction). Becaus of this, many people have found Verne’s work dry and harder to follow than more recent works. But this is part of why I love Verne so much – the scientific inquiry is at the forefront of the story, even the novels are stories about adventure and discovery.
This is also my favorite of the Verne novels I’ve read so far, although I’m still yet to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, so that could change in the future.
One of my favorite things is the narrator, Axel, who is a trust worthy, sympathetic character, as opposed to the sort of second person narration of From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, for example, are more removed from the action (and even drier when it comes to the language). Otto Lidenbrock is also an intriguing character due to his eccentricity, so the story is well balanced between the high-energy professor and his more down-to-earth nephew.
The whole story is one of great joy to me – full of adventure, discovery, and even some lessons about family and the struggle between following your (scientific) dreams and facing the reality of your abilities.
The pace is also fast and the story moves along well, with very little fluff and no boring or slower parts, which is a nice change of pace from some of the modern science fiction, which can get bogged down in world-building or over-explaining the scientific portions (not pointing any fingers at this point in time…maybe in the future though).
Overall, this is one of my favorite books of all time, and I would recommend it to any science fiction fan even if they think the language is a bit fussy- there’s a reason that Verne is considered the Father of Science Fiction.
And What About the Movie?
While I could choose to talk about the 1959 version of this movie (which stays mostly true to the original novel), or the made for television version from the early 2000s, I am instead going to talk about the 2008 disaster that stars Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, and Anita Briem (and which inexplicably also cast Seth Meyers as a villainous character, which I had totally forgotten until I recently re-watched).
The best thing about this movie is that they didn’t adapt the novel, but instead the book Journey to the Center of the Earth exists in the movie universe. The plot is therefore propelled by a secret society of “Vernians” who are trying to find the center of the Earth as described in the book by Jules Verne. The story follows a disgraced scientist (Fraser) and his nephew (Hutcherson), and eventually also their beautiful, capable, kick-ass Icelandic (Briem) guide as they travel through the crust of the earth from one improbable action scene to the next.
In the interest of honesty, this movie is bad (but it’s so hilariously bad that it teeters back into good, in my mind). While it tries to preserve the appeal of the original with the action scenes and mysterious tone, it comes across as over-dramatic at every step of the way. On the other hand, if you treat it as a comedy rather than an action/adventure movie it fairs a little better. (One of my personal favorite moments is when Hannah pushes her two American adventurers into the mining cart track turned intense roller-coaster, a scene that is both wildly impossible and hilarious).
Some of the changes were good ones – personally I like that Fraser’s professor is less crazy, eccentric, genius-but-also-a-mad-man and more of a relatable hot professor type. The change of the Icelandic guide to a woman was also an appealing change, since the character’s abilities weren’t lessened in the slightest (and also she spoke English, which lead to more interesting dialogue). Hutcherson’s character lost some of the appeal he had as the narrator of a novel, but the performance wasn’t lacking in anyway. The visual effects were also interesting, and added a lot to the feel of the civilization in the center of the earth. I also didn’t hate the introduction of the Vernian society, since it gave the movie a very Indiana Jones/National Treasure kind of vibe, which I personally enjoyed. Still, the story was over-dramatized (and Verne was a dramatic author to begin with), so those changes detract from the story in a lot of ways. The ending in particular led to a lot of eye-rolling on my end.
It’s definitely the kind of movie you only watch to make popcorn taste better, and because it is loosely related to a fantastic book. And that’s before we even begin to talk about the sequel… on second thought, you’re on your own for Journey 2 …
Cheese Can Read? 