Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D (Spoiler Warning!)

I watched this spectacular movie a day after its debut on the big screen. We also watched it in 3-D, which added to the suspense. There is also a book with the same name, which was the backbone of the plot. They even used the book in the movie!

Here is the movie's plot. =D

At the beginning of the movie, a man named Max Anderson was being chased by a Tyrannosaurus Rex and then stopped at a fissure in the ground that was filled with magma! He made a desperate jump to the other side of the fissure, but he didn't make it across and succumbed to the scalding magma.

In the present, Trevor Anderson's lab is about to be closed down for storage. He later went home but realized that his nephew was coming that day, so he hid his mess in his house, but there was still some clutter in the dining room.

Anyway, his nephew, Sean, was staying for a week at his house. There, Trevor showed Sean some antiques to him including a yo-yo. Trevor also took him to the lab, where Sean discovered an extra dot (indicating seismic activity) in addition to the other three dots on the screen.

The dot was in Iceland and had the same exact features as in July 1997 when Max went missing. He had enough money to buy a flight to Iceland with his spare change! They found a mountain guide named Hannah and headed for a mountain.

At the top, he tried grabbing a sensor out of the ground, but lightning was then striking close to him and as he dove inside a chamber, a lightning bolt struck some rocks and trapped the three inside!

They found two tunnels and took the one on the right, only to find themselves at a steep wall! They used ropes to get to the bottom and then found an abandoned mine shaft after some exploring. They rode on one of the carts, which led to a roller-coaster ride inside the cave!

When they reached a dead end, they went into a well-hidden tunnel and discovered that the room was filled with gemstones and minerals such as feldspar, rubies, emeralds, and--last but not least--diamonds! Unfortunately, the floor was made out of muscovite, a fragile material. The muscovite cracked like very thin ice and they fell a long distance into a pool of water.

When they finally arrived at the shore, they discovered that on the ceiling, there were many fluorescent blue birds there, making such a magnificent sight! One of the birds later served as Sean's guide.

Afterward, they found themselves in a scenic jungle and ocean. They found a message from Max stating his destination and where to go to find it. They looked at the temperature gauge and found out that the temperature was rising fast, so they hurriedly built a raft to cross the sea.

Not long after they set sail, a storm began brewing. Later, they were attacked by piranha-like fish, but they all used something to keep them away. Later during the journey on the water, Sean tried to hold on to the mast during high winds but couldn't and was carried by the wind, and in the end, Sean found himself in a sandy area.

Trevor and Hannah were walking in a forest-like area, and suddenly, giant Venus flytraps were attacking them. Hannah was getting choked by the flytraps' vines, but Trevor used his physical strength and pulled a flytrap out of the ground, causing many others to go limp.

Then, the duo arrived at the geyser that was supposed to take them up to the surface, but suddenly, Trevor decided to go look for Sean because he doesn’t want to leave him lost inside.

Meanwhile, Sean was hopping across a path of floating stones (the floating was caused by a magnetic field). After a ton of desperation and holding on when one of the stones flipped over twice, he finally made it across, but then he found himself being chased by a T-rex that was right above him!

Despite his desperation and fright, he outran the T-rex into a small den, and on the other side of the den, Trevor smashed an opening in the wall so Sean could get to the other side and away from danger.

But the T-rex burst through the wall like it was nothing! Trevor, however, realized that the floor was made of muscovite, so he devised a plan to lure the ferocious dinosaur onto the muscovite floor. Later, the T-rex fell through!

Sean and Trevor made it safely and found Hannah, who was sailing in a dinosaur jaw bone as a sailboat! They rode a very bumpy ride to get to the geyser, but missed it when their ride was out of control and landed in a fissure containing magma!

Their mode of transportation got stuck between two walls, however. Trevor found out that the wall was made out of magnesium, which breaks when exposed to fire and then tried three times to break the wall with flares. On the third try, he burst the wall which caused the dinosaur jawbone they were traveling in to be propelled upwards.

They were going up fast due to the magma’s force and when they reached the surface, they found out that they came out of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy, which last erupted in A.D. 79!

After a rapid downhill ride, they found an Italian farmer, and with Sean's diamond samples, they were able pay for the damage caused to his vineyards, as well as get enough money to get to Canada, where Sean was supposed to meet his mother. They later went home and showed his mom the fluorescent bird he kept.

The 3-D was able to add to the suspense of the movie and my favorite pre-movie commercial for MovieTickets.com! =D

Books

So far, I have only read 10 books out of a collection of around 30 books (even though they are not the only books I have read). Those 10 books were (the most recent at the top):

Journey to the Center of the Earth- Jules Verne
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow/Rip Van Winkle- Washington Irving
Peter Pan- J. M. Barrie
The Time Machine- H. G. Wells
Moby Dick- Herman Melville
The Call of the Wild- Jack London
Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer- Mark Twain
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- Jules Verne

I enjoyed every single book, except for two of them. It’s a 1 in 45 chance that you’ll guess the two.

Now for the summaries.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

In the mid-1800s, a professor named Otto Liedenbrock, brings his nephew, Alex, to Iceland to try and reach the center of the Earth. Hans Bjelke, their guide, goes with them as they embark on a spectacular journey that involves intense heat, rapid currents, and real-life dinosaur-era creatures. It ends when they are forced out by an eruption that lands them in Sicily, to the south of Italy. They return home, and Alex marries his love, Gretchen.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow/Rip Van Winkle

Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster in Sleepy Hollow, tries to win the heart of his love, Katrina Van Tassel. But his rivals, Brom “Bones” and his gang, try to humiliate him and marry Katrina. One night after a party, he returns home, only to find the Headless Horseman, the legendary ghost of a Hessian soldier from the Revolutionary War, chasing him out of the thick forest! He tries to outrun him on his horse, Gunpowder. But Gunpowder’s saddle slips and he is not able to hold on to his horse. The Headless Horseman flings his ”head”, which is kept at the right of him, to Crane. It hit his own head and later, Ichabod Crane, dies. Brom Bones ends up marrying Katrina, and laughs whenever he hears the Crane story.

In a New York settlement, near the Catskill Mountains, Rip Van Winkle goes exploring and finds three people bowling. He drinks something beer-like, and falls asleep for 20 years. He wakes up, confused about the new atmosphere. He later finds out that the colonists have won independence against the British and formed a new country, the United States of America.

Peter Pan
The Darling family kids, Wendy, John, and Michael, find Peter Pan in their room as they go to Neverland, a place that only exists in imagination. They embark on many different adventures, but most of all, they fight the pirates, led by Captain Hook. Wendy, John, and Michael use clever tactics with the help of Peter to take down the pirates and return to the real world.

The Time Machine

A man claims to have made a time machine, but other men do not believe him. However, the Time Traveler travels to the future and discover that the human race had split into two groups, the Morlocks and the Eloi. At one point he loses his time machine and goes on a long search for it, looking in bushes, near trees, and in ancient buildings. He finds in inside a pedestal with a winged figure on it and returns to the present day.

Moby Dick

An ordinary man joins the crew of a whaling ship, the Pequod, and finds that the captain of the ship, Ahab had a grudge against a large white whale named Moby Dick because he lost a leg against him. His crew had took down many whales on their journey, but Moby Dick sank the ship. Many of the sailors drowned, but a few of them survived.

The Call of the Wild

Buck, a wolf-like dog from California, is taken to the freezing northern lands and becomes a sled dog. The dogs ran many miles and suffered from tiredness and hunger. Some of the dogs died. But not Buck. He had great endurance, and he even killed the strong leader, Spitz. Buck replaced him as leader. But after many miles, three dogs remained. Buck ran away from the pack because he had heard a wild wolf’s “call of the wild”. The native people are afraid to enter a specific area because of abnormal wolf tracks created by Buck’s spirit.

I will say my piece on the last 4 books on the list next time. However, I can tell you that all 10 books are great stories to read, and that you can picture each in your mind. That is why these books are enjoyable.

Sneak Preview: The next two books that I will read might be Alice in Wonderland, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. There will be updates about all the other books as I read them.