Nim's Island vs. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D Review

Overall 5.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

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LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

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Bringing Adventure to Today's Kids

mother of 12 year old daughter, one that didn't pay attn. in History, Movie Reviewer, a storyteller, A Big Giant Sap, a believer of fate, mother of 15 year old son

Pros

Promote Reading, Utilize great young actors, Brendan Fraser, Jodie Foster

JUL

2008

It seems that too many of our kids choose to sit around inside playing video games, watching movies and TV, and burning up the internet. It's always good when they can find some entertainment that opens up possibilities for adventure to them. Two films this spring and summer have done just that, Nim's Island and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D.

Both of these films promote adventure and reading with kids. While young Nim (Abigail Breslin) is a big fan of reading, and can't seem to get enough of the adventure novels of Alex Rover (a pseudonym of the character played by Jodie Foster), young Sean (Josh Hutcherson) doesn't seem to have any interest in reading at all, never having read his father's favorite book, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Vernon.

Nim's father (Gerard Butler) is a marine biologist, and he and his daughter live alone on a deserted island no one else knows about. Her mother had been an oceanographer and passed away when Nim was very young. Her father leaves her alone to fend for herself on the island for a few days while he goes out on an important research mission. Sean's father, also a scientist, died while researching the realism behind his favorite novel when Sean was very young. With his mother now relocating to Canada, Sean's mother asks his uncle (Brendan Fraser), also a scientist, to watch him for a few days while she gets everything worked out.

Both of these kids are put in very difficult situations. A terrible storm comes up and with that, trouble for Nim especially when her father doesn't return after becoming lost at sea. She gets in contact with her favorite author and talks her into coming to help her, despite the author's agoraphobia. With Sean's uncle noticing seismic activity in an area of his missing brother's studies, he and his nephew take off for Iceland to examine it. Enlisting the help of a mountain guide (Anita Briem), the three get trapped inside the center of the earth.

Both of these films show young kids that adventure is not beyond them. If they put down the game controller and remote, they can pick up a book and experience adventure. Nim fends for herself waiting for the writer to arrive, and even after she arrives, much of the survival is left to Nim rather than the agoraphobic author. She scales mountains and fends off intruders. Although Sean is traveling along with his uncle and the mountain guide, they all need to do their part to survive and escape, and at one point, he becomes separated, yet relies on his own survival instincts to escape a dinosaur and find the river which he knows will lead him back to his uncle and the mountain guide.

Perhaps the best way to sum this up is with a line from young Nim. Although living on a small island, she doesn't feel contained, thinking, "With a little imagination, I can go anywhere." Imagine if all kids thought that way.