Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth is one of the all-time great pieces of literature. I found myself hugely enjoying this animated version, true it is truncated inevitably considering the time they had but of the Walter J.Hucker-produced animations it is one of the better ones(A Christmas Carol is the best one). The fact that it is truncated doesn't hurt it though, because apart from a slow start it follows the book's story very closely and in the right spirit too. There are some changes and additions here- some may find these unnecessary- but because there was great care in making them feel like Jules Verne and part of the story they didn't jar in any way. The animation is very nicely done on the whole, the character designs are sketchy admittedly but the backgrounds and colours are colourful yet give a spooky feel when needed too. The music is rousing and fitting with the nature of the story, while the dialogue is literate and the story is adventurous, scary and always compelling. As said before it's a slow start but is never dull. The characters are somewhat abbreviated but much effort is made to make them true in personality and such to their book counterparts. The voice acting is fine. All in all, very, very good and actually I'd consider it one of the better adaptations overall of the book. 9/10 Bethany Cox
A Journey to the Center of the Earth
(1977 TV Movie)
A very, very good animated adaptation of a truly great story
1 June 2013