Such a frustrating disappointment

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

As you know, I love monster movies. I love lost worlds and unexplored lands because it has this sense of wonder and it is escapism. In the 1970's, when the world was nostalgic for the 1920's and 30's, there were disaster movies, which was box-office fuel. They showed people in panic and have them under attack by nature's wrath (e.g. THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, EARTHQUAKE and JAWS) or something going terribly wrong (e.g. TOWERING INFERNO and the AIRPORT franchise). Fantasy films were kiddie fair, but these were no fairy tales. These were stories for older viewers, kids, teens, and adults. THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975), AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976), and PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) were movies that had lost worlds inhabited by monsters. What made these good, were the special effects. While they got out-shined by the big movies like disaster movies, JAWS, the 1976 remake of KING KONG, and STAR WARS. If these big movies were intense, then take your kids to see the fantasy movies. While these movies were mediocre in the box-office, these movies were good in other countries. This caught the attention of other filmmakers such as Juan Piquer Simon and he made this wonderful movie, JULES VERNE'S THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. This films had dinosaurs, sea monsters, big turtles and mushrooms and a giant ape. Now about the big gorilla, there was one in the book, either Juan wanted to rival the 1976 KING KONG remake or he wanted to cash in on it. If you look at the movie, it answers the question, what if Universal made THE LEGEND OF KING KONG without stop-motion effects, but with monster suits and puppets? There is your answer. While the cast is good, the special effects are great, but they look hokey. If you enjoy shows like SCOOBY-DOO or DUCKTALES (heads up, a reboot is coming this summer on Disney XD), then this movie is for you. Rated G alright, but I see that IMDb re-rated it PG and I know why. To me, it must be all the scary scenes and peril. Peril?! That is nothing to be worried about because there was peril in G-rated movies. I think it is rated PG for blood from the sea monsters and kids might get scared by the dinosaurs, turtle-like creatures or the giant gorilla.

That is probably why I loved this movie as a child. The movie was called "Where time Began" when I saw it and it is based on the Jules Verne novel, but it is so absolutely different that it makes this movie almost unique. I prefer it a bit more to the 1959 version, granted I liked that one too. This one just has such curious elements that make it to me a more strange and different film. It is cheesy to be sure, but I have said many times that I enjoy cheese so I do find this film fun. The film is like any other "Journey to the Center of Earth" adaptation to start out with. However, the film has points where it goes totally crazy, I recall giant turtles or something, strange dinosaurs and a weird facility and a strange man called Olsen. Of course, that is a problem with the movie as well, there are many questions surrounding this strange individual and as a kid I did not understand what was with that character. I would love to see this one again and perhaps now that I am older, maybe I can see what the movie was trying to convey in regards to that character. This one pretty much ends on the same note though as the 1959 version. Then it has a very surreal ending involving Olsen. So while the film is not without its faults and while others may not like this one, I find this cave movie really entertaining to watch.

"Where Time Began" is an adaptation of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth", with some variations to make it more salable (such as a love interest). It seems to have been aimed at a juvenile audience and is in the same vein as the Kevin Connors/Amicus Studios adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Like many genre films, "Where Time Began" has very hokey characters and dialogue. The ineptitude with which the journey to the center of the earth is conducted is quite startling, in fact. The stupidity of their dialogue (especially the exchanges between Glauben and her idiotic fiancee Axel) gives the film a strong tone of campiness and unintentional humor. When Olsen shows up to rescue them midway through and complains that he's had to listen to their stupid chatter for the past ten miles, the viewer can commiserate. However, given the fact that it is a low budget film, the sets, photography and giant creature special effects are actually pretty good, and they manage to maintain some atmosphere throughout the production. Once the characters arrive in the pseudo-prehistoric world at the center of the earth, the film especially picks up, and the revelation of the origin of Olsen provides an interesting twist. For this reason, "Where Time Began" is a reasonable entry in the journey-to-a-lost-world genre.

This movie is one of the worst adaptations of the Jules Verne book "Journey To the Center Of the Earth". The 1959 movie with the same title, starring James Mason, is much better. The cast of "Where Time Began" is very uninspired - especially Kenneth Moore (usually a very good actor) is very disappointing. The sets are look cheap, and one can almost smell the paint and rubber the prehistoric monsters are made of. Besides I didn't really figure out where this 'Olsen'-character came from and disappeared to. He seemed to have figured out a way to travel through time, as well as through space. Overall, this movie is a big disappointment - I wouldn't even recommend it for a rainy afternoon.