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Parents' Guide to

The Core

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

This is a big, dumb, explosion movie.

Movie PG-13 2003 136 minutes
The Core Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 10+

Based on 3 parent reviews

dnava
dnava Parent
January 1, 2021
age 10+
TiketT
TiketT Adult
July 1, 2020
age 10+

Good actors / predictable

One use of f**k and mention of how the world can't end until [I've] had sex. One person is seen chain smoking cigarettes throughout the movie. This movie has cheesy graphics that are unrealistic, but many of the actors are well known and it makes the movie more interesting. Some scene breaks as if it's getting ready for a commercial break which is annoying. Overall, movie is okay, but I wouldn't watch it again
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In THE CORE, Aaron Eckhart plays rumpled University of Chicago professor Josh Keyes, who is called on when dozens of people just drop dead all at once. It turns out that for some reason the core of the earth has been slowed down (possibly by something we did), throwing off the electromagnetic charges that govern everything from navigation by birds and aircraft to pacemakers. The first part of the movie is smart people figuring out what is wrong and how to fix it, and then they all climb in a sort of rocket ship that can melt thousands of miles of solid rock and dive down to the center of the planet to essentially reboot it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (5 ):

The Core is a big, dumb, explosion movie. That's not necessarily a bad thing -- often big, dumb, explosion movies are fun to watch and do very well at the box office. But this one suffers from very bad timing. At a time when the world feels a little fragile, watching CGI versions of Rome and San Francisco be all but destroyed and a (successful) crash landing of the space shuttle, no matter how impressive the technology, is not fun at all. And without a, well, core of substance, wit, or energy, this movie cannot recover.

It's basically Journey to the Center of the Earth without the dinosaurs crossed with Armageddon without Bruce Willis. The script isn't bad. Co-writer John Rogers has a degree in physics and is a former stand-up comic, and both are evident. If it is formulaic, at least it understands the formula reasonably well. There is something of a Ten Little Indians feeling, as members of the crew start getting picked off in various dramatic ways. Stanley Tucci wildly overacts as a fame-seeking scientist with a book deal. Everyone else in the cast does their professional best, but the only standout is D.J. Qualls as a super hacker who lives on Xena tapes and hot pockets.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether they think that future generations will have the technology to access the Earth's core.

Movie Details

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