I got half way through this and knew I wasn't going to finish. The plot was very weak and proposterous at times. They are told by an otherwordly being named Mr. Jones played by Sam Neill that they need to throw two stones into a volcano to save the world.They should have not turned this book into a movie because if the film is following the book well it's a rather lame story.Sam Neill was good as he is a good actor but even he could do nothing about the plot. After all he's just following a script The twins played by Sophie McBride and Tom Cameron were good enough actors but the acting wasn't the problem.Some other viewers found this boring. I didn't find it exactly that as I felt the pace of the movie was good and the direction, acting etc., it was just the awful plot.I said it was more for kids maybe but maybe I'm selling them too short.

Well, whatever else you might want to say about this New Zealand product, you've got to acknowledge one thing. In fantasy films where it's up to a young hero or heroes to save the day, it's fairly standard to give them an older or aged mentor to help them fulfill their destiny. Under The Mountain is the only such movie I know of which faces up to the pedophilic smell of such a relationship. I mean, an old guy pulling up in a van and telling a kid "Come with me. It's up to you to save the world" is probably how a lot of children go missing. The wizards and seers of fantasy look, in the clear light of day, like the molesters of the real world. This movie doesn't shy away from that, though I'm not sure it's a good thing.Rachel and Theo (Sophie McBride and Tom Cameron) are red headed twins who can communicate with a garbled telepathy. After their mom is killed in an accident, they're sent to live in the city with their aunt, uncle and cousin. Theo is hit hard by his mother's death, creating a rift between the twins as he pushes Rachel away every chance he can. But when Rachel and Theo discover the creepy people who live across the lake aren't really people, the seemingly immortal Mr. Jones (Sam Neill) reveals that the twins are the only ones who can save the world from alien invaders. Not by letting Mr. Jones take naked pictures of them, but by using their power of "twinness" to throw two magical stones into a volcano. As long as Theo continues to distance himself from Rachel, however, their "twinness" will never be strong enough to succeed.Under The Mountain is based on a novel but follows an entirely generic pattern for these kind of films. In the first half, we're introduced to our heroes and a bunch of foreshadowing and supposedly mysterious stuff happens. Then at the midway point, there's a huge info dump where literally everything is explained to the audience to the point where anyone with half a brain knows exactly what's going to happen in the second half of the movie, which is then nothing more than a dash to get to an obvious ending. As these things go, the first half is pretty good, the info dump is especially blatant and the second half is much lighter on plot than usual.The worst thing about the film is an extremely overbearing and intrusive soundtrack. In every scene where there's even the least bit of drama, tension or threat, dour and gloomy instrumental music is blared at the audience. It's like these filmmakers were so convinced viewers would not know when the film was supposed to be scary, they did the audio equivalent of flashing subtitles on the screen that say "This is frightening." Making it worse is that the musical cues are so strong from the very start, the audience is emotionally inured by the time the scary stuff actually happens. When the music is thundering at you while it's just a weird looking dude staring at our heroes, there's nowhere for the soundtrack to go when the genuine monsters attack.It's also a little odd that the heroes of Under The Mountain are both clearly teenagers while the tone and tenor of their adventure is as clearly geared for tweens. It feels like these kids should be 11 or 12 years old, not 15 or 16.All in all, this isn't a terrible piece of family entertainment but unless you're going to use it to teach your children about "stranger danger", Under The Mountain is not something your family needs to see.

This movie have some good things and bad things to it.Let me start with the bad thing. The movie seems much like a movie that would have been spawned in the success of the "Harry Potter" movie. I know this is not the intention of the movie, nor does it have any connection to it. But the characters and the story seems like something taken out of the "Harry Potter" universe.As for the good things. Well the movie was interesting and fairly entertaining. There were pretty nice effects throughout the movie as well. There was also a somewhat Lovecraftian Cthulhu-feel to the movie. The concept with the Gargantua (Old Ones?) and the servants (much like the 'fishmen' of Innsmouth). That part, however subtle or intentional it was, was not lost on me, and I liked that part.The cast was good, and they performed well in their roles. Of course, Sam Neill was great, as always.This movie provides wholesome entertainment for the entire family, young and old alike. I am sure that the young audiences will like the magic and effects in the movie, while a more mature audience (like myself) might take a liking to the dark mood of the movie (and the Lovecraft inspiration)."Under the Mountain" is definitely worth checking out.

I Went to see this movie to support New Zealand movies.To my surprise I was very disappointed... Weta workshop did the visual effects which were OK but nothing very creative.The story very lacking something and the movie ended very quickly and was very basic the whole time it just felt the twins were not twins they were friends having a Tiff.The Special effects were very good but didn't save the movie in anyway way or forum.this will be a movie you will forget straight away.I will say that the actors did a great job which is why I gave 3 stars.