Two movie abbreviations suggest the measure of “Journey to the Center of the Earth”: PG and 3D.
The film’s PG rating guarantees it will be tame enough to babysit the kiddies, and the 3D promises a multitude of cheesy special effects, many of them aimed straight at your eyeballs.
The title, of course, is the other giveaway: This is another adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic novel about explorers following a volcanic path down into, or close to, the Earth’s core. True to Verne’s wonderful imaginings, the movie has lots of weird landscapes and unlikely creatures.
Brendan Fraser, who perfected the toothless kids-adventure picture in the “Mummy” movies, plays a professor stuck tending his late brother’s adolescent boy (Josh Hutcherson, from “Firehouse “Dog” and “Zathura”).
The brother died believing that Jules Verne’s novel was actually true — that there was a portal in a volcano that would lead toward the center of the Earth. Which is how Fraser and his nephew, along with a guide (Anita Briem), find themselves on a mountainside in Iceland, about to tumble down a long, long distance.
The goofy adventures that ensue are not really novel or all that exciting, but at least “Journey” has a cheerful breeziness that keeps it humming along. Fraser has his usual weightless quality (maybe that’s how he avoids the gravity issues down there) and the 3D hokum is of the hey-here’s-a-yo-yo-let’s-aim-it-at-the-camera variety.
The 3D itself I found hit-and-miss. I was knocked out last fall by the incredible 3D of “Beowulf,” which was an animated film; this one’s live action, and maybe that’s the difference. The image slides around a little more unsteadily, and the eye has to work harder to keep it three-dimensional. Or perhaps I was sitting in the wrong seat in the theater.
Here’s the other piece of information you need about “Journey”: it was directed by a special-effects guy, Eric Brevig. This movie is about effects in a way that Jules Verne, no stranger to gizmos and wild ideas, wouldn’t understand.
Meanwhile, if you want a family movie, rent the 1959 version of “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” with James Mason and Pat Boone. A silly movie, but with a sense of wonder this new one doesn’t create.
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