"Journey to the Center of the Earth (3-D)"
Directed by: Eric Brevig

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem

Rated: PG (for some intense action moments)

Running time: 92 minutes

Best suited for: the arcade/ video game set

Least suited for: Jules Verne fans and serious action/ adventure fans

"Journey to the Center of the Earth (3-D)" is less genuine cinematic effort than awesome theme park ride (and eventual video game), and anyone with serious expectations of seeing an intelligent adventure will be disappointed. Jules Verne fans, in fact, should hide in a closet.

"Journey" doesn't attempt to even remotely resemble Verne's classic 1864 novel. It's a modern pop version, a breezy, goofy, superficial kiddie-ride of a film that actually pulls out a paperback copy of Verne's novel and thrusts it at the audience a few times, until we get the point that there's some relevence, a shred of lineage.

But as a visual tribute to those things that go bump in the darkness 100 miles below (like maneating plants, sea monsters and a tyrannosaurus or two), it works nicely. Once upon a time, there was CGI - computer-generated imagery. Now there's CGI with optional 3-D glasses (in a nifty, Ray-Ban flavor), and guess what? The film's actually lots of fun!

"Journey" stars Brendan Fraser, who's impressed me ever since his appearance in one of my all-time favorite "sports" films (although I'm strange that way and somewhat alone in my opinion). In "The Scout," Fraser played a demented rookie pitcher, Albert Brooks played a washedup Yankees' scout- and from there you'll just have to see it to believe it.

Fraser hasn't changed that much in the dozen years since. His voice is less squeaky, his attitude a bit more mature and three- almost four- Mummies later, he remains a quirkily bankable, utterly likable star.

The 12-year-old boy inside me (which my wife admits is often more pronounced than I like to imagine) thoroughly loved this film. It's an innocent throwback to the cadets-in-space mentality that fueled scifi classics like "Invaders from Mars" and "First Men in the Moon"- and also to its own well-intentioned 1959 predecessor starring James Mason and Pat Boone.

This version wastes no time getting us underground. Fraser plays volcanologist Trevor Anderson, whose brother Max, a Jules Verne fan, disappeared, presumably underground, a decade before. When Trevor's nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson), drops in for a stay, it takes director Eric Brevig just a few minutes to whisk the duo to Iceland and get things moving. (Any longer would have proven disastrous.)

Once there, and guided by foxy geologist's daughter Hannah Asgeirsson (Anita Briem), the trio descends into a realm perfect for that classic 50-year-old cinematic innovation- 3-D.

Frankly, I find many 3D offerings take-it-or-leave-it, but my opinion is this: "Journey" is a terrific 3D, silver screen adventure. Featuring effects both simple and magnificent, "Journey" is one full-family film (even its scariest moments are quite harmless) best seen bespectacled in theaters.

Fraser and Hutcherson play well together as uncle and nephew, and Anita Briem proves a suitable partner. Unlike the typical screaming female of scifi adventures past, Briem holds her own with the boys, even saving the day on occasion. The three manage to get into, then out of, some visually exciting predicaments. Substance? Logic?? Aw, heck, go with the outofyour-seat visuals and save those brain cells for the ride home.

Expect to spend a buck or two more for the necessarily silly 3D glasses (they're keepers), although wouldn't it be nice if turning in those plastic gismos were optional for the next family of voyeurs? A film depicting the majestic inner beauty of earth would be well supplemented by a little external common sense. Saving a few thousand pounds of plastic wouldn't hurt, undoubtedly going into those Journey to the Center of the Earth Nintendo games available (but, of course) at the end of the month.