Entertainment, Movies - Navy Times

3-D ride salvages ‘Journey’

“Journey to the Center of the Earth” boasts outstanding 3-D effects — some truly remarkable stuff, such as a bug’s antennae poking out at you so realistically that you’ll feel like they’re going to poke you in the eye.

Or Brendan Fraser spitting while brushing his teeth, making you duck for cover.

Of course, you can have all the dimensions you want for the effects, but it doesn’t make up for a one-dimensional story. “Journey” doesn’t quite fall trap to that, but comes awfully close.

We’ve transitioned rather quietly into a new era of 3-D, one in which it really does make the characters jump out of the screen and into your face.

It’s a fascinating experience, particularly in a live-action film. But in “Journey,” it’s more of an exercise in gotcha moments than a storytelling tool.

At times, “Journey” seems less like a movie and more like a 3-D ride at a theme park, particularly when, for instance, the characters ride little cars through a mine shaft on rails that are laid out suspiciously like roller-coaster tracks.

That being said, it’s a pretty fun ride.

And it starts out promisingly enough. Fraser plays Trevor Anderson, a professor and scientist whose brother Max went missing 10 years earlier. Now, Trevor’s nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson), is coming to visit. Sean’s mom brings along a few of Max’s belongings, including his well-worn copy of Jules Verne’s novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Deciphering the scribblings in the margins, Trevor decides that he and Sean must high-tail it to Iceland, where they meet Hannah (Anita Briem), the daughter of a professor who shares Max’s interests.

Trevor poses the question central to the story: What if Verne’s book wasn’t fiction? Next thing you know, they’re hiking up a volcano. Before long, they’re inside it.

And that’s when the adventure really begins.

It’s also where the story, despite the 3-D wizardry, goes flat.

There is a rather touching scene involving Max — Fraser is quite effective in it — but for the most part, the film becomes one chase scene after another. Granted, the effects are pretty cool, but they’d be just as effective as stand-alone set pieces. That seems even more pronounced because for the bulk of the movie, it’s just the three of them, Trevor, Sean and Hanna, trying to find their way back to the surface of the planet and trying to stay alive while doing so.

Fraser, Anderson and Briem are all good, striking an easy bond with one another after some perfunctory hesitations. But the real star here is the pair of 3-D glasses you’re handed when you walk into the theater. With them, “Journey” is a kick (if not much more). Without them, it’s more a journey into mediocrity, and that’s a trip no one wants to take.

“Journey to the Center of the Earth”

Opens July 11

2½ stars (fair to good)

Rated PG for intense adventure action and some scary moments.