When a film adapted from an extremely well known novel is shamelessly promoted as the first live-action, narrative motion picture to be shot in digital 3D, it better deliver the goods. To a certain extent the adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1864 novel does. The Oscar-winning visual effects vet Eric Brevig’s directorial debut has the smart sensibility of not trying to be what it isn’t and in the process becomes a harmless, thrilling ride, something of an entertaining kinetic visual experience. “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” is far from a good movie, it’s actually pretty awful. Having said that, if you are over the age of ten and can muster up the ability to pretend that you never grew out of appreciating movies just because they look and sound “big,” then it may just be right up your alley. If not, a word of caution is more than necessary because as entertaining as the film may be before the action slows down, it also has the effect to be horribly offensive to those expecting an innovative foray into the still under explored realm of 3D escapism.

The idea that within our own world lies another smaller, mysterious and unexplored world has been manipulated countless numbers of times into various television and theatrical incarnations, none of which are remotely memorable. Throw 3D technology in all its gimmicky splendour into the works and you would expect to get a version that offers something different from the more dated versions. In actual fact, all you get by doing that is a couple of moments that are genuinely mind-blowing, and a whole lot of annoying distractions. However, if you think about it, without the distractions there would be very little left in the film. Its focus is fussy and calculated, and the adrenalin rush fades just as fast as the flurry of unbelievable images whiz past you.

Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is a college professor come scientist whose brother, Max, was very much a “Vernean,” meaning that he took Verne’s novel as an assertion of a scientific breakthrough, and not an entertaining piece of fiction. When it is realized that the current seismic activity is at an optimal level for exploration, Trevor and his uninterested, materialistic and reluctant teenage nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) make their way to Iceland to the volcanic passage where Max disappeared. Once they get to the Icelandic institute they were looking for, the beautiful mountain guide Hannah (Anita Briem) joins them in their odd quest rather abruptly, and she charges them for her services by the hour. And so the predictable yet rollicking adventure down to the core of Earth begins. One where it doesn’t matter how far or fast you fall, you’ll always land unscathed – and the characters seem to know it, they rarely convey a convincing amount of terror or panic.

Brendan Fraser’s goofy self, playing a human amongst a vast array of CGI characters, is something of an acquired taste, one which I may be allergic to. He and the rest of cast verbalise cliché after cliché as laid out in the flimsy screenplay and you always know what they are going to say even before they do. Yet they’re all charming from the get go because their characterisations remain surprisingly human, and when your sense of belief fails you, you might still feel something for the trio that keeps you watching even though all rationality tells you to do the opposite.

Stripped down of the usual over embellishment, the film is essentially a series of rides and gags that resemble something of a theme-park attraction rather than a movie. Without adding anything revolutionary to the premise or spectacles, one cannot but wonder if this is perhaps the new mediocre in terms of 3D technology. Surely not every film in 3D can be better or more exciting those that have come before it, and it seems as though the filmmakers chose to settle at a comfortable in-between. Brevig’s direction, along with the screenplay, bank hard on the impressive visual quality of their film and in turn hold it back from being truly inventive or original by playing it all too safe. It is a family affair after all, but the balance between what is real and what is surreal might have been a tad too perfect, it is supposed to a fantasy and I couldn’t help but feel that the truth was not stretched far enough. Nonetheless, Bervig obviously knows the limits to what visual effects can achieve, and his use of technology is almost seamless.

Still, I found myself taking off the 3D glasses just to see the difference in quality. The film looked dated and completely ordinary without 3D, but not as distracting and cluttered as when I had the glasses on. I should attempt to see the film in ordinary 2D, perhaps it will be clearer, and less headache inducing. The immersive experience of the exploration of the world inside our world, a vividly unreal environment, is strongly adhered to, and the 3D effects never become too gimmicky that we or the characters are taken out of the story. And it is because of that successful immersion that the film will succeed in its main goal, that being to entertain the intended audience.

Fatac Rating: **½

Journey to the Center of the Earth. Directed by Eric Brevig. Written by Michael Weiss, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin based on the novel by Jules Verne. Cinematography by Chuck Schuman. Edited by Paul Martin Smith, Dirk Westervelt and Steven Rosenblum. Music by Andrew Lockington. Running Time: 93 minutes. Age Restriction: PG. Year: 2008. Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.