FREE FALLING: Journey is all about the 3D experience.

When I was a kid, I watched the Superhost show religiously every Saturday afternoon. As some of you may remember, Supe was a Cleveland-area movie host who specialized in showing hokey old horror, sci-fi and adventure flicks. At least once a month he'd feature a movie with dinosaurs, which for me immediately elevated it above the rest of the schlock.

Watching Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D pretty much made me feel like that kid again. Like the movies Supe used to show, Journey is refreshingly simple and unapologetically ridiculous. In this day of overly convoluted popcorn movies filled with countless subplots, characters and explanations for everything, Journey feels downright minimalist. There's no angst or edginess; this is just fun, classic pulp adventure.

Trevor (Brendan Fraser) is a scientist carrying on the research into seismic activity started by his brother Max, who went missing years ago. Trevor is your classic absent-minded professor type, having forgotten that Max's 13-year-old son Sean (Josh Hutcherson) is coming to stay with him for 10 days. Sean's mother brings along a box of Max's possessions, including a copy of Jules Verne's classic fantasy novel Journey to the Center of the Earth in which Max has written notes.

It seems Max believed the novel was fact, not fiction, and set off for Iceland to prove it. Trevor and Sean follow suit, along the way hiring Hannah (Anita Briem) as a guide. The three get trapped by a cave-in and wind up in mine cars for a scene that gives new meaning to the term "roller-coaster movie," eventually winding up at the center of the earth (which should come as no surprise seeing as it's in the title of the movie). And as everyone knows, the center of the earth is populated by dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Only these dinosaurs look a lot better than the sorry-ass lizards with fins and horns taped to their bodies and guys in rubber suits from the movies I used to watch on Superhost. And they're in 3D.

Now there are those who will say that 3D is just a gimmick. To which I say, "yeah, and so what?" This is a lightweight fantasy movie that doesn't want to do anything more than deliver thrills and excitement, and the 3D helps in that regard. I mean, how can you not love a movie that makes you dodge T-Rex's slobber? Like last year's Beowulf, these effects are done extremely well and probably add about half a star to the movie's rating. There are a couple of show-off-y scenes like the one where Sean plays with a yo-yo (perhaps a tip of the hat to the paddle-ball scene in the 1953 classic House of Wax), but for the most part the 3D fits naturally into the movie.

Aside from directing a few episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, director Eric Brevid has worked primarily as a special-effects supervisor on movies like Men in Black and The Day After Tomorrow. Thankfully, though, Brevid realizes you need more than just special effects, even for a popcorn movie like this. Journey doesn't have the frenetic ADD feel of so many modern effects-heavy films. Instead, it takes its time to get going, letting the audience know the characters before thrusting them into the action. These aren't especially complex characters, but they aren't cardboard, either. As in the Mummy films, Brendan Fraser excels at playing the likable square-jawed hero. He could probably play this part in his sleep, but it never feels like he's just phoning it in. Hutcherson is likeable, too, avoiding the typical surly adolescent clichés, and Briem comes across as capable without being hardened. She's not just the token female love interest, but she's not Lara Croft, either.

Look, I'm not gonna try and convince you this is a great movie. It's not. But there is definitely a place for this kind of family-friendly (though not strictly for the kiddies) adventure film. Obviously, if you want depth and substance you should look elsewhere, but if you're just craving a fun bit of fantasy that doesn't require a scorecard for you to keep track of everything, you can't do much better than Journey to the Center of the Earth. All that's missing is Superhost.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D: Opens Friday areawide