A lot of films disingenuously claim to be “a thrilling rollercoaster ride.” Usually it’s just a bunch of hype, but you can’t charge “Journey to the Center of the Earth” with false advertising; not only is this a fun little rollercoaster of a movie, it actually features a rollercoaster in one of the action sequences. Indeed, a theme park metaphor is particularly apt in describing this movie because it plays like the 3-D attractions you can find over at Sea World. It’s exciting, funny, not too scary and quite short—young kids will absolutely love it.

Based loosely on Jules Vern’s novel, this updated “Journey” features Brendan Fraser playing a professor who travels to an Icelandic volcano in order to place some tectonic sensors. He’s joined in his task by his nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and a pretty mountain guide (Anita Briem). The gods of movie coincidences step in here, trapping our trio in a cave where they can only escape by going down into, you guessed it, the center of the earth. The core turns out to be a lost word full of beautiful bioluminescent birds, but also giant carnivorous plants and a nasty school of vicious piranhas, not to mention one very hungry dinosaur.

It all makes for a fast-paced adventure as our trio tries to find a way back to the surface. There’s a lot of action packed into this hour and a half movie, and most of it is played with a cartoon mentality, which means that you’re never truly scared for the heroes’ safety. Fraser has always been great at straddling the line between action and comedy, and he once again proves to be the perfect choice for a family movie leading man.

“Journey to the Center of the Earth” is being presented in 3-D in some theatres, and while most of the 3-D shots are just obvious gags, such as spitting toothpaste directly at the audience, it’s all part of the fun. Check with the theater to find out if your screening will be shown in 3-D, but even those stuck with normal projection should enjoy this thrilling rollercoaster ride of a movie.

That’s not just hype this time, there really is a rollercoaster in this film, and the ride is really thrilling.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News.” Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kavutv.com.