But younger viewers may enjoy the trip's visual tricks and gentle jolts. Brendan Fraser has gone subterranean for his newest popcorn offering and, frankly, can you blame him? After chasing down the undead in Egypt, Morocco and, coming next month -- just in time for the Olympics -- China (with "The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon"), it's probably nice to go someplace where you don't need to slather on the sunblock and compete with hordes of scene-grubbing extras.

You would have to look deep under the lava rock to find any bit players lurking in "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which qualifies as one of the most underpopulated science-fiction opuses since "2001: A Space Odyssey." Geared toward kids of an age group more conversant with Dr. Seuss than Jules Verne, this rambunctious and ridiculous 3-D version seems intent on curtailing the actorly histrionics in favor of reptilian creatures that thwack, rubber-band style, in our faces.

Verne's 1864 classic has rarely been wanting for screen interpretation, at least in the last half-century. Multiple theatrical and made-for-television versions have tumbled from both sides of the Atlantic, including a Spanish version, an animated American TV series and an animated French film featuring, respectively, the voices of Ted Knight and Pierre Richard. For stateside baby boomers, none of these incarnations has succeeded in eclipsing the memory of Henry Levin's 1959 film, which boasted voluptuous Bernard Herrmann scoring, dandy dinosaurs and the soup-to-nuts casting of James Mason, Arlene Dahl and Pat Boone.

The Times