Pun Salad

Watching a 2-D version of an originally-3-D movie can work, if you watch for the 3-D gags and use a little imagination. When the yo-yo gets thrust at the camera, duck out of the way! It's fun!

Brendan Fraser plays Trevor, a university geology prof. He's disrespected by his department chair (SNL's Seth Myers). He's troubled by the years-ago disappearance of his brother. And his sister-in-law has just dropped off his nephew, a resentful 14-year-old; she's also dropped off a box full of his brother's belongings.

Will that box contain a clue to fate of Trevor's brother, and lead to a fantastic danger-filled voyage to … you know where? Good guess. Accompanying Trevor and the kid is Icelandic Hannah Ásgeirsson, guide to the scenic volcanoes that now and then open up to send unwary travellers to a place where the sun don't shine.

This is a movie aimed squarely at the PG set, but it's fun for adults in the right mood as well. The 3-D stuff is played for shock and laughs. A sour note (which I won't spoil) is totally out of whack with everything else in the flick; wish they'd figured out some other way to handle that plot point.

An entertaining extra on the DVD is a small documentary on believers in various "Hollow Earth" theories. This included Edmond Halley, of cometary fame. I did not know that!