A teen (Josh Hutcherson) plays with a yo-yo, which comes at the camera repeatedly. His uncle (Brendan Fraser) holds up a paperback copy of Jules Verne's classic book at arm's length, the cover practically stuck in the viewer's face. It's all like something from the old "SCTV" spoof "Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Beef."

And it's a scene that both realized and set aside the fears Hutcherson, the kid with the yo-yo, had before he signed on to co-star in the movie.

"I've always pictured 3-D movies as being cheesy, with the classic gimmicks of stuff coming out into the audience," Hutcherson, 15, said this week on a publicity stop in Salt Lake City. "But Eric [Brevig, the director] said 'It's just like a normal action movie, except it happens to be shot in 3-D.' "

That early scene, according to Brevig, was done to defuse the critics who are - like Hutcherson was - apprehensive about 3-D.

"I felt that I had to acknowledge, yes, this is a 3-D movie, you put on the glasses and we're going to give you some 3-D - I won't say gimmicks, but I will say treats - because that's what people expect," Brevig said in a recent phone interview. "Then we're going to calm down and start the movie. From that point on, the things that come off the screen are organically part of the story."

Brevig's desire to make a movie based on Verne's book coincided with his distributor's interest in 3-D technology. The distributor, Walden Media, had made underwater 3-D documentaries with "Titanic" director James Cameron and was interested in Brevig's idea to make "Journey" as a 3-D adventure.

"Fortunately, the technology had hit a new plateau with digital projection and the ability to show 3-D in a normal movie theater . . . and see it at the same quality level as we were putting into it," said Brevig, a special-effects veteran making his debut as a director.

Shooting with digital cameras also brought surprises, Fraser said in the same phone interview.

"It's a digital-body camera with twin lenses on it, and a cable running off to technicians 600 or 700 feet away in various tents," Fraser said. "There's no magazine of film on top that can roll out between 'Action!' and 'Cut!' The clock isn't ticking, so the rhythm of the day was a little more liberating."

Hutcherson said the digital technology also allowed the actors to see themselves, shot in 3-D, on the set. "You can watch live 3-D playback of what we just shot, so it didn't have to go to any labs or anything," he said.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" could be the first of a wave of 3-D films hitting theaters in the next few years. The animated "Fly Me to the Moon" arrives in August. Plans are afoot for 3-D releases of Pixar's "Toy Story" films. DreamWorks will have an animated 3-D release next year with "Monsters vs. Aliens." And Cameron is expected to pull out all the stops in 2009 with the 3-D science-fiction drama "Avatar."

"It's the new way with technology," Hutcherson said, noting that directors like Cameron and Robert Rodriguez are already latching onto 3-D. "I was excited to be one of the pioneers."

Fraser agreed: "We really are on the tippy bit of the spear that is piercing through where cinema is going."

Sean P. Means can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.