Lack of Vision in ‘Encounter in Third Dimension’

A large-format 3-D movie about the history of 3-D images on film sure sounds like a good idea, but ultimately “Encounter in the Third Dimension” is more a test of endurance than a history lesson or anything resembling entertainment.

The film begins in the make-believe Institute of 3-D Technology, a digitally created laboratory complete with the requisite absent-minded professor (played by Stuart Pankin) and plucky sidekick, in this case a wisecracking flying robot named Max.

The professor intends to educate the audience about the magic of 3-D technology with his latest invention, the Real-O-Vision, a gadget whose sole purpose seems to be to conjure up the outrageous television personality Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

Things go awry with the Real-O-Vision, and while the professor tinkers behind the scenes, Max presents a more straightforward account of how 3-D images are created on film. Included in this segment is a re-creation of the Lumiere brothers’ 1903 “L’Arrivee du Train” which literally scared turn-of-the-century audiences out of the theater, and a slew of fun clips from campy 3-D movie classics from Hollywood’s 3-D heyday, the early 1950s.

Then it’s back to the dreary, cavernous lab and what should be the highlight of “Encounter”--sneak peeks at the very latest applications of cutting-edge 3-D technologies, including a fleeting clip of the new theme park film “Terminator 2: 3-D.” Unfortunately, it is this portion of the film that is the most tedious.

To be fair, much of the 3-D is impressive. But the filmmakers have chosen to use the technology to jolt and pummel the audience rather than dazzle and amaze. On a roller-coaster-like simulated trip to the center of the Earth, the film’s effects are real enough to make you imagine that you are really moving (including a potential dose of motion sickness), but there’s no real fun involved or any sense of where you’re going on this ride.

The filmmakers have ballyhooed the fact that this is the first large-format film to open in both an institutional theater (the California Science Center) and commercial venues (two Edwards theaters) on the same day. The California Science Center has high standards about which films it will accept for exhibition--they have to be both entertaining and educational. Recently the center sparked controversy for turning away the 3-D romp “T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous,’ which has been playing at commercial theaters for months but was deemed not learned enough.

But if “T-Rex” isn’t scholarly, at least it’s entertaining. “Encounter” strikes out on both counts. The entertainment value is almost nil--most of the jokes fall flat, and the entire plot line involving Elvira seems pointless--and what little information is offered is hardly worth the exercise. What it all amounts to in the end is a high-tech mess.

It takes more than effects to sustain any type of film, even one in which the star, in this case 3-D, is itself a novelty.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: Some scenes and 3-D may be too scary for young children.

‘Encounter in the Third Dimension’

Stuart Pankin: The Professor and voice of Max

Cassandra Peterson: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Harry Shearer: narrator

Director and executive producer Ben Stassen. Producer Charlotte Clay Huggins. Screenplay Kurt Frey and Ben Stassen. Production designer Anthony Huerta. CGI producer Caroline Van Iseghem. Music Louis Vyncke. Running time: 39 minutes.

California Science Center, Figueroa Boulevard and 39th Street, Exposition Park, (213) 744-2014; Edwards Imax 3-D Theatre, Irvine Spectrum, intersection of the 5 and 405 freeways, (714) 832-4629; Edwards Imax 3-D Theatre, Ontario Stadium 22, intersection of interstates 10 and 15, Ontario, (909) 476-1500.