How can a disastrous failure of a movie like Journey to the Center of the Earth be good for the future of the industry? © MMVII New Line Productions, Inc. and Walden Media, LLC.

We've all struggled through terrible movies. You know the kind. They are so awful it is literally painful to sit and watch.

I saw one like that recently. Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D is one of the worst movies I've seen since City of Joy with Patrick Swayze back in 1992.

I'm a huge fan of movies. I love action films, fantasy films, monster movies, dramas, comedies and of course animations. Journey fits many of these categories, but one category in which it doesn't fit is good.

I'm also a big fan of star Brendan Fraser, but I couldn't find anything I liked about his acting or this movie. The script was terrible and illogical (not a surprise when you see how many names were listed as writers). The effects were cheesy (every obvious "in your face" shot was used). The directing was amateurish. (Director Eric Brevig, previously a visual effects supervisor, must have forgotten his trade in this movie and hopefully will not be asked to direct another.) The acting was pitiful. It looked like Fraser didn't care at all about being in this movie (maybe he didn't realize anyone would actually see it). Even my wife, who loves to drool over him, was left cold this time.

We also took my eight-year-old twins to see the movie. They enjoyed the monsters and action, but even they kept asking me what was going on and why certain things were happening. They left the theater telling me how bad the movie was. It's pretty bad when kids who love to watch Power Rangers are bored by a feature that costs between $45 and $60 million (according to IMDbPro and Box Office Mojo respectively).

3-D stereoscopic has been played with a number of times in movies over the years. For the most part they have been lousy movies with poor 3-D effects that relied on cheap spiders-and-spears-in-your-face effects. They also hurt your eyes after viewing an entire movie.

Luckily, the technology now is much better and watching new stereographic films is quite comfortable. Okay, that brings up one good thing about Journey -- it didn't hurt my eyes to watch it. Well... maybe a little, but not because of the glasses.

The good news is that all of this is a great sign for the future of our industry.

What? How can a disastrous failure of a movie be a good sign?