A Winnipeg film company has gone back to the future to add leading edge special effects to a blockbuster summer film that is the using 3-D technology made famous in the 1950s.

Frantic Films, best known for its computer-generated water as seen in such films as "Superman Returns," made the big leap from 2-D to 3-D for the remake of "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

According to the film's director, Eric Brevig, "Journey' is the first live-action, all-digital 3-D movie."

For those who remember 3-D for its headache-causing, geeky glasses and films like "The Blob" or even the shudder-inducing "Jaws 3-D," the technology has greatly improved in its comeback this decade.

Randal Shore, the visual effects producer at Frantic Films, says that in order to get the movie's full affect, you need to see it one of the special 3-D theatres across the country.

"In 2-D, it may be entertaining, but you're not going to get same experience as you will watching it in 3-D," he said.

The change from to 2-D to 3-D wasn't an easy one for the company, as they had to go about their job much differently -- taking a year to create the effects for a few minutes of screen time.

"Some of the cheats that are traditionally done in 2-D, won't work in 3-D," Mike Fagundes, a visual effects artists for the company said.

The Winnipeg company isn't the only Canadian connection to the film, as its stars Canadian Brendan Frasier and was scored by Canadian composer Andrew Lockington.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" opened Friday. The movie, aimed at families, is opening to solid reviews, garnering a 66 per cent "fresh rating" at rottentomatoes.com.

With a report from CTV Winnipeg's Jon Hendricks