Journey 2 The Mysterious Island: Movie Review

Journey 2 The Mysterious Island

Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens, Michael Caine

Director: Brad Peyton

Back to the world of the fantasy lost island film genre we go after the success of Journey To the Centre of the Earth a couple of years ago.

This time around, when rebellious teenager Sean Anderson (Hutcherson) gets a coded distress signal from an island which shouldn’t exist, he’s convinced it’s his grandfather Alexander trying to get in touch.

But Sean’s faced with a couple of problems – a stepfather Hank (Dwayne”The Rock” Johnson) who’s an embarrassment as far as Sean’s concerned – and a lack of transport to help him get to the South Pacific.

So, when Hank helps decode the message, Sean “lets” the stepdad come along – and on the way, the duo hook up with Luis Guzman’s Gabato, the only helicopter pilot willing to fly to the island – and Gabato’s daughter -and potential love interest for Sean – Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens).

However, when the quartet finds the island, they discover their time will be cut fatally short as it’s sinking and if they’re unable to make their way off, they’ll be stranded forever….

Journey 2 The Mysterious Island skews young – a family with younger kids will definitely enjoy the relatively short outing (though the parents may find parts of it a stretch).

Hutcherson and Hudgens work reasonably well together; Dwayne Johnson has a goofy, if ever so slightly annoying, charm as Hank – even if he does try to be self effacing and ends up more irritating. When he’s butting heads with Caine’s Alexander, there’s a nice vibe between the pair, but it can’t save the film.

Entirely predictable, Journey 2 The Mysterious Island plods along well enough with a side of cheese coating its dialogue and action sequences, which never fully soar.

The use of the 3D though is utterly appalling and lazy in the extreme – one sequence where Johnson gets to show off his “dancing pecs” (don’t ask) is shoe horned in simply to have a series of objects shoot off the screen and into the audience. And that in a nutshell is what’s wrong with this – if it was a little more relaxed and less cynical, Journey 2 would be watchable to all sections of the audience.

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