While it’s implied this is a sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, the only returning cast member for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is Josh Hutcherson as Sean, a Jules Verne fanatic that believes Verne’s stories weren’t fantasy, but were in fact reality.
In that sense, the spirit of the first film remains as we are once again transported to a world inspired by the works of Jules Verne, though this time around “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Treasure Island” also play a part. The books written by Verne, Swift and Stevenson come together for a bit of family adventure, and while this isn’t exactly a film I would want to watch again, I think I can safely say it will satisfy its under-ten target audience.
For those looking for any kind of continuation from the first film don’t look too hard. Brendan Fraser, who played Sean’s uncle in the first film and encouraged these Vernian adventures, is nowhere to be found. It’s mildly implied he is just another male figure that disappeared from Sean’s life, just as his father did, but implications is all we have to go by.
However, the lack of a male Sean can look up to soon becomes an ongoing plot point with the distance between Sean and his mother’s new husband, ex-Navy man Hank (Dwayne Johnson), couldn’t be wider. Fortunately, things move quite quickly as Sean has stumbled upon a message from his grandfather (Michael Caine) that originated from a location off the coast of Palau, a location where Sean believes they will find the mysterious island Verne wrote about in 1874.
As any reasonable person would, Hank up and buys a pair of tickets to Palau and our adventure begins. From there they hook up with a local helicopter tour guide (Luis Guzman) who takes them off into the wilds of the Pacific Ocean along with his daughter (Vanessa Hudgeons) wedged in there to ensure 13-year-old girls make a trip to the theater.
Bing, bang, boom, they crash land on the island, find Sean’s grandfather, learn the island is about to sink back into the ocean and must find a way to get back to the mainland before that happens. Giant bees coupled with tiny elephants make for a wild landscape where massive lizards and electric eels prove to be major foes. Michael Caine yucks it up and Johnson wanders around rather stiffly when he isn’t singing “What a Wonderful World” around the campfire… IN 3-D!!!!
As charismatic as Johnson is, he just can’t sell himself in these kinds of roles. He comes off too rigid and the jokes that are written for him mostly miss by a mile. Of course, it’s not like we look to him for his acting prowess. He is, after all, filling in for C-list actor Brendan Fraser, but this is the kind of film more suited for Fraser’s talent. Johnson has more of a straight-man’s humor while Fraser is more the goofball type.
To watch Johnson and Caine bat insults back-and-forth almost makes you wonder why Johnson doesn’t just pummel Caine into the ground, whereas you can see Fraser taking one on the chin. Johnson’s onscreen persona will never be as a lovable lug, he’s a hulking, yet charismatic, force. He earns his laughs when he’s embarrassing foes that otherwise believe they’re tough, not when he’s punching giant lizards in the face or bouncing berries off his pecs. He just doesn’t fit in this environment.
As far as comedy goes, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island counts on Caine’s silliness, which isn’t in the least bit funny, and the one-liners delivered by Luis Guzman, who actually got me to chuckle a couple of times, particularly right before the group jumps on a swarm of giant bees to fly over a mountain and he looks at Johnson and asks, “Can we fly together?” Guzman has a delivery that can make you laugh, but it is a bit of a shocker to see where his career has gone since his supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic.
For the most part, this is intended to be an innocent 3-D spectacle. Loaded with CG landscapes, tons of intimidating monsters, crawly creatures and underwater adventure there is enough to keep the kiddies busy while parents can be satisfied knowing it’s only 94 minutes long.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is hardly top notch entertainment, but as far as serving its purpose, I have a hard time coming down too hard on it. Most moviegoers will rightly stay away if it’s not their cup of tea, but those that are drawn to it should come out satisfied.
