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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Review

Review by IndiaGlitz [ Saturday, February 4, 2012 • Hollywood ]
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Review
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Cast:
Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens, Kristin Davis
Direction:
Brad Peyton
Production:
Charlotte Huggins, Beau Flynn, Tripp Vinson
Music:
Andrew Lockington

The great American dream is back which is about telling a fantastical story with such utmost conviction that you actually start believing it to be true. The phenomenon is repeated with 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island' where, as the title suggests, the protagonists are out to discover an island that has been otherwise lost in the pages of writer Jules Verne. Of course this also means that for an audience, there is an adventure ride ahead which is expected to be made of unknown creatures, fierce chases, godforsaken locations and quite a few eye popping moments that are meant to amaze you.

Of course all of it is predictable and there aren't many surprises in store. Also, cinematic liberty gets a different name with 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island' where happy coincidences are far too many to be ignored. Moreover there aren't any thrilling edge-of-the-seat points in the tale that would make you heart pound heavily. However by and large it's the teenage look and feel of the film coupled with some good enough popcorn munching sequences that end up making this Brad Peyton directed film a reasonably engaging affair.

Sequel to Brendan Fraser's 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' (which was definitely a better film), this one is a rather simplistic tale that doesn't quite lead to a guessing game. So even though Nicolas Cage and his team may have spent years on cracking the code for 'National Treasure' series, toughie Dwayne 'Rock' Johnson and his teenage stepson Josh Hutcherson manage to do that in 10 minutes flat, hence hardly wasting any time in understanding their destination.

Off they are to an island where they are escorted by Luis Guzman and his lovely daughter Vanessa Hudgens. Their journey together gets further spicy with Michael Caine (playing Josh's grandfather) emerging as their tour guide. While watching the film, you can't help but ignore comparisons with recently released 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked'. There the characters found themselves marooned in an island and met a young woman who had made that place as her own. Here too the setting is almost similar though thankfully the adventures are far better.

So what we see are some exciting moments where the quartet accidentally stands on rocks that turn out to be giant eggs of a huge lizard. Then there are some eye catchy visuals of flora and fauna. Baby elephants turn out to be tinier than dogs while bees turn out to be mini helicopters no less. Volcanoes throw up rocks of gold while earth threatens to get submerged in the ocean every now and then.

However there is one fact that is tough to ignore in most of the aforementioned sequences and that is an obvious similarity with 'Avatar'. Frankly, right from the time the giant lizard chases the quartet in a jungle to the aerial route the protagonists take atop the bees to the mysterious vegetation all over the island, all of it comes with an 'Avatar' deja vu. Of course there is a huge difference in the scale here and in comparison with the James Cameron version, 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island' comes across as a small screen version.

Moreover there are points in the film where the film looses it's grip. The beginning episode is 'oh-so-unnecessary' where a typical father-son conflict is established for no real reason. Later their bonding over a song has boredom written all over it. Romantic angle between Josh and Vanessa doesn't cut much ice either while one ends up wondering how Michael Caine consented to play this part which doesn't quite justify his presence, especially after his bravura act in films like 'The Dark Knight' franchise, 'Inception' and 'Harry Brown' amongst others. Even Kristin Davis (of 'Sex in the City' fame) is seen in a one bit role.

Also, one does feel that usage of 3D technology could have been much better. Though there are a few instances where you really feel that 3D has been used optimally, they are only far and few that leave you a little discontent. Even otherwise one would have just expected that a film with the title 'mysterious island' could have done with more enticing visuals. Here they are good, not breathtaking.

Still, as stated earlier, if one looks at the film as a popcorn entertainer, 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island' does manage to pass off as a reasonably decent entertainer. The kind of film which typically arrives as a summer release, it is rather surprising for it to make such a low key arrival. However for kids and teenagers, it should not be a bad deal at all.

Rating: ***

Rating: 0 / 5.0

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