Journey 2 : The Mysterious Island Review

Journey 2 : The Mysterious Island (3D) Movie Review

Story:
As the title suggests the film is journey of a people through mysterious islands. Sean (Josh Hutcherson) who belongs to a family of adventurers stumbles receives codes of a mysterious island and is hell bent on finding the island in the hope of finding his lost grandfather. Sean believes that the codes are send by his grandfather. Hank (Dwayne Johnson) his foster father accompanies him to the journey in order to befriend him. On their journey they meet Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) and how they all together reach the mysterious island and cope with it; did Sean eventually meet his grandfather and how they all return to the world outside forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
There are five principle characters and among them veteran Michael Caine as the old adventure freak granddad scores the maximum points. He delivers the right punches and makes people forget the corniest of lines and scenarios with his impeccable timing and screen presence even if with him being the senior most.

Luis Guzman as Gabato performs the next or in other words is the next most entertaining character with his non stop bumbling buffoonery act. He delivers some lines with perfect comic timing that brings the house down. But such scenes are few and far in between.

Dwayne Johnson aka Rock suits perfect for the role which requires him less to emote and more to flex muscles and be the anchor as far as action goes. His best moment in the film and also one of the films best, although pretty corny, is his superb rendition of the song “what a wonderful women” with alternate lyrics.

Josh Hutcherson as Sean the grandson on the journey to discover his grandfather and an adventure freak acts bad and fails to evoke the right emotions and carries a constant expression throughout for love, action and emotion. His failing is also the films biggest failing.

Vanessa Hudgens looks pretty and that’s her job done.

Positives
Visuals
3D
Some comic moments

Negatives
Underdeveloped characters
Predictable story

Analysis
For a film made in adventure genre the film has thrills but everything looks textbook and already seen before. The feeling of fear and amazement that one expects from movies of this genre is completely lacking. There is nothing new except some amazing bits which work wonderfully in 3D. The emotional connect that was tried to develop between the father and son fails to create any impact. The only positive thing about the film is the pace that doesn’t stagnate anywhere and moves consistently in spite of the predictable nature. Mix that pace with some cool 3D effects the film is a decent entertainer. As kids don’t have problems with anything of the above the film should strike appeal to them.

Bottomline: A film for the kids and they will enjoy it.
Rating: 3/5