I'm back with movie reviews. Ok please don't blame me why it took me so long to write movie reviews, please blame my laziness. I don't feel inspired and don't get any reason why I should spend my quality time on writing reviews instead I just can sleep (yeah, that's the bad thing in working life! sigh!) But suddenly I feel excited and happy to write again! If there’s a lesson to be learned from Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, it’s that Dwayne Johnson can make any movie watchable… even Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. And that’s no small feat. The special effects-laden sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth is a pretty awful film that uses imaginative set pieces to obscure the fact that it has no story whatsoever. There’s an island, alright. It’s pretty mysterious.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island adalah lakonan Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine and Vanessa Hudgens.In this sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, we catch up with young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson), now a bit older and getting into all kinds of mischief. Sean’s mom (Kristin Davis) and step-dad Hank (Dwayne Johnson) try to pry the reason for his bad behavior out of the recalcitrant teen, and Hank finally manages to get the answer: Sean is trying to piece together the mystery of his missing grandfather, Alexander Anderson (Michael Caine), who went searching for a mysterious island of legend.
Working together, Sean and Hank decode a message from Alexander based on the famous adventure tales of Jules Verne, Robert Lewis Stevenson and Jonathan Swift. Sean immediately sets his sights on the island of Palau, the next step to locating his grandfather, and Hank trying to bond with the boy and/or exhaust his curiosity decides to chaperone the journey.
In Palau, Hank and Sean meet Helicopter tour guide Gabato (Luis Guzmán) and his daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) – who is pretty enough to make Sean risk a flight on her rusted copter into the eye of a hurricane that just so happens to hide the entrance to the mysterious island. Once they are (crash-)landed on the island, the party sets out to find Alexander – and then, find passage off of the mystical land mass before it sinks back into the sea, taking them with it.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is one of those “good for what it is” films – and what it is, is a light-hearted, family-friendly adventure film in the vein of Honey I Shrunk the Kids (only not that good). The film is filled with cheesy dialogue and jokes, one-dimensional characters and an overdone plot that offers just a few notes of genuine heart or drama but none of that really matters in this context. Kids will have fun with the material, and the adults accompanying them will be reasonably entertained as well.
Of course, all the silliness would be too much if not for the cast of actors who manage to ground it, and Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine are two of the main reasons why this film works as effectively as it does. Both are great leading men in their own right, and the contentious relationship between Hank and Alexander (as Sean’s competing paternal figures) creates some great banter, which are probably the movie’s best moments.Hudgens doesn’t offer much except her pretty face (not that she’s required to).
On the whole, Journey 2 is just a fun ride from beginning to end. It’s not a piece of classic cinema by any means, but between some great set pieces, a healthy mix of non-threatening action, (chessy) kid-friendly comedy, and some likable leading performers, you can easily set this Journey above the one that proceeded it.
I comment this movie (2) ★★only.
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