The Rock smells something, but it's not anything he's cooking.
Even those who have never read the turn-of-the-20th-century fantasies of Jules Verne are probably somewhat familiar with the adventures that took place within the pages of his books. One of his most famous tales is A Journey to the Center of the Earth, the basis of the 2008 film starring Brendan Frasier. Though Frasier’s character Prof. Trevor Anderson is not along for the ride this time, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island loosely adapts another of Verne’s classics, this time with wrestler-turned-action hero Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson starring as Hank Parsons.
The tenaciously venturesome teen Sean Anderson (played by Josh Hutcherson, the only returning actor from the first film) is at it again as he intercepts a nonsensical transmission from a mysterious locale. Luckily for him, his stepfather Hank is a former Navy codebreaker who quickly helps Sean decipher the transmission. Sean, whose teenage defiance makes him reluctant to accept his stepfather’s assistance, soon realizes that the message has come from an island in the Pacific Ocean that is apparently the same island referenced in Verne’s The Mysterious Island, as well as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. That’s right, not only were all three authors writing about the same island, but it’s a real place that has somehow been undiscovered by the rest of the world.
That is aside from Sean’s grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine), an explorer who Sean believes sent the message in hopes that Sean would receive it. By the time Hank and Sean get to Palau, they realize how far fetched it is to think there’s an island nearby that has yet to be discovered and documented. The only local willing to fly them out to try and find the island is a tour guide named Gabato (Luis Guzmán), whose dilapidated helicopter doesn’t look up for the challenge. But when Sean sees Gabato’s well developed daughter/business partner Kailani (High School Musical‘s Vanessa Hudgens), he’s suddenly willing to take the risk.
The Rock's going to take this little elephant, turn it sideways AND SHOVE IT STRAIGHT UP YOUR CANDY ASS!
Once they get to the area where they suspect the transmission emerged, they are sucked into an enormous storm funnel and crash safely on an Avatar-like island where elephants are not much bigger than house cats and lizards are the size of dinosaurs. They soon find Alexander and a Goonies-like adventure to get off the island ensues when they realize this island is also the lost city of Atlantis – and that it’s going to sink into the ocean again within the next day or so. The only means for escape? Captain Nemo’s sub the Nautilus from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, of course. Good thing it’s in a cave on the island’s coast. Too bad that cave is now underwater as the island rapidly sinks.
Along the way, there are flights on the backs of giant bees, a volcano erupting gold and plenty of lighthearted verbal sparring between The Rock and Caine that is as entertaining as any of The Rock’s sharp-witted wrestling promos. And while Sean is crushing on Kailani, her father develops an awkward man crush on Hank that makes for additional chuckle-worthy moments.
As has been the case with many family films as of late, Journey 2 is preceded by an animated short. And it’s a 3-D Looney Tunes treat called Daffy’s Rhapsody, a fun throwback in which Elmer Fudd hunts Daffy Duck while Daffy is performing an opera about being hunted.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Directed by Brad Peyton. Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Josh Hutcherson, Michael Caine, Luis Guzmán and Vanessa Hudgens. Rated PG. www.themysteriousisland.com.
Review by Jonathan Williams