Review of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) by Thedrauch — 22 Jul 2012

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the sequel to 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth plays out as standard escapism, but of the lowest common denominator. The visuals aren't sub-par, but are not as seamless as other less ambitious hollywood releases like it and they don't particularly mesh well with the sets.

The characters seem to be plainly drawn and even veteran Michael Caine as the grandfather doesn't redeem this movie's mediocrity. That is the worst thing to do when crafting a film, not making it terribly, but making it run of the mill stuff.

Basically, the film's positive highlights are this: the afore-mentioned visuals, Vanessa Hudgens in a tank-top, and Dwayne Johnson, particularly in a scene involving a berry-flick-by-his-pecs, which seems to take place out of nowhere.

Basically, they're walking through the jungle, Josh Hutcherson says something about girls, then Dwayne Johnson says: "Here Josh. I'll flick a berry off of my nipple and that will obviously help you with your girl problems".

Then he flicks several berries off of his nipple. It made no sense but was the only ludicrously enjoyable moment. Basically, Journey 2 is just a movie going through the motions with little sense of adventure and thrill and a diluted feeling of fun.

I would catch it on Starz or Cinemax whenever they require the rights, and only if you're bored.