Time: 94 Minutes
Age Rating: PG – contains some scenes may scare very young children
Cast:
Dwayne Johnson as Hank
Josh Hutcherson as Sean
Michael Caine as Alexander
Luis Guzmán as Gabato
Vanessa Hudgens as Kailani
Kristin Davis as Liz
Director: Brad Peyton

Sean receives a coded signal from an uncharted island which he suspects was sent by his long-missing grandfather. With his stepfather Hanks, he sets out in pursuit of his grandfather and the island.

Journey to the Center of the Earth was an average family adventure movie that had enough enjoyable aspects that I liked it. Clearly it was successful enough that a sequel was made, except it’s being led by Dwayne Johnson instead of Brendan Fraser. It’s not really much better, and if anything I seem to have more issues with it, but I enjoyed it.

Journey 2 is a sequel to the first movie, however the only connecting part is Josh Hutcherson’s character who returns as his character Sean. Instead of being paired with his uncle again, he’s paired with his step dad played by Dwayne Johnson. It’s a very basic adventure and it doesn’t make the most sense. The plot isn’t very interesting even though the concept was. Some of the dialogue is really bad, and the comedy misses far more than it hits, which is unfortunate considering that it has an even stronger emphasis here. That said, it is entertaining enough; it is kept at a fast pace and is short at around 90 minutes.

The acting is a bit mixed. Dwayne Johnson doesn’t have nearly the same energy that Brendan Fraser has in the last movie (which helped to make that movie fun), but brings his usual charisma to his character and is decent. Josh Hutcherson is again good, though the dynamic between him and Johnson wasn’t quite the same as the one between him and Fraser in the last movie. Vanessa Hudgens and Luis Guzman are also in this. The standout for me is Michael Caine: he knows what kind of movie he’s in, and he appears to be having fun. The pairing of him and Johnson is funny and entertaining, thankfully the script allows them to bounce off each other.

It’s not good from a directing or technical standpoint. It really has a cheap look to it despite the high budget and the dated CGI, particularly with the green screen. Still, the visuals and the 3D do look better than the first movie, but not by much.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is on a similar level to the first movie, it’s entertaining enough despite the mostly bad humour, and the very iffy writing and CGI. If you liked the previous movie, you might like this one too.