JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D [2012] [3D Blu-ray + 2D Blu-ray] [UK Release]
Believe The Impossible, Discover The Incredible!
This is the follow-up to the 2008 hit! The new journey begins when young adventurer Sean [Josh Hutcherson] receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist... a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean's new stepfather [Dwayne Johnson] joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot [Luis Guzman] and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter [Vanessa Hudgens], they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.
FILM FACT: Brendan Fraser and Anita Briem did not return due to scheduling issues, but Josh Hutcherson reprised his role. Jane Wheeler also did not return to play Elizabeth/Liz (Sean's mother) and was replaced in the part by Kristin Davis. Dwayne Johnson played Sean's stepfather, who is forced to accompany Sean on the trip to find his missing grandfather Alexander (played by Michael Caine) on a mythical and monstrous island. In October 2010, it was announced that Vanessa Hudgens would play Josh Hutcherson's love interest. The theatrical release of the film was preceded by a Looney Tunes short film entitled ‘Daffy's Rhapsody,’ featuring Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd in the first CGI 3-D depiction of these specific Looney Tunes characters. The short film's director, Matthew O'Callaghan, noted that "Daffy Rhapsody was originally recorded in the early 1950s as part of a kids' album." Unlike the earlier CGI Looney Tunes shorts that appeared before ‘Happy Feet Two’ and ‘Yogi Bear,’ this short did not appear on the home video release of the film it accompanied.
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Sir Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzmán, Vanessa Hudgens, Kristin Davis, Anna Colwell, Stephen Caudill, Branscombe Richmond, Walter Bankson, Cody Easterbrook (uncredited), Kathryn Jurbala (uncredited), Paul Leo Klink (uncredited), Ed Moy (uncredited) and Darwin Reina (uncredited)
Director: Brad Peyton
Producers: Adam Ellison, Beau Flynn, Charlotte Huggins, Dwayne Johnson, Evan Turner, Hiram Garcia, Marcus Viscidi, Michael Bostick, Michael Disco, Richard Brener, Samuel J. Brown and Tripp Vinson
Screenplay: Brian Gunn (screenplay/story), Mark Gunn (screenplay/story), Richard Outten (story) and Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth novel)
Composer: Andrew Lockington
Cinematography: David Tattersall (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Português: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Finnish, French, German, German SDH, Italian, Italian SDH, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Arabic and Czech
Running Time: 94 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Warner Home Video
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: ‘JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D’ is a sequel to the 2008's family oriented action and effects extravaganza ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D.’ As with its predecessor, it does not adapt the Jules Verne novel of the same name, but instead tells a new story set in modern times based around the premise that Verne's fiction was based on fact, and modern day "Vernians" are actively working to crack codes hidden in his and other contemporaneous works that will unlock the secrets to visiting fantastic locales. This sequel begins with Sean Anderson [Josh Hutcherson], receiving a coded transmission that he is convinced is coming from his Grandfather Alexander [Sir Michael Caine] stranded on Jules Verne's ‘Mysterious Island.'
With the help of his stepfather, Hank [Dwayne Johnson], he makes the connection that Verne's Island is actually the same island referenced by Robert Louis Stevenson in "Treasure Island" and by Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver's Travels." By combining maps from all three books (don't ask what editions, just roll with it!), they are able to pinpoint the location in the Pacific where the island must be. With the help of helicopter tour guide Gabato [Luis Guzmán] and his daughter Kailani [Vanessa Hudgens] they locate the island, but find themselves stranded, a situation the becomes more critical when they discover that the island is not so slowly sinking into the sea.
As a rule, I am not always keen on sequels that either barely connect the dots to their predecessor or completely re-hash their predecessor (I'm looking at you, rubbish obnoxious ‘Hangover 2'). ‘JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D’ somehow manages to do both, and yet I found it to be overall a more enjoyable experience than ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D.’ While in the first film, Josh Hutcherson was the tagalong nephew attaching himself to his Uncle's quest to track down their missing father/brother. This film simply flips the roles with Josh Hutcherson now a dedicated "Vernian" dragging his sceptical stepfather along on the journey. They even shamelessly repeat the device of stranding them with a tour guide and daughter conveniently age appropriate to be a chastely romantic interest for Josh Hutcherson.
Sir Michael Caine is in full-on “hamming it up” scenario chewing mode, and while excerpts from this film will never show up on his career highlight reels, his performance is exactly what the 3D film calls for. His constant barbs thrown in the direction of Dwayne Johnson's Hank character are not particularly witty or even dramatically earned in the context of the story, but they are delivered with a great deal of relish by Sir Michael Caine. It does not hurt that Dwayne Johnson is such a good sport and not afraid to look ridiculous either, but that was also the case with Brendan Fraser in the first film.
For whatever reason, there is simply a better comic chemistry between Sir Michael Caine and Dwayne Johnson that there was between Fraser and some of his nondescript co-stars. Luis Guzman's mix of comic buffoonery and sentimentality as the tour guide is also more in keeping with the fun and forgettable tone of the film than the more competent tour guide from the first film. In summary, the film presents a modestly fun, mostly preposterous and ultimately forgettable action and effects romp that will likely please its target audience of ten year olds. Who knows? It might even trick them into reading a Jules Verne book.
Blu-ray Image Quality – ‘JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D’ gets a wonderful 1.85:1 aspect ratio and with an extremely good 1080p image presentation, and it looks excellent. Colours really leap off the screen, fine detail is through the roof, and contrast is rock-solid. The only downside to such a vibrant, squeaky-clean picture is that it kind of betrays the film's reduced budget: it sort of looks and feels like a television show, highlighting the line between a set and a digital backdrop. Of course, even that's sort of reflective of the image's quality: it's showing you a level of detail the filmmakers might not want the viewer to notice. Warner offers up a transfer whose bright colours pop off the screen. There is a lot of eye candy to be absorbed; lush green jungles, deep blue oceans, and scaly drooling monstrosities. The picture has a deep clarity that makes everything look crystal clear and wonderful.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio for ‘JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D’ is fitting of a big adventure picture of this calibre. Rumbling hurricanes, tumbling rocks, buzzing bees, screeching birds, an underwater electric eel, and Dwayne Johnson's singing voice are all replicated with crystal clarity and nice directionality. It's been awhile since I really felt like I was getting the theatre experience watching a film at home and to be fair, probably more indicative of my film selection than any audio deficiencies, but this really felt like a blockbuster, with great immersive, weighty mixing. I even liked Andrew Lockington's score, which is understated, but pleasingly so. This is the kind of 3D film that features all kinds of rollicking surround sounds. The front, rear, and side speakers are all engaged without any obvious defects.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Are You Strong Enough to Survive Mysterious Island? [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [21:07] This is a series of documentaries that are viewable in either of two selectable modes called "Interactive" and "Junior Explorer." The "Interactive" mode asks the user to make a selection after each documentary that guides them towards another section of an interactive map that corresponds to another documentary. The "Junior Explorer" mode simply plays all ten documentaries straight through in a predetermined order. Both modes are preceded by a 24 second introduction from Josh Hutcherson ["Sean"]. Once all ten documentaries are viewed in either mode, the viewer is treated to a congratulatory message from Josh Hutcherson and a minute and a half of outtakes from the film. The documentaries themselves mix behind the scenes information about various sequences and design elements of the film with related "real life facts" from experts in biology, geology, scuba diving, and Jules Verne. The documentaries topics and durations are as follows: Giant Lizard [1:56]; Atlantis [1:51]; Tree House Set [1:45]; Giant Flowers [1:50]; Volcanic Mountain of Gold [1:36]; Giant Bees [2:15]; Glowing Mushrooms [1:23]; Captain Nemo's Tomb [2:10]; The Ocean (Water Tank) [2:04]; The Nautilus Submarine [2:12].
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [5:54] This is a collection of five scenes that did not make the final cut of the film. A number of them feature unfinished effects which appear as crude animatronics and blue screen backgrounds mixed in with the live actors. The individual scenes are not selectable from the disc menu, but they are encoded with chapter stops between them. Scene descriptions follow:
Discussion by the group of five island adventurers about how animals can survive an unusual recurring event that happens to the island.
Some extra arguing between Sean, his mother, and Hank after Sean's arrest at the beginning of the film. This scene directly references the events of the previous film.
Alexander, Kailani, and Gabato face some additional jeopardy from falling pillars.
A fairly long scene from early in the film where Hank seeks parenting tips from one of his employees on a construction site.
Some additional congratulations, teasing, and sentimentality near the end of the film aboard a submarine.
Special Feature: Gag Reel [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:15] This is a mercifully brief assemblage of on-set flubs, falls, and goofing around the set to fast paced music, bit of a waste time in my opinion.
Finally, ‘JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D’ is full of adventure and thrilling excitement that is definitely fun for the entire family. And while this isn't a direct telling of Jules Verne's novel, and I also think it is a great way to introduce children to the other Jules Verne classic literature, as this film pulls in a little more of a variety of some of the best-known authors around. Furthermore, with such a great presentation, this Blu-ray will definitely become a family favourite. I would definitely recommend going 3D on this film. Either way ‘JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 3D’ is very enjoyable, but the 3D image truly completes the experience. Like the previous ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D’ Blu-ray release, I was worried this film would be a total dud, as Dwayne Johnson is a professional wrestler and is not a trained actor, but I was very pleasantly surprised how good he was in this film and it is a brilliant follow up 3D Blu-ray and a great Double Feature for your viewing pleasure and is also a stunning brilliant 3D presentation that will have your guest have a great jaw dropping entertainment and again I am so proud to add this to my ever increasing 3D Blu-ray Collection. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
