Jules Verne would be proud of the latest installment of his 1874 science fiction classic The Mysterious Island. I loved the first installment — Journey to the Center of the Earth; however, I think I liked Journey 2: Mysterious Island even more. First of all the cast was phenomenal. Michael Caine and Dwayne Johnson were great. The talented young Josh Hutcherson reprises his role as Sean, the kid from Journey to the Center of the Earth who along with his uncle ventures into the earth in search of his missing father. Luiz Guzman provides plenty of comic relief ; and Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Davis round out the cast. This film is very family friendly. The adults will enjoy it as much as the kids. Families are shown working together and there are positive adult role models. In my opinion, Journey 2 is fine for even young adventure movie fans. The creatures are not too scary and the characters get out of perilous situations quite quickly. There is no profanity, only minimal use of slang. Of course, Vanessa Hudgens sports a tank top and short shorts, but nothing inappropriate is revealed. The two teens do share an innocent kiss. Guzman and Johnson are hilarious, as is Michael Caine. Add giant bees you can ride, the ruins of Atlantis and Captain Nemo’s submarine and you have quite an adventure.
© Warner Brothers
This version begins with Sean, now a bit older, racing his dirt bike while the cops are in hot pursuit. He ends up running it through a fence, into a back yard, up a slide and lands in a swimming pool. Lucky for Sean, his step dad, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), is friends with the cops, so he avoids being hauled off to juvie. The police tell Hank that Sean had broken into a Satellite Research Center. After he’d had some time to cool down, Sean reveals to Hank that he broke into the satellite research center trying to pick up a signal that was too weak to get from home. He believes the signal to be coming from his grandfather who he thinks is on the mysterious island from the Jules Verne book of the same title. Even though Hank thinks this sounds totally off the wall, he tells Sean the signal is Morse code and he helps him decipher it. They put the clues together and surmise that the mysterious island is also Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Jonathon Swift’s Laputa from Gulliver’s Travels. When they lay all three maps one over the other, the mysterious island is revealed along with the coordinates which places the island in the south Pacific near the island of Palau. Sean believes his grandfather to be submitting the signal from the mysterious island and immediately starts packing his backpack for the trip. Hank says he cannot go alone and decides to take him.
After landing in Palau, they seek a charter to the island. The only taker they get is Gabato (Luiz Guzman) and his rinky dink helicopter. Hank is not to sure about the safety of the helicopter but Sean is immediately smitten with Gabato’s beautiful daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens). They are flying along with no problems and in an instant they are in the middle of a hurricane. Sean says they have to fly into the eye as that is the only way to the island. Gabato is no longer able to control the helicopter and the screen goes black. The next thing you know they are on a beach. They discover a cave and after walking through it they come to the interior of the island which is truly amazing. They also discover that in Gulliver’s Travels fashion that all big animals are small and small animals are big. Soon they are on the run from a huge and angry mama lizard. They finally meet Sean’s grandfather, Alexander (Michael Caine), who rescues them from the lizard. They take him back to his tree house. When they ask to send a signal to the mainland, he tells them they will not be able to send a signal for two weeks.
When exploring the island, Alexander takes them to the ruins of Atlantis. There Hank makes a startling discovery — the island is sinking. He knows this from his work as a contractor and he predicates they have a couple of days. Alexander tells the group that Captain Nemo’s — from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea — submarine The Nautilus is hidden somewhere on the island and they could use it to escape. The group sets out to find Nemo’s tomb where they hope they will find his journal and thus the sub’s location. They find the tomb and the journal. After deciphering the location of the Nautilus, they set out to find it. After stopping for the night, they discover that Gabato is gone, Kailani guesses he has gone back to get gold from the volcano that is spewing it. Alexander and Kailani go after Gabato. Sean and Hank head toward the Nautilus. They find it and after having to jump start it with a scary electric eel, they are off to pick up the others just in the nick of time. They return safely to Palau where Gabato makes a fortune taking tourists on Nautilus charters. Kailani is able to attend college in the United States. Hank and Sean become friends. The film closes with the family celebrating Sean’s birthday with Kailani when Alexander shows up and presents their next adventure — From the Earth to the Moon.
