Sequel to Journey to the Centre of the Earth (2008).
17-year-old Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. Unable to stop tracking the signal, he sets out with a small group on a journey to the mysterious island – a place few people have ever seen or lived to tell about. What they find is an island of stunning beauty, strange and threatening life forms, volcanoes, mountains of gold and more than one astonishing secret.
I saw the first movie some time ago and rather enjoyed it (so sue me, I adore Brendan Fraser!), and this sequel, although missing Mr Fraser, does feature Josh Hutcherson (the kid in the first film) and has bonus kudos in the form of class act, Michael Caine. Oh, and The Rock is in it too. Sorry, Dwayne Johnson, as he now prefers to be known.
Actually, I’m not even being sarcastic about Mr Johnson’s presence because he’s actually a fun addition to the cast, adding a well-balanced blend of good comedy timing and common-sense-Father-Figure-who-might-just-save-the-day. He also has a surprisingly pleasant singing voice.
No, your eyes did not deceive you – you read that correctly. The Rock sings in this movie, but don’t worry, its brief and, as I already mentioned, not unpleasant.
Now to the plot. It’s adventure by numbers really, but the threads holding it all together are from the classic novel The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, and there’s some cleverness in how they come to find the island that is very inventive. There are elements of other Verne novels present too, so there’s always the chance that some of the kids who see this film might just decide to pick up the books and try them too, which is always a good thing.
It’s a nicely entertaining way to spend an hour and a half on a rainy afternoon with the kids and there’s something in it for everyone – for the kids, there’s the sheer adventure, spectacle and excitement of it all; for Dads there’s Michael Caine (after all, a film can’t be too bad if it has Sir Michael in it!); and for the Mums who like that sort of thing, there’s The Rock popping his pecs. Admittedly, I’m not one of the Mums who lusts after Mr Johnson and his seemingly independently mobile muscles, but I still had a giggle at the scene that was obviously put in for the 3D viewers (we saw it in 2D).
There are much worse ways to kill some time and you might find you actually enjoy it more than you expected. I certainly did. And if it leads to you reading those classic adventure tales to your kids, or to them picking them up for themselves, then you’ve got many more happy hours filled in the future to boot!