Not worth the trip

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island:

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Brad Peyton's sequel to 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth is a roller coaster ride amid insects, lizards, eels and tiny elephants and sharks! It is dubbed to be one of the most extravagant uses of 3D technology but sadly, the production is not up to the mark.

The five adventurers

Sean and Kailani riding a giant bee

Alexander and Gabato

The story is inspired from Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island. However since this book alone is not sufficient for a plot, it also ropes in R L Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

The film sees Sean embarking on an adventure to locate a mysterious island with his stepfather, Hank. They follow the path to the location by following a coded message sent by Sean's grandfather, Alexander. On arriving at Palau they encounter Gabato, a helicopter owner, and his feisty daughter, Kailani, who becomes Sean's love interest.

The four adventurers make it to the island and soon discover that things are topsy turvy there. They are chased by a giant lizard and are coincidentally rescued at the most critical moment by Sean's grandfather. Not surprisingly, they discover that they have a race against time because the island is due to sink in hours! They have to locate the Nautilus, the legendary submarine, to escape.

Predictably they do manage to find the submarine and figure out how it works. But first they need to recharge the batteries of the submarine and lo and behold, by using a giant electric eel which emerges out of the blue. The characters do not have to wander far or put their thinking caps on to get out of tight situations as everything seem to be handed to them on a platter.

The plot seems to derive from merging several films together. You get the feeling of deja vu at almost every turn of events from films like Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park 2, Godzilla and Avatar.

The computer-generated graphics are overdone and artificial especially in the scene when the group first catches a glimpse of the island’s landscapes. You do not have to be a computer whiz to note the vibrant shades of the plants, waterfall or the butterfly flying past. Even the tiny elephants could have been designed in a more realistic manner.

What makes it worse is the fact that the movie is in 3D which further emphasizes the separation between the synthetic environs and the flesh-and-blood characters. Gabato is mainly introduced to the story to generate laughter. From being covered in bird poop to being the one to wake up the giant lizard with his clumsy moves, his character is aimed at slapstick humour.

Despite the shallow plot, lack of character development and unrealistic animations, there is a bright side to the film. The glimpse of the lost city of Atlantis is especially breathtaking even though it reminds you of the Indiana Jones series. Another memorable scene is Hanks strumming the ukulele while singing the lyrics of It’s a Wonderful World.

The parent-child bondage between Hanks and Sean and also Gabato and Kailani too touch a cord in our hearts. However here again it is a feature which had been tried out before by other film-makers of Hollywood productions.

The cast comprises Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzmán, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristin Davis. Though all the actors, especially Johnson and Caine, do their best to make it work, they fail to add excitement to this flimsy tale.

Journey 2 may be a family-oriented adventure but it is a trip you would rather give a miss.