The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Sean (Hutcherson) intercepts a message from his missing, adventurer
grandfather telling him that he’d found the mysterious island from the Jules
Verne book. Armed with the island’s coordinates, he, along with his stepdad
Hank (Johnson), sets out to find it. Along the way they pick up Gabato
(Guzman), a helicopter pilot, and his daughter Kailani (Hudgens). The group
make it onto the island and find Sean’s grandpa only to discover that the
island is days away from sinking and they have to find a way off before they go
down with it.

Journey 2 is The Wizard of Oz meets Avatar minus the joy and wonder of
either two. The helicopter gets caught in the middle of a cyclone and whisked
away until Sean, Hank, Gabato and Kailani wash up on the beach of an island
populated with oversized insects, miniscule elephants and multicoloured plants.
The CGI runs the gamut from terribly fake to pretty cool though the island does
harbour a distinct Avatar rip-off
vibe.

The visuals are the least of this film’s shortcomings though, seeing as
the script isn’t composed of dialogue so much as Jules Verne references and
second rate one liners. In addition, the cast don’t seem very interested in
their surroundings or in being on screen in the first place. Johnson, who
generally oozes charisma and is effortlessly charming, looks plain bored.
Hutcherson looks even more belligerent than his already angst-ridden character
merits, making him a very unpleasant screen presence. Guzman plays a simple
minded buffoon meant to be the butt of the film’s jokes, while Hudgens seems
to be halfway trying, although her character’s mysterious turn from outright
scorn for Sean to throwing her arms around him and kissing him was one of the
more ridiculous things in a film..

The plot moves along quickly as we’re taken on what is essentially a
tour of the island. For every rough spot that the group gets into, a solution
magically appears two seconds later. Hank figures out that the island is two
days away from drowning by tasting the water, for example, and giant bees
suddenly appear when the group need a way off of a cliff. This kind of thing
happens all the time and is absolutely infuriating. Of course when the solution
isn’t at hand, it’s present in one of the Jules Verne novels- which they seem
to have memorized off by heart.

Forget the island. The best thing about the film is Johnson’s pec
dance. It’s ridiculously goofy and, in the middle of this fun vacuum, very much
appreciated.