Film Review – Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

While I don’t doubt its appeal with family audiences, 2008’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” wasn’t exactly a screaming artistic success. Released during the early stages of the current 3D revolution, the picture was a novelty, capturing box office attention with its commitment to in-your-face Jules Verne-inspired spectacle, buttered up by the rubbery antics of star Brendan Fraser. Four years later, Fraser is gone and it now appears a great deal of audiences resent 3D releases, making the conception and timing of “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” precarious at best. While burdened with a leaden script built only with cliché, the sequel manages to pack a harder punch of adventure than its predecessor, making better use of its 3D environments, bringing in Dwayne Johnson to restart the party while co-star Michael Caine classes up the joint. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com