After receiving a code from an unknown island, code breaker Hank (Dwayne Johnson) and his adventurer step-son Sean (Josh Hutcherson) embark on a journey to find its origin. They hire pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his daughter, Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens), board a rickety helicopter and are swept away by a brutal storm, landing on 'the mysterious island.'
Here they discover that the coded message was sent by Sean's grandfather, Alexander (Michael Caine). The island is on the verge of being engulfed by the ocean, and the voyagers' only means of escape is to decipher literal codes from classic Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson novels.
From the special effects - mini elephants, volcanic eruptions, giant centipedes - to the exotic landscapes, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island looks and feels so outdated. The sets and CGI are not much of an upgrade from Jurassic Park III, which says a lot, considering that technology is more than a decade old.
Journey 2 is predictable from beginning to end. Wait, that's not true. In one of the more bizarre scenes, Hank teaches Sean a sure-fire way to woo girls: 'pec popping', or pectoral flexes, in rapid succession. Hank demonstrates with so much vigour that berries ricochet off them like pin balls.
Journey 2 is lacklustre at best. The only real mystery is why it did so well at the box office.
