What's interesting about this standard adventure tale is how it tells it's story: the barest bones of construction, and only the points you are already well versed with (from all the other adventure tales they've "borrowed" from) to get to the point quickly. Quite literally they find a "secret map written in code" and decipher the thing in less than 5 minutes, and then "it's off to the island!". Everything happens fast, and everyone's only playing a cliche, and so after a minute it becomes cool simply watching the race to the end. Should I tell you "no surprises here"? If I did, that would be the only surprise of this feature.

Slightly silly title but if you're unaware this is the sequel to the 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' remake starring Brendan Fraser. Pretty much the same thing accept swap Fraser with Dwayne Johnson playing Hutcherson's stepfather for this adventure. The title is also a clever cross over with Jules Verne's other fantasy novel 'The Mysterious Island'. So it reads...'Journey 2' (as in part 2, the sequel), 'The Mysterious Island'...I say clever but...never mind. Lots of the expected really, you can't really fail to know what your gonna see here, big bugs, volcanoes, sea beasties, lost gold, deep thick jungles and Michael Caine playing your typical bearded oldboy intrepid adventurer...think along the lines of Connery in 'The Last Crusade'. Despite that it is good fun if you enjoy light-hearted fantasy much like the original 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' film. It is of course totally daft how Johnson and Hutcherson know how to pilot Captain Nemo's Nautilus, hijack large bumblebees and ride them like speeder bikes and Johnson throwing a spear underwater but hey!...you overlook these things. Enjoyable stuff and hopefully a third on the way, maybe a little less focus on Johnson though this time, he's admittedly a funny guy but boy does he love being the centre of attention.