Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Being the sequel to Journey to the Centre of the Earth, the 2008 version. Journey 1 got by on being one of the very first of the new wave of 3D films, which at least created enough interest in the effects to get over the seriously wobbly story and allow Brendan Fraser's charm to carry the audience the rest of the way through the dodgy CGI.

In Jouney 2 gone is the novelty factor, Brendan Fraser and the woman nobody remembers. Remaining are angsty Josh Hutcherson, the central idea that the novels of Jules Vernes were actually real life accounts and the basis for modern day expeditions (this time they throw Swift and Stevenson into the mix for good measure), and the dodgy CGI and plot holes. Added to the mix are Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Michael Caine and Luiz Guzman all competing to be the comedy sidekick and Vanessa Hudgens as Hutcherson's romantic interest.

The Mysterious Island is not without its funny moments - Johnson and Caine do their best to enliven things and there are some nice touches, like the miniature elephants and the ruined city of Atlantis, but overall the film still feels too reliant on the same 3D trickery that made the first one a success, but without the novelty factor its not enough to cover over the plot holes - like every time there's a problem, Johnson will suddenly turn out to be an expert in something really handy (including bizarrely enough soil liquefaction and summarising the plot in song for those who dozed off). And why is it when the island has been rising and sinking quite happily for millenia is this occasion so cataclysmic. And how do all the weird animals and insects survive two hundred years at the bottom of the ocean. And how in the name of genetics could Hudgens possibly be Guzman's daughter?

Overall - 5.5/10  This franchise has hopefully run its course now.