FILM REVIEW: JOURNEY 2

Hank (Dwayne Johnson) in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Numbing down

By Ed Rampell

There have been at least half a dozen screen versions of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, including two silent and one Soviet adaptation, and the latest incarnation is a good fun flick with 3D IMAX special effects. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island plays fast and loose with authors Jonathan Swift, Robert Louis Stevenson and especially Verne. The novels by that sci-fi pioneer have been adapted for the screen at least as far back as 1902, when Georges Melies shot Verne’s A Trip to the Moon, which Martin Scorsese revisits in his multi-Oscar nominated Melies biopic, Hugo.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is so titled because it is produced by some of the same producers of the lame 2008 adaptation of Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson, who reprises his role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island as Sean Anderson, the scion of explorers. In this loose sequel of sorts Dwayne Johnson portrays Hank, who has married Sean’s mother -- played by Kristin Davis (Charlotte in Sex in the City). Hank has a hankering to be a good stepfather to the alienated Sean, which leads to their joint adventure in quest of Sean’s long lost Indiana Jones-type grandfather.

Their odyssey takes them to the Pacific Islands, and for some mysterious reason the titular isle is located near Palau, although in Verne’s novel it is situated 1,600 miles east of Aotearoa/New Zealand. At first it seems to make sense, as Palau is famous for its 100-plus Rock Islands, but these mushroom shaped limestone formations topped by jungle greenery and ringed by beaches are never mentioned or glimpsed onscreen – although they would be glorious in 3D and IMAX. Instead, it’s pretty obvious that this movie was shot, in part, on location in Hawaii.

Since I’ve lived in both Palau and Hawaii, it’s obvious to me this island was shot in the latter, not the former. And although the pic identifies Palau as being in the “South Pacific,” it’s not: Palau is located in the Western Pacific. Ditto for casting. The Puerto Rican actor Luis Guzman (HBO’s How to Make It in America series) plays Gabato, a bumbling Palauan helicopter pilot who provides much of the flick’s comic relief that comes perilously close to Stepin Fetchit-like celluloid stereotypes. Gabato also references himself as “Polynesian,” but Palauans are Micronesians.

Salinas-born Vanessa Hudgens, who plays Gabato’s daughter, Kailani (Hawaiian for “heavenly sea”), portrayed a Latina in the High School Musical TV series. According to IMDB, this actress is “is of mixed cultural background, as her father is of Irish and Native American descent, and her mother… is of Chinese-Filipino-Spanish descent.” Well, at least the Philippines is about 500 miles from Palau; a tad closer than Puerto Rico, located clear on the other side of world of a continent or two (depending on where you stand).

In that grand Dolores Del Rio/Conchita Montenegro/Raquel Torres tradition, Hispanic actors (mis)represent indigenous Pacific Islanders. Some may protest to this writer -- who co-authored Made In Paradise, Hollywood’s Films of Hawaii and the South Seas with Luis Reyes -- that actors can portray any ethnic type and one doesn’t have to be a chicken to know an egg. Fair enough. But as far as Haole-wood and the majority dominant culture it’s selling tickets to is concerned, if you’ve seen one Islander, you’ve seen them all. It remains a mystery to me why so few Hollywood pictures ever get the ethnic Island casting right -- especially when there are so many gifted Pacific talents.

Interestingly enough, Johnson, who is actually part-Samoan, is never specifically referred to as being Polynesian. However, he has a lovely scene singing and strumming the ukulele; the song is reprised during the final credits, which proves that not only does the ex-wrestler have a decent voice and musical ability, but that he has a “co-producer” credit. Having said that, Johnson has a light comedic touch and a telegenic, charismatic presence, although for some reason he doesn’t disrobe. Maybe the pecs and abs are aging? I don’t know why they chose not to lose his shirt – I would have loved to see his entire Polynesian style tattoo. But in any case, you really haven’t lived until you've see "The Rock" in an IMAX 3D close up.

Speaking of which, director Brad Peyton’s 3D IMAX whizbang wizardry is good, especially the scene where the characters ride gigantic bees, as if they’re “paniolos” atop galloping broncos. But some of the island backdrops look kinda cheesy and painted, and flowers and other flora likewise look unrealistic. The secret to attaining Samuel Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief” is to provide enough realism for the beholder to buy into it. The 1961 Mysterious Island version with special effects by the immortal Ray Harryhausen was actually more spectacular. Who can ever remember the actors who discover that the “beach” they’re walking on is really the shell of a giant crab?! And the new adaptation replaces the original Civil War era hot air balloon with a helicopter. Of course, the movie includes that old South Seas Cinema cliché of an exploding volcano.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a an entertaining escapist flick co-written by literary kleptomaniacs (including Brian and Mark Gunn) excavating the literary estates of Verne, Swift and Stevenson. (Can you say: "hodgepodge"?) The screening I attended was preceded by a dee-lightfully DAFFY Warner Bros. cartoon in IMAX and 3D, which brought back happy memories of double features that often included cartoons.