JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND: The DVD Review

I missed the knock on the door.  But oh the excitement when I saw that I had to collect a mysterious parcel addressed to Looking for Blue Sky. A little surprise for my son.

Unfortunately he was not impressed.

"I didn't ask for that," he said "I don't want to watch it."

But my wise Facebook friends suggested that I go ahead with a viewing anyway. And so it was that at six o'clock I invaded the living room with Smiley, the DVD and popcorn in tow.

My son was staring stonily at his laptop as I sat down and manoeuvred the wheelchair into position, but as the film started with a car chase, it was only minutes before his eyes began straying towards the screen.

As for Smiley? Well she was mesmerised from the start, and once the action shifted to the island, she entranced by the music, the colours, the giant butterflies and the ever changing scenery.

It was like an old style Disney movie, a family adventure and morality tale, with a teen romance, a few scary bits and a satisfying ending, but using all the wonders of modern film production.

There were a few corny moments too:

"You saved me!"

Guess who says that?

But it was fine - I wasn't expecting Shakespeare.   I was expecting an entertaining family movie that we could all sit down together and watch, something that rarely happens. And that's exactly what we got.

The word "good" was mentioned by my son, but it is Smiley who has benefited the most from this film.  I haven't been able to take her to the cinema for many years, and she has refused to watch anything but a small number of music videos.  But since Thursday (yes, it has taken me this long to get around to writing this) she is watching a whole variety of films.  I am really very happy about this as it has to be good for her to see new material.  We *may* even have to get JOURNEY 1....

Disclosure: This DVD and the other goodies have been provided to me for free to review in my own words. I only review stuff that is actually of interest, and this certainly was :)

The facts bit:


TITLE: JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
RELEASE DATE: 28 May 2012
RUNNING TIME: 95mins
CERTIFICATE: PG
GENRE: Action Adventure



Directed by  BRAD PEYTON  (Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore),
JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is  loosely  based on the Jules Verne’s
novel The Mysterious Island and stars DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON (Fast 
and Furious 5, The Scorpion King),  MICHAEL CAINE (The Dark Knight Rises, 
Inception), JOSH HUTCHERSON (The Hunger Games, Journey to the Center of 
the Earth), VANESSA HUDGENS (High School Musical franchise, Sucker Punch), 
LUIZ GUZMAN (Carlito’s Way, Boogie Nights) and KRISTIN DAVIS (Sex and the 
City, Couples Retreat).