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Film / Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

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A 2012 sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), directed by Brad Peyton, starring Dwayne Johnson, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The story is a very loose adaptation of Verne's The Mysterious Island.

Four years after the previous movie, the now seventeen-year-old Sean (Josh Hutcherson) is fixated on finding his long-lost grandfather (Michael Caine), and, driven by the first film's revelation that Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth was a factual account, believes he has found the key to discovering him: by overlaying the island maps in Gulliver's Travels, Treasure Island and The Mysterious Island, he creates a map of a new island, complete with coordinates. Heading to the western Pacific to seek out the island, Sean and his stepfather Hank (Johnson) secure a helicopter for their search but are caught in a storm and crash on their destination, a lost land of dwarf elephants, giant butterflies and huge, aggressive lizards — and also, incidentally, the home of the lost city Atlantis. They discover that the island submerges and reemerges on a regular cycle, and, when they realize that it will soon vanish back into the sea, they set out on a frantic search for their only way off — the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's legendary submarine.

Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman, and Kristin Davis co-star.


This movie contains examples of:

  • Artifact Title: A mild case. The title would have made more sense if they had left off the "Journey 2" part, but there is technically a journey (just not to the center of the earth and it's not particularly long as they spend most of the movie trying to get off The Mysterious Island).
  • Atlantis: The lost city is located on the island. They also reference the fact the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had Atlantis under the ocean.
  • Big Damn Kiss: Between Sean and Kailani in the movie's climax.
  • Canon Welding: This movie makes at least the settings of Journey To The Center of The Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and The Mysterious Island equally real in-universe, as well as parts of Treasure Island and Gulliver's Travels.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Alexander brings up the Vernians in the opening narration and is established as the original Vernian in the Anderson family.
    • Sean's wall displays articles referencing him and his uncle's expedition from the previous film.
    • Alexander references Max's death in the last film.
  • Death by Materialism: Narrowly averted with Gabato, who nearly dies trying to dig up a giant lump of gold. He isn’t motivated by greed, however. He just wants to give his daughter a better life and a good education.
  • Disappeared Dad: Hank’s father ran out on him when he was a small boy. As a result, Hank is determined to be the best stepfather he can possibly be to Sean.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Henry... er, Hank. Actually, it's not made clear if Henry really is Hank's name, or if Hank isn't really a nickname, but all the same, Hank doesn't like being called Henry.
  • Fanservice: Vanessa Hudgens wearing a tank top and short shorts for almost the entire movie. Also, did any male viewers who saw it in 3D regret paying extra in the scene where she crawls out of a collapsing tunnel with the camera on her from behind? Thought not.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Hank is a genuinely caring person, and does worry about Sean. But, the way he insults Sean's grandfather, in front of Sean, is just a tad mean-spirited. He gets better though.
    • Alexander, for mainly the same reasons. He and Hank pretty much take turns insulting and undermining each other for the first half of the movie before beginning to respect each other.
  • Male Gaze:
    • Practically the moment Kailani appears, in a tank top, the camera goes straight to her breasts.
    • As mentioned above, when Kailani is crawling out of the cave, the camera is focused on her butt.
  • Oh, Crap!: When Hank attempts to punch the giant lizard.
    Hank: I think I just made it worse.
  • Ominous Crack: The giant lizard egg that starts cracking under Gabato's weight.
  • Psycho Electric Eel: A very big nippy one in the sea cave where the Nautilus is hidden.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Alexander Anderson was never mentioned in the previous film, despite this film implying he was the one who get Max into Verne. Handwaved by the film noting that he was never around.
  • Sequel Non-Entity: Sean's uncle Trevor is absent from the sequel. A Deleted Scene mentions that he's off on another expedition, likely continuing his work on the underground world from the last film.
  • Shout-Out: The giant iguana is a huge Shout-Out towards monster movies in the 50s when they used iguanas and gators for dinosaurs.
  • The Stinger: A mid-credits scene reveals that three small elephants survived the submerging of Atlantis, and they are seen swimming underwater towards that city. Indicating that the flora and fauna of the island have evolved to survive the islands cyclists submerging.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Hank really doesn't like lizards and is freaked out by the overgrown one the group runs into on the island.
    "Why did it have to be lizards? Why couldn't it be snakes?"

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