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‘Journey 2’ a fun family adventure

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By Becca Owsley
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 2:14 pm (Updated: February 9, 7:10 am)

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” follows the adventures Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”) who takes the writings of Jules Verne literally.

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His adventure is a quest to find his grandfather on the Mysterious Island.

Along the ride for this adventure are Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson (“Fast Five”), Michael Caine (“Inception”), Luis Guzman (“Arthur”), Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”) and Kristin Davis (“Sex and the City”).

This movie seems to cater to an elementary and middle-school aged audience. The humor and adventure fits in with this age group, but it can be fun for the entire family.

I appreciated the use of literature as the plotline of the film. The adventures that take place in the pages of a book can keep the imagination alive.

In most 3-D films today, audiences expect things to leap out at them, float over them and interact with them, but they usually don’t get what they came for. As a result, moviegoers feel they’ve wasted the additional money to see it.

In “Journey 2” audiences will get what they’ve been asking for. In a screening this week people actually ducked and jumped when things leapt from the screen.

It’s a job well done from producer Charlotte Huggins, whose family happens to live in Louisville. She said she loves the Louisville area and always is thankful for the support from those who live there.

Huggins’ experience in 3-D has been recognized by the industry and she appeared on Daily Variety’s “2008 Women’s Impact List.”

Her love of 3-D goes back to the 1990s and her work on “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” for Disney. When the theme park attraction opened, she sat in the theater and watched the audience’s reaction. Huggins fell in love with 3-D.

For years, 3-D was held to theme park rides and IMAX films until its recent revival in theaters. When she worked on “Journey 1” many questioned if an audience could handle a 3-D feature film. Since that time she’s seen the medium grow and the audience has accepted 3-D in theaters.

From the initial writing concepts, Huggins said, “Journey 2” was meant to be in 3-D.

Using the 3-D format is similar to making a comedy, Huggins said. In a comedy, everything is not a joke but the film in its entirety is funny. For 3-D, the entire film is not seen in 3-D but if the technique is used in the right moments the whole film works.

One example is a scene with Johnson and Hutcherson. Johnson is trying to give Hutcherson advice on how to woo women. He flexes his pectorals and Hutcherson throws berries at them. Using 3-D the result looks as if the flexing motion launches the berries into the crowd. It’s a funny moment and 3-D interaction audiences enjoy.

The scene, Huggins said, was Johnson’s idea. Filmmakers weren’t sure it would play well in theaters but it has been a favorite moment for many. Johnson’s instincts were right.

I hope the biggest result of the film will be that people will notice the books featured within the story and then go read them. While the plot of the movie pulls points from Verne and other authors, reading the full stories contained in the pages of those books can be another adventure entirely.

The film is good for the target audience and is something the family can see together. Also, the 3-D is a fun interactive experience.

Becca Owsley can be reached at (270) 505-1741. For movie reviews visit her reporter page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Becca-Owsley/96924584861

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