The previews for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island made it look better than it actually was. The movie was only slightly better than I was expecting. The premise for Journey 2 was good. I enjoyed the idea, but the movie was taken to a really cheesy level.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Josh Hutcherson were truly the best part of this flick. They had good chemistry, and their characters and acting were decent. Yes, they brought some cheese, but very little in comparison to other characters. Vanessa Hudgens was OK. She really didn't bring much to the table neither through the character or her acting. Luis Guzman's character was AWFUL. He apparently was suppose to be the comic relief, but there was nothing funny about him or his jokes. His character actually brought the movie down in terms of its likability.

I also found this movie to be somewhat flawed in its creation. For instance, the jelly fish should have been large, but instead were regular size. I realize this is a kids & family movie and wasn't created for extreme accuracy, or Oscar wins. I, however, still enjoy consistency in my movies.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island wasn't all that original, and EXTREMELY predictable. I pretty much knew everything that was going to happen before it happened. Some aspects of this movie felt like they were straight out of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids".

All-in-all, this movie was just alright. For a kid, it might have been much more enjoyable. For an adult, it was just too flawed, corny, and cheesy to amount to much.

Somewhere in Hollywood there are people who think children are morons and when they set up to make a kid movie, they do it starting with this premise. Morons they may be, but not in the sense their brains don't work well, but because they don't have enough experience. As such, this kind of films appear to me made for retarded (in the real sense of the word) people.

As a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth from 2008, it is not that bad. The only character remaining, though, is Josh Hutcherson's, so I was at first confused if this is the sequel to that film or to Race to Witch Mountain, which stared Dwayne Johnson and some kids. Also, all the characters are male but for a teen that has no real role in the film. So I was really missing Anita Briem.

The effects were not bad, rather average. The plot itself, taken from afar and with the grain of salt that one has to take with a movie made for children, had potential. I also liked how the characters completed one another, instead of the lone hero knowing and doing everything. However the script to this plot was so incredibly bad that I could not like it, no matter how much I tried.

Bottom line: a franchise dedicated to the sense of wonder and discovery in Jules Verne's books should make more of an effort for actual education. Dropping occasional (and conflicting) science facts that don't even apply to the situation is not enough. Also, having silly to the point of idiotic characters doesn't really inspire kids, either. I grew up with the books of Jules Verne. This entire series has nothing to do with them.

Often, parents want to watch a film with the kids BUT the kids films can be insipid and hard for adults to take. Fortunately, "Journey 2" is a decent family film and older kids and parents alike should enjoy this picture.

Now despite the title, the film isn't exactly a sequel to 2008's "Journey to the Center of the Earth"....though Josh Hutcherson is in both. Otherwise, it's best to just consider them different films with different characters.

The story is about a step-son's obsession about Jules Verne and the teen believes that his stories are true...and there is probably a hidden paradise of an island in the Pacific, near Palau. So, the nice dad (Dwayne Johnson) takes the boy (Hutcherson) there and they are shocked to see the place is real...and the boy's father (Michael Caine) lives there. Along for the ride are a VERY annoying father (Luis Guzman) and his daughter (Vanessa Hudgens).

Aside from Guzman, the film is a nice and entertaining action-adventure story. Sure...some of it's a bit silly (such as how they could operate a submarine with absolutely no prior training) but it's pleasant, undemanding and kind of fun.