June has been a big month for Blu-ray 3D, including the New Line Home Entertainment release Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D in stores June 5th, 2012.

This science fiction adventure film is the sequel to the 2008 film Journey to the Center of the Earth, which is also available in Blu-ray 3D.

While the only real returning character from the first film is Sean Anderson, the movie is again Jules Verne based and is all about the 3D action.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D the Movie

As the movie opens, Sean Anderson is caught by police after a chase on his dirtbike, which lands him in a swimming pool.

Sean had broken into a satellite research center in order receive a weak radio signal of a coded message.

He believes that the message was sent by his grandfather Alexander Anderson, who had been missing for two years.

Wanting to bond with his stepson, Sean’s stepfather Hank helps Sean decipher the code, which refers to three books – Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels and Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island.

Combining clues from the three books, Hank uncovers a map of an island with the coordinates to its location.

Despite Sean’s objections to his stepfather’s involvement, Hank manages to convince his mother to let the both of them go in search of the island.

They travel to Palau, where their need of transportation to this dangerous part of the ocean attracts a helicopter tourism guide named Gabato.

Sean is immediately attracted to his daughter Kailani, and Gabato agrees to fly them out to the location of the island.

However, due to though the perpetually bad weather, the helicopter crashes and they all wake up marooned on the island.

Crossing into the island, they find many wonders, including things that would normally be big big are small, and vice versa.

The group are chased by a massive lizard, they are rescued at the last second by Sean’s grandfather Alexander, who takes them to a large hut he had built.

While the island is full of majestic wonder, they soon discover that it is in fact sinking into the ocean, making escape their top priority.

Can the five adventurers brave wonders and dangers that include volcanoes of gold, giant bees and birds, Atlantis and Captain Nemo’s tomb in order to escape the Mysterious Island?

Like it’s predecessor, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D is all about the thrill and adventure, and is almost more like a theme park ride than a movie.

I think it is fair to say that the movie is targeted mostly to the teens and younger members of the family, and as such doesn’t stand up well to any scrutiny.

The plot is often contrived and dialog is somewhat childish throughout.

That said, it does deliver a massive dose of good clean fun if you don’t think about any of it too deeply.

The 3D technology is also a focus of the movie, where extreme use of it at times draws attention to itself, making the movie more about the effects and the 3D than the plot or the themes.

The casting is appropriate – Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) plays an extremely pleasant and good hearted character, and Michael Caine also delivers an entertaining performance.

Josh Hutcherson and Vanessa Hudgens in the teen roles are tolerable, and Luis Guzman is pretty much there for comic relief.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D was directed by Brad Peyton, who seems to be a fan of 3D family movies, having also directed Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 3D.

The movie has a so-so critical reception, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 42% and an IMDb score of 6/10.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D did relatively well in the cinema though, reaching $100.4M at the US box office and well over $200M more worldwide.

Warner has already green lit the third film in the series, to be in theaters 2014.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D on Blu-ray 3D

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 21 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

The image quality is generally strong, though in some lighting conditions the quality deteriorates a little.

This is probably due to being shot digitally on what is now considered older equipment.

The 3D in this movie is anywhere from strong to extreme, and it is clear that the film makers intended to ‘showcase’ the technology.

This involves what would normally be considered 3D violations, though most only occur momentarily and are not too disturbing.

That said they do draw attention to the 3D and as such take you out of the moment – assuming that the film drew you in at all, which to be honest is not very likely.

See the details page for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D for full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels – 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 33.3 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D on Blu-ray 3D – The Bonus Features

While as per usual the Blu-ray 3D disc is feature-free (not even the original cartoon short is included this time), the Blu-ray disc version is also light on extras.

Additional footage is present in the form of a short gag reel, and a selection of deleted scenes are included.

Cut scenes include pretty much the only reference to the original film.

The main feature here though is Are You Strong Enough To Survive Mysterious Island? which features an interactive map of the island.

Here you can navigate to the various island locations and see behind the scenes segments about that location.

If you are too young (or lazy) to navigate the supplements, there is also an option to just play them in order.

The segments cover ten or more scenes and locations from the movie, and they include experts weighing in on the various unusual elements on Mysterious Island.

As is typical for Warner, all of the formats are represented here, with a DVD and an UltraViolet Digital Copy code included with the two Blu-ray versions of the film.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D on Blu-ray 3D – Final Thoughts

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D is a bit of a cheesy movie that is strong on 3D action and adventure.

New Line Home Entertainment presents a Blu-ray with good image and audio quality, along with an aggressive Blu-ray 3D presentation.

Supplements are a little thin, though the full gamut of formats is included for good measure.

The retail price for the combo pack is $44.95, though it is available at Amazon for only $27.99, saving 38%!

Extras:

• Gag Reel
• Deleted Scenes
• Are You Strong Enough To Survive Mysterious Island? Interactive Map

Synopsis:

The follow-up to the 2008 hit! The new journey begins when young adventurer Sean (Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist – a place of trange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather (Dwayne Johnson) joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 11:26 pm and is filed under Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.