6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
Young Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It's a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzmán, Vanessa HudgensAdventure | 100% |
Family | 81% |
Fantasy | 74% |
Action | 69% |
Sci-Fi | 36% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Mandarin: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Thai
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (2 BDs, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Blu-ray 3D
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
What's the best way to watch Journey 2: The Mysterious Island? With a room full of kids apparently. My wife and I looked after our dear friends' six children one evening last week; which, with our son, means we had seven, count 'em, seven kids, ages three to nine, clamoring for -- what else? -- a movie. It's tricky choosing a film that can entertain a three-year old (for as long as they're willing to stay in the room at least) and make a nine-year old feel as if he isn't being stuck with a kiddie flick. This wasn't the first time we've looked after this particular brood either, so we've had our fair share of failures and strike-outs. But director Brad Peyton's Journey 2? The much-improved, squeaky clean sequel to Eric Brevig's Journey to the Center of the Earth amps up the adventure, soars above the clouds and dives beneath the seas, trots out everything from pint-sized elephants to enormous lizards, cranks up the family friendly comedy, wholeheartedly embraces its 3D presentation, and delivers a harmless but harrowing ball of all-ages fun kids will devour.
3D is, hands down, the way to go with Journey 2. The sequel's 2D presentation is excellent, near-perfect even, but its 1080p/MVC-encoded 3D experience actually makes for a more enjoyable movie. That's right. The film's 3D is such an asset that Journey 2 3D is better than Journey 2. Dense jungles stretch into the distance, pyramids and temples reach toward the heavens, a gold-spewing volcano looms on the horizon, massive lizards lunge at the viewer, bouncing berries ricochet into the camera, giant bees dart into the foreground, waves and currents splash upwards and outwards as the mysterious island begins to sink, electric eels snap their jaws as their enormous heads jut out of the screen, and rocks tumble down as an ancient submarine makes its daring escape, each one taking full advantage of the three-dimensional fun. Depth and dimensionality are exceptional -- the chief benefit of shooting in native 3D -- in both live-action and completely CG environments. The bright, colorful image lends itself to the experience wonderfully, and aliasing and other anomalies aren't a factor. And those who own displays that are prone to crosstalk won't encounter many significant instances of ghosting. It all comes together beautifully, without any problems to point to or any issues to address.
Warner's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation is, as I said, a terrific one. There are a few noticeable instances of artifacting -- during the opening credits, later as Sean's helicopter nears the water tornado that leads to the mysterious island, and in the night sky as glimpsed through Alexander's tree-house window -- but each one is brief, fleeting and fairly innocuous. Otherwise, no complaints here. Colors are bold and vibrant, with lush lost-island greens, dazzling ocean blues, rich reds and ornate golds, and deep, earthy blacks. Detail is outstanding too. Every pore, hair, scale, leaf, blade of grass and underwater air bubble is crisp and refined, edges are nice and sharp (without a halo to be found), textures are remarkably resolved, shadow delineation is natural and revealing, and closeups and wide shots are both stunning. If Peyton and DP David Tattersall intended it, if the visual effects team created it, it's present and accounted for in all its high definition glory. Better still, the aforementioned artifacting isn't a prevailing issue (by any means), banding and other eyesores are either entirely negligible or altogether absent, and distractions are few and very far between. Videophiles of all ages will be thrilled with the results.
The Mysterious Island's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is a big ol' burst of boisterous fun well-suited to the Andersons' latest adventure. While some of the film's directional effects are a bit over-the-top and overdone, it's all for effect and quite intentional; hardly the sort of thing that might be cause for any serious alarm. A deafening sea storm, a crashing helicopter, a charging lizard and a belching volcano greet Sean and his friends much like the LFE channel greets its listeners: with thunderous winds, rending metal, a throaty roar and a sternum-thumping eruption. Low-end output is strong and responsive; nimble enough to pass off a pint-sized elephant as a giant and powerful enough to convey the sheer size and scope of the island's more fearsome creatures. Not to be outdone, the rear speakers are given plenty to do and plenty more to embrace. The drone of passing bees, the ocean's surging waves, the rustle of the jungle, the echo of a vast cavern, the song of countless insects, the toppling towers of Atlantis... rear activity is playful enough to keep things light and airy and aggressive enough to create an engaging, animated soundfield. Early scenes (before Sean and Hank reach the island) aren't nearly as enveloping as later scenes, and the Andersons' escape favors volume a bit more than finesse, but I'm nitpicking at this point. Dialogue is crystal clear from start to finish, dynamics are spot on, and pans are as smooth as a summer breeze. Suffice it to say, Journey 2 sounds great no matter how calm or chaotic the action becomes.
There aren't many 3D releases that outwit, outlast and outplay their 2D counterparts, but Journey 2 3D nudges past its 2D cousin with an engrossing 3D experience that actually makes for a slightly better movie. Regardless of which version you choose, though, you can count on a high-quality video presentation, a fantastic DTS-HD Master Audio track, and a small smattering of supplements kids will gobble up. More extras would have been welcome -- a fuller, more robust Explore the Island feature perhaps -- but parents really can't go wrong with this one. Funny, exciting and perfectly family friendly, Peyton's Mysterious Island will leave kids begging to return to its shores again and again.
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