journey to the mysterious island pec pop of love

When Did Buff Dudes Start Popping Their Pecs?

A brief history of pec popping.

Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

In a scene from the upcoming kid-friendly adventure-fantasy movie Journey 2: The Mysterious Island , pro-wrestler-turned-comic-actor Dwayne Johnson gives Josh Hutcherson a lesson in attracting women. Johnson puts his hand on Hutcherson’s shoulder, gives him a stern look, and says, “You have got to do this.”

L.V. Anderson is a former  Slate associate editor.

Then he begins undulating his sizable pectoral muscles underneath his tight gray t-shirt.

“What is that?” asks Hutcherson, repulsed and intrigued by his mentor’s advice. “The pec pop of love,” Johnson says.

Two obvious questions arise from this exchange. The first is whether Dwayne Johnson needs a new agent. The second is when pec popping became a thing—and how it has turned into a Hollywood punch line.

The pec pop is a form of muscle control, the practice of flexing individual muscles independently of their surrounding muscles. Muscle control has likely existed for as long as men have tried to increase their strength through physical exercise, but it wasn’t until the rise of vaudeville in the late 19 th century that it became a form of entertainment we would more or less recognize today. Many vaudeville shows included so-called strongmen, who would perform feats of strength and display their considerable musculature. According to David Chapman, the author of American Hunks: The Muscular Male Body in Popular Culture, 1860-1970  (among other books on the subject ), “It was said … that professional strongman Eugene Sandow could make his muscles twitch and flutter in time to music—and this was in the  mid-1890s.” Below is an 1894 video showing Sandow performing his muscle control stunts; he doesn’t pop his pecs, but he does flutter his biceps for a few moments at the beginning:

Bodybuilding increased in popularity over the next several decades, laying the groundwork for pec popping to become a popular phenomenon. But that wouldn’t really take place until much later. How come? Because early bodybuilders didn’t use anabolic steroids, which entered the scene only in the late 1950s . “Starting in the 1970s steroids allowed men to pack on hitherto impossibly large chest development,” Chapman explained in an email, “and that’s when ‘pec-popping’ increased in popularity.” Though officially banned by the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness, synthetic testosterone was legal in the 1970s and popular among bodybuilding’s so-called “mass monsters.” Consider the exceptionally jacked competitors in the 1972 Mr. Olympia competition, including future California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, isolating and flexing their pecs in the video below:

Inevitably, bodybuilding’s higher profile—aided by the 1977 Schwarzenegger documentary Pumping Iron and by Schwarzenegger’s burgeoning film career in the 1980s—invited caricature. “Pumping Up with Hans and Franz,” a Saturday Night Live feature that premiered during the 1987 season, sent up Schwarzenegger’s accent, heft, and perceived meatheadedness. In the recurring sketch, Kevin Nealon and Dana Carvey (padded with enormous fake muscles) promised to show their “girly man” viewers how to get buff, flexed their bodies with great effort, and flicked switches beneath their gray sweatsuits to create a comical pec-popping effect. In this installment from the early ’90s, the real Schwarzenegger—foreshadowing Dwayne Johnson’s own penchant for self-parody—joins Hans and Franz to teach a group of schoolchildren how to get fit. The pec popping, both real and simulated, begins around 4:13:

Around the same time that Nealon and Carvey were sending up bodybuilders, professional wrestling was entering a golden age during which the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling competed for television viewers with equal portions of violence and theatricality. The wrestler-performers in these rival “leagues” often used pec popping to intimidate their opponents and display their physical prowess.

The WWF is where Johnson, formerly The Rock, got his start. And perhaps it’s no surprise that he’s morphed into a fairly successful actor known for his deft comic timing. After all, professional wrestling, like bodybuilding—and much vaudeville performance, for that matter—blurs the lines between athleticism, entertainment, and absurdity. Still, pec popping’s comical aspect shouldn’t obscure the real physical challenge involved. As Chapman explains, the practice provides “proof that one can concentrate one’s force in a single muscle or set of muscles … it is a very difficult skill to master, and it is exhausting to perform.”

The Rock Stands Behind His 'Journey 2' Romance Advice

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we have a special treat for all you would-be lovers out there curious about the best ways to woo a woman, courtesy of a very knowledgeable and trusted source: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Johnson is making another splash on the big screen this weekend in "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island." You may or may not have seen a trailer for the film that contains a pec-popping Johnson trying to teach Josh Hutcherson how to romance Vanessa Hudgens (Hutcherson's love interest in the film) and ladies in general.

When MTV News caught up with Johnson during a press day for the upcoming family-friendly adventure film, we asked about the accuracy and practicality of his character's three "rules" for women.

"It's very accurate," Johnson assured us. "Number one, with women you want to go opposite your instincts. Generally with men, teenagers, it doesn't matter the age, you're well-intended, your instincts tell you to say something, oftentimes especially if it's emotional you're going to regret it, and you're going to end up apologizing to your girl. Inevitably, it always happens.

"You have to be sensitive," he said of his second rule. "Girls just don't want washboard abs and chests like mine; they need sensitivity. The other thing, this is the most important thing, it's kind of like jazz, you've got to wait for it; it's called the 'pec pop of love,' " Johnson revealed, with a brief demonstration of his skills in "popping" the muscles in his chest on command.

"It gets the attention of a woman. I didn't say that that was it," he added when we expressed disbelief in the pec pop's actual powers of persuasion. "It gets the attention of a woman, then you have to be a gentleman after that and you gotta come with some good lines."

When asked if Johnson has actually used the move in real life, he assured us of its success.

"Oh, multiple times," he said with a knowing smile. "I've made many a girl into a new woman doing the pec pop of love."

Check out everything we've got on "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island."

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Sean Anderson partners with his mom's husband on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island. Sean Anderson partners with his mom's husband on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island. Sean Anderson partners with his mom's husband on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island.

• Brad Peyton
• Richard Outten
• Josh Hutcherson
• Dwayne Johnson
• Michael Caine
• 251 User reviews
• 152 Critic reviews
• 41 Metascore
• 7 wins & 4 nominations

• Hockey Player

• (uncredited)

• Nautilus Passenger

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Despite this movie being a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) , Josh Hutcherson is the only actor to return from that movie.
• Goofs (at around 58 mins) After Sean falls from the giant bee and injures his ankle against a log several individuals say he has a "dislocated ankle" and his stepfather and grandfather reset it quickly and easily as you would do with a dislocated shoulder. Although it is possible to "dislocate" your ankle it is not only very difficult to do, but due to the unique, and very stable, make-up of the ankle (unlike the shoulder) it only occurs in conjunction with either a fracture or multiple ruptured tendons of the area. Something that is very serious and extremely painful and definitely not something that could be easily remedied by 'popping it back into place' and then the individual being able to walk about and hike.

Hank : [singing] I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom, for me and for you. And I think to myself: What a wonderful world! I see giant bees, and I could have told ya: Don't trust Alexander - he's older than Yoda. And I think to myself: What a wonderful world! The island that we stand on... Well, it's currently sinking. Sending those secret codes - what the heck were you drinking? But it's all in the past, we wiped the slate clean! We're going to find Nemo's submarine! And you'll think to yourself: What a wonderful world. Oh, yeah...

• Crazy credits There is a brief scene of elephants swimming to the city halfway through the credits right before the cast listing.
• Connections Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #20.79 (2012)
• Soundtracks Letterbomb Written by Billie Joe Armstrong , Tré Cool , Mike Dirnt Performed by Green Day Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc. By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 251

• Oct 31, 2012
• Is this a sequel?
• Is there a Daffy Duck cartoon that's playing with this movie?
• What books were indicated on the map from in this movie?
• February 10, 2012 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Journey to the Mysterious Island
• Kualoa Ranch - 49560 Kamehameha Highway, Ka'a'awa, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA
• New Line Cinema
• Walden Media
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $79,000,000 (estimated)
• $103,887,748
• $27,335,363
• Feb 12, 2012
• $335,288,576

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 34 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Starring Dwayne Johnson, Josh Hutcherson, Michael Caine, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman

Directed by Brad Peyton

Let’s just go ahead and get this over with right from the start:

No, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is not a horror movie at all and yes, the reason we’re covering it is because of our unabashed love for Dwayne Johnson (and his “Pec Pop of Love”- but more on that later), Jules Verne and an adventure featuring crazy oversized lizards and insects in spectacular eye-popping 3D. If you’re looking for something more on the sinister side, then perhaps this review is not for you.

That being said, let’s get on with our review of Journey 2 !

Directed by Brad Peyton and starring Johnson (who the millions- and millions- lovingly refer to as “The Rock” anytime he steps in the squared circle), former Nickelodeon star Josh Hutcherson and the always delightful Michael Caine, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is absolutely 100 percent intended for younger audiences but still manages to be pretty darn entertaining for the adults too, as long as you go in prepared for a family-friendly action adventure flick.

At the start of Journey 2 , 17-year-old troubled adventurer Sean (Hutcherson) receives a distress signal in Morse code that he suspects is his lost grandfather (Caine) who is trying to reveal to his grandson the location of the mythical Mysterious Island, made famous by writer Jules Verne in his 1874 novel. Since Sean’s the same kid from the original flick, you can bet he’s ready to head off for some adventure much to the chagrin of Sean’s mother (a wonderfully underused Kristin Davis) and his “guardian” Hank (Johnson), who has been struggling to connect with his stepson since he came he married into his family (as you may guess, this will be a theme that pops up throughout the flick).

Hank wants to bond with Sean and thinks the trip might just do the job; so with a haphazard plan in mind, Sean, Hank and tour guides Gabato (Luis Guzman) and Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) are all soon thrust into an unimaginable world that’s as outlandish and spectacular as it is bewildering and dangerous.

Co-written by cousins Brian and Mark Gunn (who are also related to the uber-talented James Gunn), Journey 2 – to its credit- is thankfully a family film which doesn’t seem to pander to the idea that kids these days are dumb. But it also doesn’t feel the need to fully explain its characters’ motives and hasty decisions either and lays on the schmaltz factor pretty thick as well which is pretty much what you’d expect going into a movie made for audiences with limited attention span. Smartly though, Journey 2 goes against the grain and instead of going the tried and true ‘narrative’ route, the movie uses an abundance of spectacular effects (catered to the 3D technology the movie was created with), adrenaline-fueled (yet ultimately never life-threatening enough to freak the youngsters out) action scenes and a whole lot of Guzman going full-on hammy jokester mode to fill in the gaps of the story.

And while Peyton’s Journey 2 essentially feels like the cinematic equivalent of ingesting two dozen Pixie sticks and then riding a roller coaster for 94 minutes, somehow it manages to strangely work, hiding the mundane script and desperately thin character development deep within the wonders of the Mysterious Island just long enough for audiences to forget the flaws and lose themselves along the way.

The performances in Journey 2 are all decent enough especially since the material really isn’t there for any of the talented players to elevate their work in any way. Caine plays the grandfather role here on the silly and zany side and perhaps anywhere else it would make me cringe more to see the acclaimed actor don a motorcycle jacket for a lame joke but it’s clear that Caine knew what he was signing up for with Journey 2 and just enjoys the silliness of the role with a twinkle in his eye.

As someone who relishes anything featuring Johnson in it, he does a pretty decent job with what is essentially Brendan Fraser’s sloppy seconds (not sure why he didn’t return but frankly, give me the “Brahma Bull” over “Encino Man” any day) and clearly has a lot of fun with his role as struggling stepdad Hank. He’s charming as ever and of course the real reason anyone over 18 is showing up for Journey 2 is to see his “Pec Pop of Love” which is sublimely giggle-inducing.

And while I’m definitely biased in my opinion, the facts don’t lie- no matter what movie or franchise it is, Johnson makes any project he’s involved with infinitely more interesting whenever he’s onscreen. He elevated the Fast Five franchise right when it was in jeopardy of going into retread territory; after a horrendous original movie that pissed off countless fans who grew up in the 80s, suddenly G.I. Joe 2 is one of the must-see movies of the 2012 summer and once again- Journey 2 , the sequel no one asked for and most people didn’t even know was coming until about a month ago, is far better than it has any right to be.

While millions of his fans have always known that Johnson has a rather unique star power (imagine Jason Statham doing a kids flick), it seems like finally Hollywood is catching on and using that thousand-watt grin and endless charisma for some good finally and while of course I always prefer to see Johnson in more serious fare, he managed to make Journey 2 entertaining for this overgrown kid at heart.

In terms of eye candy, Journey 2 looks amazing; the colors, the visual effects and the 3D are all stunning and I must admit, experiencing the adventure of Journey 2 in IMAX was pretty damn breathtaking. If you can’t afford the hefty ticket price of 3D and IMAX, go with just 3D then; it’s definitely worth the two extra bucks (there’s one particular scene with sharks that felt like an homage to Jaws that left me chuckling) if you can swing.

So despite its numerous cringe-inducing moments and a slew of unbearably inane jokes (most coming from the usually stellar Guzman), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a definitely a fun time to be had for parents with young kids; thanks to a wealth of thrilling action sequences, children will no doubt remain highly entertained throughout and thankfully there’s enough fun to be had during the adventure so that adults won’t be bored out of their skulls either.

Hardened horror fans should know for themselves whether they’re up for this kind of a movie or not.

Discuss Journey 2: The Mysterious Island in the comments section below!

Categorized: Reviews

First Trailer for JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND Trailer. Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson, Vanessa Hudgens star in the 3D Journey of the Center of the Earth sequel.

With the release date of February 10, 2012 quickly approaching, Warner Bros. has rolled out a new trailer for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D. The sequel to the 2008 original starring Brendan Fraser, Journey 2 sees the return of Sean Anderson ( Josh Hutcherson ) as he sets off in search of his grandfather ( Michael Caine ). Accompanied by his stepfather, Hank Parsons ( Dwayne Johnson ) and guided by the helicopter pilot Gabato ( Luis Guzman ) and his tough daughter Kailani ( Vanessa Hudgens ), the group sets off to find “Mysterious Island.” Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

Via Yahoo! :

The trailer features a lot of looks at the island’s settings as well as the myriad of creatures the groups comes into contact with. While the absence of Fraser is noticeable, Guzman and Johnson are more than capable at injecting humor into their scenes. However, I know what I’m going to get with a Brendan Fraser movie and I don’t quite feel that same level of assuredness with The Rock stepping into the role (more or less). I do know that I’m definitely looking forward to his return to action movies. “The pec pop of love,” anyone?

There appear to be just as many 3D gimmicks in the sequel as there were the first time around, although this time, Sean (Hutcherson) looks like he gets his own chance at romance via Hudgens. Directed by Brad Peyton ( Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore ), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island also stars Kristin Davis ( Sex and the City ) and was written by Brian and Mark Gunn ( Bring It On Again ). Get caught up with all of our Journey 2 coverage here .

Here's the official synopsis:

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 strange 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.

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"Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" looks like nothing so much as one of those live-action adventures that Disney used to grind out in the 1950s — and hey, here's Captain Nemo's Nautilus to prove it. Also, a tree house to humble "Swiss Family Robinson," which contains a short-wave radio that has been assembled from old spoons, I think I heard.

The movie is very, very loosely a sequel to " Journey to the Center of the Earth ," with only two connections: It's inspired by a Jules Verne novel, and it co-stars young Josh Hutcherson as the hero Sean. The film opens with him on a motorcycle and being chased by cops, but not to worry; all he did was break into a satellite-tracking station to boost the power on a message for help sent by his grandfather from a lost island in the Pacific.

Sean, whose father in the first film ( Brendan Fraser ) has disappeared (from the cast, anyway), now has to deal with Hank ( Dwayne Johnson , aka the Rock). Hank is his new stepdad. Josh and Hank make friends by decrypting grandfather's message; Hank glances at it and intuits that the two-syllable words stand for dots and one-syllable words stand for dashes, which means Grandpa has had enough free time on his remote island to figure out a way to make Morse code several times longer than it previously was. Unanswered is why grandfather would encrypt a call for help.

This Hank, what a swell guy. He proposes that the two of them fly off to the Pacific and find Grandpa. On arrival somewhere, they hire a tourist helicopter pilot named Gabato, played by Luis Guzman as another one of those low-comedy guys who gets all worked up and is scared of stuff. (I enjoyed a reprise of this classic shot: Gabato runs toward camera, falls on stomach, looks up …and up … and up.)

Gabato has a daughter named Kailani ( Vanessa Hudgens ), a Polynesian beauty who wears a tank top and Daisy Dukes throughout the film. These four fly off in the helicopter, are trapped in a Force Five hurricane that rips it to pieces and are lucky enough to find themselves alive on the beach of the Mysterious Island.

This is your complete island. It has an active volcano; waterfalls with no apparent water sources streaming down cliffs; elephants the size of dogs, and giant lizards that are nowhere big enough to account for the size of their eggs. (Josh falls through the shell of one, splashes in a pool of yolk and is attacked by an unborn lizard chick.) Also on the island is the lost city of Atlantis, even though it's in the wrong ocean, and bees so big Sean and Kailani can both ride on the back of one. And Alexander Anderson, Sean's grandfather, played by Michael Caine , who will not be editing this role into his videos about how to act in movies.

I hope you understand I enjoyed most of this stuff. The director, Brad Peyton , apparently intended it as a genial parody of countless other movies in this spirit. There is, for example, a scene were Sean, Grandpa, Kailani and Gabato all sit around the old campfire and listen while Hank strums a ukulele and sings "What a Wonderful World." And I mean he sings it: every word of three verses. It's not every day you see the Rock channeling Gene Autry.

Sean deduces that Verne's novel contains everything they need to know, and this comes in handy when the volcano explodes, and the island begins to sink into the sea. Sure enough, Captain Nemo's submarine is still hidden underwater. Hank and Sean, trusting Verne, dive off a high cliff, and while holding their breath and swimming underwater, are able to (1) find the sub, (2) open the hatch by tugging and twisting it, (3) swim inside, (4) push a lever to fill it with air, and (5) get the power generator working by jump-starting it with an electric eel.

This is transcendently goofy. It isn't a "good" movie in the usual sense (or most senses), but it is jolly and good-natured, and Michael Caine and Dwayne Johnson are among the most likable of actors. Johnson is such a good sport, he even shows young Sean how to impress girls by flexing your pecs so quickly that nuts will ricochet off them. I can't think of any reason to pay extra for the 3-D.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Journey 2: Mysterious Island (2012)

Rated PG for some adventure action, and brief mild language

Josh Hutcherson as Sean

Dwayne Johnson as Hank

Vanessa Hudgens as Kailani

Michael Caine as Alexander

Luis Guzman as Gabato

Directed by

• Brad Peyton

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Review: Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island

Director :  Brad Peyton

Runtime : 94 minutes

Starring :  Josh Hutcherson ,  Dwayne Johnson , Vanessa Hudgens ,  Luis Guzmán ,  Michael Caine

Distributor : Roadshow

Country :  US

Rating :   Worth A Look ( ? )

With Jules Verne’s fiction adapted countless times for the screen, Eric Brevig’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth (2008) took a different approach and supposed that his works were documentary in nature. Using his novels as a blueprint to a world humans could only dream of, we left young Sean Anderson ( Josh Hutcherson ) as he emerged from a lost land at the Earth’s core with a greater sense of the value of family, and a surprisingly successful box office haul. Despite losing director Eric Brevig and original star Brendan Fraser, who are both off working on a 3D version of William Tell , the journey continues with director Brad Peyton  and this time it is to a…mysterious island. Obviously.

Sean Anderson (Hutcherson) is now a teenage rebel without a cause, living with his mother and step-father Hank ( Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ). As the latter struggles to connect to his new son, Sean receives an encoded message from another follower of Jules Verne (a ‘Vernian’). After bonding over decoding the message, which simply tells them “The island is real”, Sean and Hank head off to Palau to find the mysterious island and Sean’s grandfather ( Michael Caine ). Teaming up with helicopter pilot Gabato ( Luis Guzmán ) and his daughter Kailani ( Vanessa Hudgens ), the group fly into the eye of a hurricane. What they find on the other side astounds them all.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth didn’t exactly set the bar high for narrative brilliance, so expectations for the oddly-named Journey 2: The Mysterious Island are probably shrouded in as many swirling eddies as the titular island. This might work to the film’s advantage, for while it never manages to soar into classic territory, a suspension of disbelief and a willingness to embrace the silliness of the story will go a long way towards tickling one’s fun factor. “Subtle” is not a word one would use in relation to this over-the-top romp, especially with the almost lethal combination of Guzmán’s stereotype of a tour guide, and The Rock doing his best eyebrow work in years. A soon-to-be-legendary Pec Pop of Love Sequence that is simultaneously cringe-worthy and the most genius creation of the mad boffins at Rock HQ. His cheesy grin sliding into frame at the most inopportune moments, including the awkward romance that grows between Hutcherson and Hudgens, makes the pain of unhinged sentimentality bearable. In short, The Rock abides.

The rest of the cast doesn’t fare so well, with Hutcherson’s character one of the weakest links. After being established as the “seasoned adventurer” of the first film, screenwriters Brian and Mark Gunn (best known before this for the direct-to-video sequel  Bring It on Again ) spend the rest of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island crafting him into a whiny prat. This is somewhat understandable, given that until his starring role in The Hunger Games later this year, he was always going to be third-fiddle behind the mighty Rock and idol Hudgens, with even Guzmán’s antics overshadowing his bitching. Michael Caine simply looks older than he ever has before and occasionally disinterested, not to mention awkward in a brief appearance in motorcycle leathers.

The special effects and action sequences, on the other hand, are frequently spectacular. As the group take to the skies on the backs of giant bees, purused by even bigger native birds, the audience is given a reason to love 3D. Similarly, the design on the Vernian artifacts is meticulous, with Captain Nemo’s Nautilus a beautifully functional ship that captures the spirit of the nineteenth-century novels. These moments give the film enough buoyancy to ride through the rough patches, ending in what is ultimately a fun ride through a pastiche of Verne’s greatest hits and a view to the inevitable sequel.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is released in Australia on 19 January 2012 from Roadshow . It is released in the US on 10 February 2012.

About The Author

Richard Gray

Editor of TheReelBits . You can see Richard's unfiltered train of thought on Twitter @DVDBits . His complete film diary is on Letterboxd . Richard's book, Moving Target: The History and Evolution of Green Arrow is out now from Sequart .

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is the mysterious actually a real place??

First trailer lands for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

"Who's up for an adventure?"

A first trailer has arrived for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island , and from the look of the weird and wonderful footage on display, it seems as though New Line might have a bona fide family smash on their hands. Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson plays a young adventurer who receives a coded distress signal from a strange island not found on any map. Joined by his stepfather (Dwayne Johnson), a helicopter pilot (Luiz Guzman) and his gorgeous daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), our intrepid hero sets off in search of this phantom landmass and ends up finding more than he bargained for. Check out the trailer below…

Alright, so there might be a bit of shonky CGI on display (that miniature elephant looks particularly iffy), and there’s undoubtedly something off-putting about The Rock performing “the pec-pop of love”. However, the impressive cast enjoy an easy chemistry together, Hudgens and Hutcherson make for a pair of hot young leads and the island itself seems a genuinely exciting setting. There’s even an appearance from Michael Caine at his most twinkly-eyed, playing the island’s sole human resident in the shape of Hutcherson’s grandfather. Throw in some solid one-liners from Johnson (“I’d rather take the Titanic”) and you’re left with what could be a superior slice of family fun. Oh, and there are dinosaurs. Everone loves dinosaurs, right? Journey 2: The Mysterious Island arrives in UK cinemas on 10 February 2012.

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island review

The pecs of The Rock and Michael Caine riding a giant insect are but two reasons to see the really enjoyable Journey 2: The Mysterious Island...

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Animated movies have always been a constant source of entertainment for both children and adults alike, going from strength to strength over the past decade or two, in no small part due to Pixar.

Thanks to the incredibly high bar set by them, other studios have raised their game, resulting in such recent gems as Despicable Me , How to Train Your Dragon and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs .Each provides a really good balance of humour and excitement, for pretty much all ages.

Live action movies aimed at a younger generation, though, have fared less well over the years, proving to be utterly predictable in terms of quality, with adventure stories even more so. Just look at the awful Will Ferrell version of Land Of The Lost , or even the predecessor to Journey 2 , the forgettable Journey To The Center Of The Earth , which starred Brendan Fraser back in 2008. In most cases juvenile humour takes centre stage, with a total lack of wit, or anything approaching ingenuity sadly absent.

Thankfully, then, Journey 2 is an absolute blast, proving that one man’s pecs and a knighted, British legend on the back of a giant insect really can be the making of an entire film.

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The plot is brutally efficient, as Journey 2 races through its ninety-minute runtime at speed. It starts with a motorbike chase, as the now teenage form of actor Josh Hutcherson appears, returning as Sean Anderson (the only character kept on from the original as far as I can remember), is on the run from the police. Within minutes we’ve established that Sean’s suffering from being a near intolerable teenager, with a step-father, Hank, in the large shape of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who Sean resents for being nice to him (seriously, who wouldn’t want The Rock as a step-dad?). Furthermore, Sean is  hell bent on finding his missing grandfather.

Soon a bonding adventure is under way between the estranged pair, after a quick bit of map puzzling and riddle solving, as they seek out the Mysterious Island, picking up a Looney Tunes pilot (Luis Guzman) and his teen hormone igniting daughter (Vanessa Hudgens, who has little to do aside from delivering some fairly clunky dialogue and providing a little love interest). So far, so predictable, and in truth, the film continues along a well worn route.

But sometimes a film makes no bones about its lack of originality, it just chooses to make the journey itself as entertaining and slick as possible. In this case, it also takes great pleasure in referencing its Jules Verne origins, as well as Indiana Jones, along the way.

Take Guzman’s character, Gabby, who fills the role of comedic idiot (in this case bordering on total mental deficiency). He’s there to nothing more than make noises and panic, to amuse younger children. At first, the overacting seemed too out of control, yet as the film progresses and his adoration of Hank becomes slightly more homo-erotic, I found myself chuckling along. Inno small part, I’m sure, because I’d almost certainly act the same way in the presence of The Rock.

And it’s the humour in Journey 2 that’s really the making of the film, with the more outlandish elements just adding to its enjoyment.

I found myself laughing throughout the entire movie, especially during the surreal sight of Sir Michael Caine atop a giant bee, or consistently facing off against the might of Johnson. In fact, despite Caine’s clear desire to pay for an extension to his house, he does seem to have fun with the role, and more surprisingly has a proper part for the duration of the movie. I was perfectly prepared for a brief cameo at the end.

Still, if there’s one reason to watch this film, it’s the big man himself.

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Dwayne Johnson has always kept one hand in the kids movie jar, regardless of how many times it’s been shut on his fingers, yet I admire his tenacity and ability to walk from the extreme gory violence of Doom , straight into the super sugary world of Hannah Montana. Don’t get me wrong, I was the first person to rejoice when his involvement in both Faster and Fast Five were announced, and if I had my way he’d be confined only to action movies.

Yet maybe that’s a little selfish – surely every generation deserves some of The Rock in their lives? I’m almost certain that there’s a mathematical equation for how much better he makes a movie, just by appearing, he even proved a bright spot in the otherwise wonky You Again .

The man just radiates charisma with an uncanny ease and charm, which makes him a much more suitable fit for both adult action movies and children’s entertainment, unlike some of his predecessors. What’s more, his comic timing simply shines in Journey 2 . For anyone, like me, who mostly wants to see the film off as a Johnson completist, there are some truly great moments.

Have you ever wondered what paternal advice from The Rock about relationships would be like? Wonder no more, as the hysterical sight of cherry bouncing, pec flexes in full 3D reveal all. Ever wanted to see the big man play a ukulele while singing? Done. In fact stay for the end credits and you’ll get even more of him singing, all to the backing of a big band. It’s a sound so glorious I may have to take a pregnancy test in the morning.

Even the 3D was an unexpected delight, providing plenty of theme park style moments to the effects, though scenes might prove a little too intense for the very young, as giant eels, spiders and lizards all make an appearance.

Despite the odd scare though kids should love it, with adults having plenty of surreal moments of inspired lunacy to keep them amused. And Journey 2 ? Against what you might be expecting, it turns out to be a visually rich and thoroughly entertaining ride.

Duncan Bowles | @duncanbowles

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

I wish that director Brad Peyton ’s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island had been an amazing adventure film. I also wish that it was so remarkably terrible that it managed to become entertaining. Instead, the movie is set firmly in the middle, neither good nor bad, but also instantly forgettable.

Picking up a while after the events of Journey To The Center of the Earth , the story begins with Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) living the life of a rebel, breaking into local satellite facilities and running from the cops on his motorcycle. While he’s partially doing it to act out against his mother’s new boyfriend, Hank ( Dwayne Johnson , who steps in for Brendan Fraser in the sequel), he’s also on a quest to find his grandfather, the renowned adventurer Alexander Anderson ( Michael Caine ). With some help from Hank, Sean is able to decode a transmission from his grandfather and learns that the legendary Mysterious Island, as written about by Jules Verne, actually exists. Traveling with a helicopter pilot, Gabato (Luis Guzman), and the pilot’s daughter, Kailani ( Vanessa Hudgens ), Hank and Sean travel to the Mysterious Island and have the adventure of a lifetime.

While Journey 2 passes without a central villain – the island itself is really the only thing throwing up roadblocks for the characters – there’s no point where you feel as though the characters are actually being threatened or are in any kind of real danger (and not just because it’s a family film). After arriving on the island, the gang learns that they must leave because the whole thing is sinking into the ocean. But at no point do we ever feel a real time crunch, as the characters immediately figure out how they will get off the island and are constantly stopping to deal with relationship issues between each other (be it Alexander’s dislike of Hank, Sean’s crush on Kailani, or Gabato’s quest to send his daughter to college) and don’t really seem too worried. How stressed about their survival could they be if they are taking breaks to show off “the pec pop of love” and sing “It’s A Wonderful World” around a campfire?

The movie is filled to the brim with CGI, and when you consider how computer technology has advanced in the last decade alone, it actually comes as a surprise how shoddy everything looks. While part of production was on-location in Hawaii, it’s remarkably easy to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not, as all of the fake things in the environment have a strange plastic sheen on them. Also, the giant creatures that the group encounters, including lizards, birds and bees, all look terribly unrealistic, which hurts when the audience is meant to be scared of them. It’s never a good sign when it’s just as easier to imagine the actors running in front of a green screen than them running across the terrain of the Mysterious Island.

It’s quite obvious that Journey 2 is aimed at children, but the result is that adults are going to be stuck bored and rolling their eyes for 94 minutes. The strange pacing will appeal to the shortest of attention spans and the youngest in the crowds likely won’t even recognize how fake the environments are. The film’s humor comes almost exclusively from Luis Guzman, but it’s all so immature (jokes about smelly armpits, lame slapstick humor, etc.) that it will inspire more face-palms than laughs from the grown-up members of the audience. While Johnson is usually a blast to watch – particularly in action films – he’s watered in this title to the point that he’s barely recognizable. It isn’t a bad thing that the movie knows who is going to enjoy the story and who isn’t, but it’s only fair that the parents be warned before entering the theater.

By the end of the year, not only will Brad Peyton’s latest movie not be making my year-end lists, but I may completely forget that I saw it. In fact, it’s a film that is neither entertaining nor terrible enough to remember beyond the five minutes it takes you to exit the local cinema and it’s not going to affect anyone’s career in a significant way. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a title that just happens to exist.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

This knockabout adventure romp sends stroppy teen Josh Hutcherson and awkward stepdad Dwayne Johnson to the South Pacific

This knockabout adventure romp sends stroppy teen Josh Hutcherson and awkward stepdad Dwayne Johnson to the South Pacific.

A sequel to 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth, this romp sends the pair in search of a mysterious island.

Joined by Luis Guzman's two-bit helicopter pilot (the film's comic relief) and his feisty daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they encounter giant bees, birds and lizards - and Hutcherson's missing grandfather, played by a twinkling Michael Caine.

Released in the cinema in 3D (hence all the objects whizzing at you), the movie makes up in good humour what it lacks in finesse.

The game cast provides the odd laugh and the filmmakers thrills. The scariest thing around isn't any one of the island's predatory beasts, but the sight of The Rock tutoring Hutcherson in the art of wooing by bouncing berries off his prodigious chest, a truly alarming trick he calls the 'pec pop of love'.

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