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Now on DVD and Blu-ray-Promised Land -
Reacher Coming to DVD and Blu-ray -
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD-Django Unchain ... -
John Ford's Favorite Film -
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD-The Impossible
Now on DVD and Blu-ray-Hyde Park on Huds ...
MAKING FILM SCHOLARSHIP FUN
Now on DVD/Blu-ray—This Is 40
Playing Nationwide: On the Road
Celeste and Jesse Forever on DVD and Blu ...
Photographic Memory—Now on DVD and Blu-R ...
HOORAY FOR 1933—EIGHTY YEARS LATERJourney 2: The Mysterious Island plus Daffy's Rhapsody
Hutcherson plays a self-described “Verne-ian” who has an admirable knowledge of, and regard for, classic literature, although that aspect of the story is dismissed after the opening sequence. He hates having moved away from his home town, and has no use for his new stepdad, played by Dwayne Johnson. Johnson scores bonding points by helping him to decode a radioed message from his long-lost grandfather. Then, in the quickest bit of exposition I’ve ever seen, the two of them fly off to the South Pacific in search of the adventurer and his mysterious island. They reach it with the help of helicopter pilot Luis Guzmán and his nubile daughter, Vanessa Hudgens. Soon they come upon the old adventurer himself, played by a jaunty Michael Caine, and learn that they are surrounded by prehistoric creatures and flying predators.
The visual effects are as artificial as the genially preposterous story, but the movie is all in fun, and painless for grownups. (I always enjoy watching Caine at work, though I suspect most kids will simply write him off as an old guy with a beard.) Journey 2 doesn’t having the substance or staying power of a great Verne adaptation, but if it piques even a few kids’ curiosity about the author, I figure we’re ahead of the game.
Not so incidentally, Journey 2 is preceded by another brand-new, 3-D widescreen Looney Tunes short, Daffy’s Rhapsody. Based on the old Capitol kiddie recording featuring the great Mel Blanc with music by Billy May, this energetic cartoon has Daffy rendering his rapid-fire version of Liszt’s “Second Hungarian Rhapsody,” with lyrics by Warners cartoon stalwarts Warren Foster and Michael Maltese in which he bemoans his fate as a target for hunters—like Elmer Fudd (voiced here by Billy West).
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3 Comments
Steve | February 12, 2012 9:53 PM
Are you kidding Maltin?? You rated this movie higher than you did the Iron Lady, which contains a sterling performance by Meryl Streep??? I'm puzzled as usual with some of you critics.
Norm | February 11, 2012 12:12 AM
Well, I welcome Daffy & Elmer with open arms and a huge embrace, but will pass on the feature, because the trailers didn't sell the film...3-D or otherwise, unless everyone gets eaten and pooped out , I fail to see the excuse to make this film...If you can present an adventure, that is entertaining, not clumsily put together, and let it work, then give me a call, otherwise, give the money to charity...Michael Caine, a long way from Harry Palmer...maybe that was a different world...