Journey 2: The Mysterious Island has a solid helping of thrilling elements. For yours truly, seeing a cameo by Branscombe Richmond (Bobby Sixkiller from Renegade TV series) was probably the most thrilling. Man, I miss that show.

Moving along, the 94 minute 3D adventure is a dazzling epic blend of Goonies meets Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The fam-friendly flick commits to what it is and just flows effortlessly for the most part. Kudos goes to the cast (Dwayne Johnson, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens, and Michael Caine) who take endless mediocre dialogue, and through their talents alone, maximize it throughout the story.

Fortunately, the world created by filmmakers is a pleasure to explore. And in a rare occasion, the 3D is actually worthwhile. While it may not be Avatar good, it’s pretty damn close. The landscapes created on the island features ancient cities, a perilous underwater escape, and an emotionally engaging action sequence in the air; all of which can be described as having smooth CGI work. Everything is visually stimulating and easily has the ability to overshadow the under-developed comedic lines.

Yeah, the audible aspects can’t quite keep up with what one’s eyes are being treated to (though Dwayne Johnson’s song lyrics were fairly creative). And the pacing seems to jerk around a few corners and forces in the clichéd moments everyone can see and hear coming a mile away. What gets one through these is, again, the cast. The five main players all want to be here. Granted, the script lets them down but they are pressing on and will entertain the audience no matter what crappy lines they’re given.

Despite its generic nature – outside of the special-effects of course – this film rests its laurels on the escapism factor that is immediately present after the rushed opening. It’s very similar to an amusement park ride; expensive thrills that may have the ability to have your heart skip a beat here-n-there. But just don’t expect an Epcot-type ride (educational and/or substantial).

That’s pretty much all there is to this, kids. It’s a film that creates a charismatic world to explore and has a game cast who finds the right pitch in their performances. And if you can swing it, shell out the extra bones for the 3D gimmick.

Overall, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is decorated extremely well and has some exceptionally talented hosts (cast members) to guide one through a typical grand-scale fam-friendly adventure.

RATING: 4 out of 5

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Rapper/actor/producer Common was at the Sundance Film Festival with his newest film LUV, and in an interview with Movieline, he revealed that he’s joined Louis Letterier’s magician heist thriller Now You See Me. “I’m about to film this movie called ‘Now You See Me,’ which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher and Michael Caine and Mark Ruffalo - I’d say it’s an action movie, about these magicians. It’s dope.” This is one of my most anticipated movies of 2013 – read on for the full synopsis.

Collider got the synopsis from the American Film Market late last year, but this one slipped through the cracks for us. Described as “The Prestige meets The Town as a team of FBI agents hunts down a group of illusionists who perform miracle heists during their shows and shower the booty on their audiences,” this movie sounds amazing. Here’s the full breakdown from Collider (and click over there to see an early poster for the movie):

The Four Horsemen, a magic super-group led by the charismatic ATLAS (Jesse Eisenberg), perform a pair of high-tech magic shows, first astonishing audiences by robbing a bank on another continent, and then exposing a white-collar criminal and funneling his millions into the audience members’ bank accounts.

FBI Special Agent DYLAN (Mark Ruffalo) is determined to make the magicians pay for their crimes—and to stop them before they pull off what promises to be an even more audacious heist. But he’s forced to partner with ALMA (Melanie Laurent), an Interpol detective about whom he is instantly suspicious. Out of desperation he turns to THADDEUS (Morgan Freeman), a famed magic debunker, who claims the bank heist was accomplished using disguises and video trickery. One thing Dylan and Alma agree on is that the Horsemen must have an outside point person, and that finding him (or her) is key to ending the magicians’ crime spree. Could it be Thaddeus? Or Alma? Or could it really be…magic?

As pressure mounts and the world awaits the Horsemen’s spectacular final trick, Dylan and Alma race to find an answer. But it soon becomes painfully clear that staying one step ahead of these masters of illusion is beyond the skills of any one man—or woman.

Even though Letterier was critically reviled for Clash of the Titans, I still love what he did with the second Transporter movie, so I’ll give him a free pass when it comes to a cool concept with great actors like this. How about you? Are you excited for Now You See Me?

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island starring Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, and Vanessa Hudgens won’t be released until February 10, 2012, but according to The Wrap audiences responded positively to test screenings over the weekend, so plans are in motion for a third film.

The site says director Brad Peyton, writers Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn and Richard Outten and the producers are attached to the third outing, and while none of the cast are confirmed, New Line are said to want everyone back.

One could call these plans very premature as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island has yet to prove itself at the box office, but the first film starring Brendan Fraser made $242 million worldwide on a $60 million budget, so the sequel could have similar success.

Below is the first trailer for Journey 2, which follows Johnson, Hutcherson and co. as they set out to find a mysterious island, rescue Michael Caine, and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

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New Line has released the first trailer for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, sequel to 2008′s Journey to the Center of the Earth, and it’s quite entertaining (if you ignore the bad CGI). We are introduced to mini-elephants, giant bees, lizards, exploding volcanoes, and Michael Caine.

Watch out for Dwayne Johnson’s'pec pop of love’ towards the end.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 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.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island hits February 10, 2012 and is directed by Brad Peyton (Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore).

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Anarchy ensues on the streets of Gotham City, at least that’s what we get out of the recent batch of videos coming from the set of The Dark Knight Rises, now filming in New York. Three videos showing different takes from what looks like an important scene in the movie found their way onto YouTube and thanks to IGN, we have them here for you. As always, if you want to go into The Dark Knight Rises spoiler-free, I recommend you skip this.

In the last video we see Batman going up against Bane in the middle of the street, surrounded by people beating the crap out of each other. SPOILER, if you ask me, it doesn’t seem like he’s winning that fight. Also, with so many extras on the set, this looks really expensive, not to mention they are filming on Wall Street no less. This could end up costing easily $250 million when done. But considering The Dark Knight made over $1 billion in box office receipts worldwide, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. spared no expenses on this one.

There’s also a video showing some photos of Batman and Bane from the set:

Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson. Set to open July 20th 2012, The Dark Knight Rises is easily one of the most highly anticipated movies of next year and videos like this only serve to send the hype meter into overdrive.

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SHH has received word from “a trustworthy source” that the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be attached to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 when it is released next weekend. Not only that, Warner Bros. will also be releasing a teaser poster in the near future.

The site says the teaser trailer is a minute and 33 seconds long and will play in 3D theaters, 2D theaters and IMAX 3D screens. Trailers are usually released during the week, around Wednesday, but so far there has been no confirmation as to when the teaser will appear online.

The Dark Knight Rises is set for release on July 20th, 2012 and is currently filming. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman will reprise their roles alongside Anne Hathaway (Catwoman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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The setting: It’s late February 2012, wait, scratch that…it’s January 2012, and the Oscar nominees are being rattled off; some A-list celebrity is about to read the candidates for Best Animated Film, and wouldn’t you know it, a Pixar film is noticeably missing…

That’s because Cars 2 sputtered at just about every turn.  If you’re looking for what makes Pixar the perennial dominating product in this genre, this 113 minute flick is a very average sample size.  And don’t pull the “it’s for the kids” on me this time people; for the only element these said kiddies will laugh at are the funny accents two of the talking cars deliver.  Even the animation just seems like its on cruise control half the time.  Can you be cited for being under the influence while making a movie about automobiles?  Cause the directors should be for their often times out-of-control execution in this sucker.

Now labeling something very average doesn’t mean it’s dreadful.  And though this review could easily use an infinite number of car metaphors and puns to illustrate why this flick ran like a 4-cylinder as opposed to the V8 audiences have come to expect from this heralded studio, we’re going to try not to go there too often.  Just like the studio should have not gone the sequel route here.

Our refurbished tale sees the sharp sports car, Lighting McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) and his unorthodox, small-town tow-truck best friend Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy), taking part in a world championship race to help promote an alternate fuel source, which would make oil obsolete in cars.  While attending lavish events in Japan, Italy and England, McQueen gets into a rivalry with an arrogant Italian race car named Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John Turturro).  Their desire to beat each other becomes intense and McQueen needs to remain focused on the task at hand.  So when he allows Mater to tag along and work in the pit crew for the first time ever, the curious tow-truck who likes to shake things up in his own unique – and indirect – way, causes McQueen some issues on the track.

Meanwhile, Mater somehow is also mistaken for an American spy, as British agents Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) & Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) force him into an espionage caper involving a mystery villain, who is purposely sabotaging the races McQueen is participating in.  Since Mater has a junkyard crush on Holley, he reluctantly goes along with the mission, yet gets more fired up when he realizes that his best friend McQueen is the latest target.

Look, this is paced well for the younger audiences’ attention span and the jovial accents of Larry the Cable Guy and John Turturro will get them laughing even if they don’t comprehend all the jokes.  The physical make-up shows the Pixar shine every now and again, too.  Seeing cars, planes and ships with personalities will catch your eye for a while.  But it will never tickle the funny bone as other recent animations have been able to smoothly accomplish.  This would be satisfactory if there was a rich story on display, yet the cartoon James Bond with a goofy sidekick angle will only please those that have never experienced this redundant theme before.  So of course a good portion of hyper summer kids will be drawn to this.  Just be prepared to explain what happened when this wistful feature concludes parents/guardians/babysitters/older siblings/recreation park supervisors/etc.  That is, if the kids give a crap.

And that’s the biggest issue with Cars 2:  It’s so uneven that film professors could go on for days about all its defects.  The story haphazardly goes from being completely calibrated for wholesome entertainment, and then jumps to moments where characters meet their demise in not-so elaborate action skits.  Yeah, characters die here.  So as far as continuity goes, this script looks as if some portions were written by Chris Columbus, while others were under the guidance of the destructive Michael Bay.  As stated earlier though, the kids will simply give blank stares at the 3D screen during these nonsensical transitions.

Finally, much respect to Michael Caine, Larry the Cable Guy, Emily Mortimer and John Turturro for their exuberant voice work.  If they weren’t subjected to being trapped in an animated frame, this may have been more engaging.  Pretty sad when one yearns for live-action actors instead of the dated CGI atmosphere.

Overall, Cars 2 is nothing special.  The characters are as much fun as a 1990 Volvo…safe, but boring as hell to drive.  Portions of the animation reveal glimpses of the creative minds at Pixar (kind of like this review haha).  That said, the animation – even with the 3D – is more of a matte finish rather than the patented glossy that will continuously entice audiences to explore this world.  In the end, Cars 2 should be recalled from theaters and placed in the DVD shop.  And so much for avoiding all those metaphors eh?

RATING: 2 out of 5

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Pixar and Disney have released what is probably the final trailer for Cars 2. I’ve lost count how many we’ve had so far, but this one contains lots of unseen footage and we get a glimpse at the characters voiced by John Turturro and Eddie Izzard.

Pixar may have made a sequel purely because of the merchandise sales, but at least it will entertain the younger members of society for a few hours.

You can watch the trailer below:

In the sequel Lightning McQueen, his pit crew and his new crew chief, Mater, head around the world for the “Race of Champions” taking place in five different countries: Japan, Austria, Italy, a 24-hour race in France and the United Kingdom. However, Mater, involved in a case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent named Finn McMissile and finds himself embroiled in his world of international espionage.

Ratatouille producer Brad Lewis will direct along with original Cars director John Lasseter. Cars 2 opens in 3D on June 24, 2011.

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Get ready for 84 minutes of Shakespeare on mushrooms. The 3D animated Gnomeo and Juliet is based off the famous writer’s 16th century play. In the opening monologue, a little gnome alerts the audience that this take will be a bit different from all the other versions. What the little gnome – and the nine other writers – forgot to mention is that this will blatantly steal the Toy Story concept. Now retreads are part of the process these days and this practice is accepted. With that said, the producers, writers and director better bring their A-game in the creative department.

After the monologue is completed, the setting of this story takes place in the connecting backyards of two upscale senior citizens. As they exchange insults when leaving for work, the one thing they do have in common is the pristine upkeep of their backyards. Both fenced in areas are decked out with tiny ceramic gnome statues. On one side we have the elegant blue gnomes. The other is the quasi-grumpy red gnomes. Once the respective homeowners leave for the day, the gnomes come to life and begin tending to their lands. Yet every now and then, the rival factions like to take subtle shots at each other. Whether it be in sabotaging ones flowers and/or partaking in the heated lawnmower races in the back alley just beyond the fence, the two sides are very competitive when interacting with each other.

The story glosses over all the characters so the audience can get a proper introduction. Yet the main focus is on the heralded son of the blues, Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) and the princess like daughter of the reds, Juliet (voiced by Emily Blunt). Both have a sense of adventure in them, which leads them to an unexpected meeting, when both decide to venture beyond the fence. It becomes love at first sight, but the obstacle of being a blue and a red, forces them to hide their passion for each other. Eventually, the grudge between the blues and the reds escalates, leaving the two lovebirds in a tough position.

It’s fine to do an alternate take on a revered story. Disney’s Tangled is evidence of that, for it managed to successfully execute the formula in an entertaining way. Gnomeo and Juliet does a few creative things and pays attention to the small details (no pun), when using its surroundings. Problem is the gnome characters were not the proper vehicle to helm this tale based on the layout of the script. You would think having nine writers, the creative lighting bolt would eventually strike somewhere. Sadly, the potential (if any) is never fully realized.

Audiences – especially the younger audiences – will chuckle in a few choice spots. A chuckle is all though. Put it this way, you know when something hilarious happens on-screen and the audience is still laughing to the point you may miss a few lines of dialogue in the movie? Well, this will not happen at all in this guy. In fact, it seems the writers were cognizant of that above practice in theaters and purposely added a buffer between jokes. Which is met with dead silence. Now that isn’t to say the jokes were complete duds, but they (writers) definitely needed to spend more time on the material in accordance with the animated sequence that accompanied these said duds. What is funny though, Ozzy Osbourne voicing a ceramic deer the size of a shoe.

Comparisons to Toy Story are natural since the gnomes and a other random ceramics all freeze when humans enter the frame. What this flick is missing that Toy Story had was more depth in each character’s persona. None of the ceramic statues – which also include a French frog and a Super Mario Bros. mushroom – had the charisma necessary to make this memorable. The chosen environment the characters are put in was never fully developed, therefore, not all that interactive. It’s a shame too, because random flashes of brilliance were on display and could entertain. The not-so intelligent Pink Flamingo is an example of things the story did right.

Overall, Gnomeo and Juliet needed more preparation. The final version looks more like a second or third draft. Maybe Touchstone Pictures sent out the wrong copy to theaters. The physical animation is worthy of the big screen but the story and creativity regarding the characters is not quite there. Which suggests this title probably should have went straight to DVD. This is a product that will not annoy you in anyway, but the flick never engages the audience (old and young). At least it’s short (again, no pun intended).

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

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Sir Michael Caine is always on hand to give people small yet important updates on the next Batman movie, and today in an interview with Empire Caine revealed that the current plan is for the script to be delivered to the cast in January, and then for shooting to take place between May and November.

This would suggest that Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan and David Goyer are still working on the script and will be for another month or two, which is good to know. Nobody wants the next Batman film to suffer from the ‘third film curse’ which has claimed superhero franchises in the past, so a non-rushed approach is welcomed.

At the moment not a lot has been confirmed but it is expected that Christian Bale will be back, as will Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Tom Hardy will be a new addition to the cast in a role that has not yet been revealed, and we recently heard that Warner Bros. were looking at a number of actresses for the new female lead (you may remember The Joker blew up the last one).

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