Mousey Movies - Journey 2 The Mysterious Island

Recently one of my friends has been arguing way to hard that Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is the most important actor in Hollywood. Now I have to say that off the top of my head I think that both Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. have more prestige with both insiders and audiences. But he responds back with box office figures. He has a good point, but I still don’t believe that the Rock could negotiate the type of deals that Captain Jack Sparrow and Tony Stark can pull down. With this debate in the back of my head I recently caught Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.

Josh Hutcherson returns to the Jules Verne stories in this sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth. He plays Sean Anderson, teenage adventurer. Sean now lives with his mother and stepfather Hank, played by the Rock. Hank struggles to connect with Sean. And in an attempt to disprove the existence of Verne’s Mysterious Island, where Sean believes his grandfather is marooned, and bond with the young man Hank takes the teenager on a trip to the island Palau. One does have to admit there is a flaw in Hank’s plans since Sean has been to the center of the Earth! The two along with their helicopter guide Gabato and his daughter Kailani, find the island, a lost city, Sean’s grandfather and danger in this Mousey Movie:

• Good Books: Movies from Walden Media in general fit the same mold of movies that Walt Disney himself produced. Walden Media films tend to be family focused and have a moral message. They also generally are based on works of literature instead of original concepts. Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media together have released Ghosts of the Abyss, Holes, Around the World in 80 Days, Aliens of the Deep, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. With it being nearly five years since a Walden/Disney collaboration, perhaps Disney shied away from this studio after the disappointing $419 million for the second Narnia movie. Yeah, I said disappointing despite being Disney’s second grossing movie of 2008.

• The Rock: Disney and the Rock have been a great combination. My buddy who has tried to convince me that the Rock is Hollywood’s biggest star bases his argument solely on box office. So let us break down the Disney-Rock box office history. 2007’s very likable The Game Plan, in which the Rock plays a football player who discovers he has an 8 year old daughter, had a budget of $22 million for a $150 million performance. Win the Rock! In 2009, he starred in a movie that I like but do not love, Race to Witch Mountain. The budget expanded to $50 million so the $106 million box office is less impressive. But still Disney made a profit, so win the Rock! So is it the Rock/Disney combination that works. Well 2009 also saw the Rock providing a voice in the forgettable Planet 51. The movie cost $70 million to make but only brought back $105 from the theaters. So Race to Witch Mountain’s win for Disney bringing in slightly more than TriStar Pictures for a smaller budget is a little more impressive now. The Game Plan is probably most comparable to 20th Century Fox’s 2010 Tooth Fairy. I know you thought it was Disney since it stars Disney legend Julie Andrews (what was she thinking) and Billy Crystal. The movie had a budget of $48 million for $112 million in return. So clearly Disney got the better of the Rock three years earlier spending less to make more. Seriously you make a movie with the Rock, you make a profit! How did Journey 2: The Mysterious Island do? With a budget of $79 million it banked over $325 million! Victory the Rock! Honestly, I do not believe that box office is the only indicator of an actor’s true status as an icon. I think reputation and accolades do matter. But I have to admit, the Rock is bankable. Disney, you need to cast him in something now and plan to watch the bucks roll in. I know that he has been lobbying for a role in The Avengers Initiative, let us make this happen.

Hank Shares Some Manly Advice

• Hungry: The Rock is not the only star with a Disney pedigree. Josh Hutcherson thanks to The Hunger Games is clearly a star. But the first time I saw this young man in a film was Disney’s Bridge to Terabithia which I had thought was going to be in the vein of The Neverending Story. I just knew it was going to be a tale about how imagination wins out while being cute and perhaps silly. I never read the book as a kid! What I did not realize was it was a tearjerker. Hutcherson has also lent his voice to Disney’s U.S. release of Howl’s Moving Castle from Studio Ghibli.

• Wildcat: Hutcherson is not the only young Disneyfied face. Vanessa Hudgens plays Sean’s love interest and independent minded Kailani. Hudgens broke her career on the Disney Channel with High School Musical and High School Musical 2 (for which we had a mini-party for the Between Tween at the time). And Disney moved her to the big screen with High School Musical 3: Senior Year. The Between Tween has moved onto Marvel movies, which for this dad makes me very very happy.

• Alfred: Michael Caine plays Sean’s grandfather and Hank’s nemesis, Alexander Anderson. Caine works a lot, I mean a lot. But for the life of me I could not place him in a Disney role. Sure I loved him in ranging from A Bridge Too Far (you really should check out this World War II film) and most recently as Alfred in movies like Dark Knight Rises. Then I felt ashamed, because I was slapped across the face that he voiced English spy Finn McMissile in Cars 2. Shame!

• Nemo: When I think of Captain Nemo, I think of Disney and the classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In Journey 2, Captain Nemo’s legacy is prevalent with appearances of his tomb and the Nautilus. I personally really enjoyed the Nautilus look which to me seems inspired by Disney Legend Harper Goff’s classic design. One can also visit a Disney version of Verne’s island at Tokyo DisneySea where guests can discover Nemo’s lair at the Imagineered Mysterious Island.

Personally I think Walt Disney would have given a thumbs up to Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. It is a family based adventure, where families have real struggles that they work through in front of our eyes. And when I say struggle, I do not mean those against giant bees but those within the battlefield of interpersonal relationships. And Disney clearly found Jules Verne’s writing a good source for mining material for his own movie. Yes I think Walt Disney would have approved, and wondered perhaps why his studio did not distribute this film.

And I do have to admit my WWE inspired friend, the Rock did a nice job!

Mousey Movies - The Black Hole

I’ve been really critical of Disney sci-fi properties.  I will continue to argue that if Tron and not John Carter serves as the Disney sci-fi standard, Houston we have a problem!  I wanted to find a Disney film that helped me show that John Carter was part of a tradition of some decent Disney sci-fi and was not just an aberration.  Searching the corners of my mind I remembered many a weekend afternoon as a child where with 4 channels and no VCR it was Read a Long Story records that replayed The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and other classic stories in my mind.  And one of those worn out records was a Disney movie, 1979’s The Black Hole. 

How I Remember the Black Hole

It has been decades since I had last seen The Black Hole.  And seeing it again frustrated me!  Frustrated me because we have talked about Tron and made it cult classic, while The Black Hole has been largely ignored.  Maybe it gets lost in the wake of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  With both films having roundish robots and standardized henchmen, maybe Lucas has overshadowed Disney.  I have to admit that both films also share a chase across a massive spaceship as the heroes attempt to escape the villain.  But honestly, though they share themes they are very different movies with Lucas using the heroes journey as a template and Disney using the quest for discovery as theirs.  There are so really interesting sci-fi additions too including an ESP connection between a robot and a human along with the back story of the robots that man the Cygnus.  And with a cast including the likes of Maximilian Schell, Robert Forester, Anthony Perkins, Roddy McDowell and Ernest Borgnine, we are given a group of actors who brought skill to the production.  Honestly, this may have been one of Disney’s Mouseyest movies ever:      

·      Disney Legend:  Peter Ellenshaw was named a Disney Legend in 2003.  Ellenshaw served as a matte artist for numerous Disney films.  A few you may have heard of include Treasure Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Old Yeller, Johnny Tremain, and Swiss Family Robinson.  He went onto special effects in other Disney movies including The Love Bug and this little picture you might not know a lot about called Mary Poppins!  Basically Ellenshaw built a career on the Disney live action Parthenon.  For The Black Hole, Ellenshaw created the miniature effects which make us believe that we are in space and not a studio.  For his efforts, the movie was nominated for an special effects Academy Award.  The effects for being over thirty years old really are good.  They may not of the Industrial Lights and Magic quality but they are believable, and you are sure you are looking at real objects and not animated effects.   

·      Freaky Friday: Director Gary Nelson may have seemed like an odd choice to helm The Black Hole.  I do have to admit with credits including Get Smart, Gilligan’s Island, Gunsmoke and The Andy Griffith Show; Nelson did bring experience to the film.  And he had directed 3 films before The Black Hole, all for Disney.  So maybe it wasn’t his experience directing sci-fi epics that got him the job, and instead the fact he was a known Disney director after leading Jodi Foster through the original Freaky Friday. 

·      The Final Frontier: Disney seems to think that humans need some living space.  In The Black Hole Captain Dan Holland’s (Forester) on the USS Palomino is exploring space for worlds to open up for humanity’s use.  If you want to explore this concept yourself, I suggest riding Mission Space at Epcot, so you can simulate a visit to Mars.  Sadly, no black holes though the location of the landing strip next to a giant canyon still seems odd. 

·      Is that you Captain Nemo?: Is this movie The Black Hole or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?  You can’t help but compare Schell’s Dr.  Hans Reinhardt to Captain Nemo.  Both have vast intellects who find it difficult to be understood by mere men.  Both live solitary lives on vessels; one in space and one in the sea.  Both are surrounded by a crew whose loyalty is unquestionable.  And most of all both have fantastic beards!

Schell's Dr. Han Reinhardt

James Mason's Captain Nemo

·      The Son-in-Law: The Black Hole was produced by Ron Miller, which actually links The Black Hole to Walt Disney himself.  The former football player married Diane Disney in 1954 and was convinced by his father-in-law Walt Disney to enter the family business, film making.  Miller produced a number of films before becoming the President of Walt Disney Production in 1980 and CEO in 1983.  Miller left the company in 1984 in the upheaval that saw him ousted and Michael Eisner and Frank Wells joining the company.  Not looking behind him, Miller has thrown himself into the Silverado Winery and supported the development of the Walt Disney Family Museum.  And according to some Mousetalgia hosts, he is still a very handsome man to this day.  

The Black Hole really does hold up over time.  It is well acted, has a good story and decent effects.  I do not understand how this is not a Disney cult classic.  It is a movie sci-fi fans, families and Disney enthusiasts can all enjoy.  It is Mousey through and through and maybe someday the rumors of a remake that surface every few years will come true.