The Three Musketeers (12A)

In this busy remake of the repeatedly remade The Three Musketeers we have a strong cast of recognisable genre actors. We have the trio of Matthew Macfadyen (Robin Hood, 2010) as Athos, Luke Evans (The Raven) as Arimus and Ray Stevenson (Thor) as Porthos and as a group they are excellent, each seizing upon the clichéd aspects of their fictional characters and not over doing it. Then comes the fourth musketeer Logan Lerman as the arrogant D’Artagnan and even after his experiences as Percey Jackson, in Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, he fails to convince for much of the time, the fine gloss of this youthful American somehow out of sync with the rough to extravagant French setting.

The English Director, Paul W.S. Anderson, brings along a number of external influences to this film. His obvious casting of his wife Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) as villainess Milady de Winter, who excels at the action sequences but falls short on the acting, and his casting of English actors and notably the comedian James Corden as Planchet, who’s style of comedy sits awkwardly in the flow of the story. But this trusty and put upon side-kick follows the four Musketeers as they seek to recover a diamond necklace to save the Honour of Queen Anne and prevent war in Europe.

There are two problems with this updated version though, aside from the sudden invention of incredibly manoeuvrable airships. Orlando Bloom as the Duke of Buckingham fails at being a baddy and only achieves a poor imitation of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and Christoph Waltz (The Green Hornet) as Richelieu is weak. Aside from this when the Musketeers are on screen they are entertaining and this just about holds the story together.

56/100

Journey 2 - The Mysterious Island (PG)

Teenager Sean Anderson, played by the competent Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), sets off on a family, fun packed adventure, to the Mysterious Island to recover his Grandfather, Legend Michael Caine. His mother’s boy friend Hank, hammed by the muscle bound Dwayne Johnson (The Scorpion King) insists on tagging along determined to bond with the troublesome youth. But somehow they need to fly to the Island and so enlist the annoying Gabato, Luis Guzmán and his daughter, another young rising star Vanessa Hudgens.

Journey 2 is Director Brad Peyton’s second ‘big’ film and he handles it well seeing the family genre is so specialised. Once past some awkward family moments the film comes to life when they crash on the Island and begin encountering the wonders of the Island. Giant bees and birds, an erupting volcano, an underwater super sub and spectacular landscapes all contribute to make the film entertaining if not let down by the awkward relationship between Johnson and Caine their deadened attempts at humour bouncing of each other with little effect or laughs.

The two younger actors steal the show and although no doubt plenty of green screening was used their responses are real enough and their chemistry believable. Visually the graphics are quick and thrilling and designed to hold the younger age groups which it does well. Journey 2 begins slowly but ends well in an impressively dramatic fashion.

68/100