Films: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
Alias: Giant centipedes, giant butterflies, dwarf elephants, giant frilled lizards, giant bees, giant ants, giant bee-eaters, giant spiders, dwarf great whites, giant electric eels
Type: Natural
Location: Jungle/Ocean
Height/Weight: Ranges from that of small dogs to that of whales.
Affiliation: Neutral
Summary: In 2008, we saw a rather milquetoast follow-up to one of Jules Verne's greatest books. Here, we do it again, this time forcing Nemo's old home to be the backdrop for some family hijinks and yet another slew of mostly enormous creatures.
History: Sean Anderson, the kid from the last film, is still trying to find where members of his family went. To that end, he and his new stepfather have stumbled across a map leading directly to an unknown island not too far from Palau. The trip there gets them caught in a cyclone and shipwrecked on the place. From there, they may be able to find Sean's grandfather, but they also find all sorts of oversized (and occasionally undersized) animals that either help them or try to kill them.
Notable Kills: How many films do you know where a giant bee-eater is chomped by a giant orb weaver?
Final Fate: Alas, as Sean's grandfather predicted, the island sinks like it's always has ever 70 years. Luckily, everyone manages to escape, and the one thing they got out of it, the Nautilus itself, is used as a tourist attraction in Palau. Not quite what Nemo intended, but whatever. Either way, another adventure is proposed. One involving the moon...
Powers/Abilities: The giant eel can produce an insane amount of electricity, enough to power a derelict ship.
Weakness: Anything conventional.
Scariness Factor: 3.5-The CGI isn't always the greatest, but it does work wonders for some of the beasts. The giant lizard and especially that giant eel are particular stand-outs for just how persistent and powerful they are. But then you have things like tiny elephants and tamed giant bees, and suddenly you realize that this might be the most tolerable version of Verne's island yet.
Trivia: -That scene of Dwane Johnson breaking out a ukulele and singing "What a Wonderful World"? It was all his idea due to him coming from a very musical family. It is an important aspect of his Polynesian roots, and the director loved it.
-The giant birds here are identified as white-throated needletails, but they look nothing like the sort. They are very much bee-eater birds, which come mainly from Africa and Asia, are usually only about as big as sparrows, and their preferred method of eating stinging flying insects is to ram them against something solid to get rid of the stinger. Back in the day, beekeepers were encouraged to kill the birds on sight.
