WHEN the going gets tough, the tough get soppy in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, an old-fashioned, gung-ho adventure based loosely on Jules Verne.

Directed with vim by Brad Peyton, this follow-up to the 2008 romp Journey To The Center Of The Earth continues the escapades of plucky teenager Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson), who was handed a book about Atlantis at the end of the first film, neatly sowing the seeds of this slicker sequel.

Brendan Fraser is nowhere to be seen, so professional wrestler-turned-action man Dwayne Johnson gamely steps into the fray alongside Hutcherson, as the plot splices Verne with Robert Louis Stevenson and Jonathan Swift.

Sean has sprouted into a truculent 17-year-old with scant respect for authority; not the local police nor his muscle-bound stepfather, Hank (Johnson).

Following a brush with the law, Sean hides in his room where he hopes to break a coded distress signal emanating from the South Pacific.

Navy vet Hank breaks the cipher, which confirms the existence of the mysterious island from Verne's 1874 book.

Unperturbed, Hank accompanies Sean to New Guinea, where they charter a helicopter belonging to wise-cracking pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his daughter, Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens).

The motley crew fly into the eye of a hurricane and are spewed on to sandy shores where Sean's gung-ho grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine) guides the newcomers through jungles teeming with danger.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island unfolds at a cracking pace, dispensing with characterisation to concentrate on adrenaline-pumping thrills.