Hank (Dwayne Johnson) and Sean (Josh Hutcherson) crash-lands on the 'mysterious island'

MANILA, Philippines – Wrestling superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has made a successful transition as a movie star who has proven he can easily throw punches, as well as jokes, with his fellow actors. As a co-producer for the upcoming family adventure movie “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” he steps up his participation in the creative process with the goal of maximizing the movie’s 3D aspect.

He shares, “I was with our producer, and I said, ‘What if I did something and made my pecs pop in 3D?’”

The producer, who was on the plane with him, had actually been eating nuts during their discussion. “And he goes, ‘I got it. Throw the nuts, boom, right off into the audience,’” Johnson recalls him saying. This sequence would henceforth be known as “The Pec Pop of Love,” and would be now-familiar the comedic moment in the movie trailer.

Shot in Oahu in Hawaii, “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” provided another opportunity for Johnson to go back to the land where he grew up. “I definitely campaigned for it,” he says of shooting there. “There’s just a texture where we shot in the rainforest and in those mountains where ‘Jurassic Park’ was shot that you really can’t simulate on a sound stage.”

More than the vastness and the beauty of the surroundings, Johnson shares, “Personally, for me, it was great to come back in this capacity.  I was a kid here, 14 years old, getting into trouble, getting arrested.  And then finally to be able to come back and bring a movie here to the locals and the local businesses is very special to me.”

This echoes a theme in the movie, wherein Johnson’s character, Hank, reaches out to Josh Hutcherson’s character, Sean, his stepson that gets in trouble with the police for breaking into a satellite research center. Sean’s fixation with Jules Verne’s novels is fueled by his own grandfather’s exploits, and when he gets a secret coded message from the old man, the adventure truly begins.

Onscreen, Johnson gets plenty of jabs—and dishes some of his own—from co-star Michael Caine [who plays the unnamed grandfather]. “I had a blast with Sir Michael,” Johnson declares. “He’s a guys’ guy, and, obviously, an icon in our business.  [He] tells an incredible dirty joke, and I loved working with him.”

But the fun doesn’t end there for Johnson. Surprisingly, he also busts out not his signature wrestling move but a song—on a ukulele even! “I love music.  I grew up in a musical family…  In the Polynesian culture, people love to play ukulele.  They love to sing.  They love to dance Polynesian dances.  And that was a big part of our growing up.”

Johnson chose to sing his version of “What a Wonderful World,” inspired by a cover done by the late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, also known as Big IZ. In the scene, Johnson also gets to free-styles lyrics about riding on giant bees and Sean’s grandfather looking “older than Yoda.”

Giant bees and tiny elephants may be the stuff of pure fantasy but Johnson, who has kids of his own, believes in nurturing kids’ imagination and sense of adventure as something that’s “crucial in their growth.”

To this end, he notes, “The awesome part about my job is that I’m able to make a movie like this where we can explore Jules Verne’s novels—whether it’s Captain Nemo’s submarine or the mountain of gold or whatever it is; the giant bees and things like that. There’s enough of me being intense and hunting bad men down and doing bad things to them—and I love doing that.  But there’s also space for this.”

Admitting to, but not elaborating on, having his share of hard times, Johnson is thankful for how his life has turned around.  “Every day, in some form or fashion, I have a moment of gratitude.  And I’m lucky. I believe in hard work, and I believe hard works pays. There's great value in that but also a little bit of luck, too.”

His own real life adventure has come full circle in many ways. In fact, in doing this movie, Johnson was able to visit his old high school and speak to the principal, who assured him the kids there are doing well. And despite his visit being unannounced, work spread quickly and a lot of the students gathered to see him.

“I told everybody to keep up the great work and keep chasing their greatness and I was very proud of them,” he recalls.

Chasing greatness—another theme explored in “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” which opens locally in 3D IMAX, 3D and 2D theaters on Feb. 2.