The Blue Lagoon (Special Edition)
by Randal Kleiser
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins, Elva Josephson, Leo McKern, William DanielsDirector: Randal Kleiser
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: Néstor Almendros
Producer: Randal Kleiser
Editor: Robert Gordon
Producer: Richard Franklin
Writer: Douglas Day Stewart
Writer: Henry De Vere Stacpoole
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
Published: 1999-10-01
DVD Release Date: 1999-10-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Blue Lagoon (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Excellent Film!
Summary: 5 Stars
I only just saw this movie for the first time about 5 days ago. Before that, I hadn't even heard of it. My wife turned it on from the Comcast on-demand menu, in disbelief that I had never seen this movie.
I loved it so much that I have watched it every day since, and in fact today I even watched it twice.
***SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT AS I GO OVER THE STORY, SEE BOTTOM AFTER THE END SPOILERS MARK IF YOU WISH NOT TO SEE SPOILERS***
This movie chronicles the lives of Em and Richard, who in the beginning of the movie are on a ship en route from Boston to San Fransisco with Richard's father, who is also Em's uncle. The children are likely about 7 or 8 years old at this time. At some point after the ship comes around the southern tip of South America, a fire breaks out on board, and in the confusion the two end up in a lifeboat with the ship's cook, Paddy Button. They try to get as far away from the burning ship as possible because there is blasting powder on board, which they know will cause an explosion.
As the ship goes down, a fog rolls in, and the boat with Em, Richard, and Paddy are becomes separated from the other boats, including the one containing Richard's father, and they are carried away in the boat with the tides.
After a day or two stranded in the boat, they wake up in sight of a deserted island, and paddle to it. On the island, they find fresh flowing water, and a bounty of fruits. They have landed on a true paradise.
Over the course of the next year or so (it's not made clear exactly how long, could have been longer than a year, could have been less), Paddy teaches the kids all kinds of things about how to survive in their environment, how to catch and cook food, how to tie knots and use bamboo and other natural resources to build a safe shelter, teaches them that not everything is for eating (the "never wake up" berries), declares that the law is never to go to the other side of the island, where he stumbled across a sacrificial altar and knew it had been recently used, teaches them how to keep track of the days, how to build and maintain fire, and all other kinds of things that an experienced seaman such as himself could pass on to them.
Unfortunately, however, Paddy goes out into the water one night, drunk (they found a barrel of rum on the island first day they were there), and the children find him the next morning dead (they don't fully know the meaning of dead, however) on a nearby island. Em requests that she and Richard get away from the home they had with Paddy. It was just too hard for them to be there without him. So they pack up what little they had and get in the rowboat, and settle on a beach just around from that and still on the same island.
The years go by, and Em and Richard have grown to the beginning of their teenage years. In that time, that have built themselves a magnificent home and have utilized everything they ever learned from Paddy to live well. They are in excellent physical condition, yet their minds are still that of children in many ways, having nobody but themselves after the death of Paddy.
As they grow, they argue a lot. They face hardships that temporarily split them up, and another that brings them closer together than ever before. They develop a true, real, strong, natural love for each other, though they don't know what's going on with that, along with other things they are going through as they enter puberty, as they have never had these things explained to them before. As they fall deeper in love than ever before and begin to explore it as well as themselves, they discover sex, and use it as a pure expression of their love for each other, true and natural.
Em becomes pregnant but again doesn't have a clue what's going on with her, nor does Richard. At one point he questions her love for him because she's no longer interested in sharing their love physically, but she tells him that it just hurts right now, and doesn't know why. But she assures Richard that she does really love him, more than ever, and they can do it again when she feels better. Then she tells Richard to feel her tummy, and he feels the baby kicking, though neither one of them knows what's going on.
So the night comes that Em finally gives birth, and don't know why or how this baby came, but they instantly fall in love with it. They become excellent parents to young Paddy (named after their old mentor, of course), and stay on the island for about another two years with him, a very happy family, full of love at it's purest.
One day Em requests Richard to take her back to where they lived with Paddy. She wants to see it again. So they get in the boat and row around to the other beach. It is pretty run down, their old hut is in ruins, and Richard found a small raft he once made for Paddy as a present in the bushes, beaten and battered. While looking around, they don't notice little Paddy putting some of the "never wake up" berries into the boat. Richard continues to have a look around, but Em gets into the boat with little Paddy, and they drift out a little into the water.
Em appears to be nodding off when Paddy throws one of the oars overboard. She wakes up and tries to grab it but can't, and calls Richard for help. He comes running, then swimming, towards them but as he is about to reach the lost oar, a shark shows up. Em throws the other oar at the shark to get it away from Richard as he pulls himself into the boat. They try to paddle back to the oars with their hands but the currents are just too strong, and they are stranded in the boat yet again, this time with little Paddy.
After a day or two, they wake up to find Paddy eating the "never wake up" berries and become horrified to find that he's swallowed some of them. Their loves shows itself strong, and Richard divides the remaining berries and both him and Em eat some. They kiss each other and huddle up as a family on the bottom of the boat.
After a few hours or possibly a day, a boat shows up with Richard's father on board, who after all this time still believes them to be alive, still looking for them wherever they may be. When he finally finds them, he learns that they are not dead, but merely sleeping. Then roll end credits.
The ending, in which ever way it can possibly be interpreted, is, at least to me, so sad in every way. However, I like to think of them being too close to death to save them and that they did die shortly after. As sad as this ending also it, it is much happier to me than the alternative, that they are "rescued" by Richard's father and taken back to society, where there's no way they'll have a place to fit in, and never again see their one true home, their island. I just wanted them to be able to stay there happily forever on that island, undisturbed by anything or anyone else, and was so sad when they got lost at sea in that boat away from their island. The only downside in any possible outcome would have been, what would there have been for little Paddy when he got older? Nobody for him to fall in love with, etc. But still, the ending I envision, with them dying shortly after being found, while still so sad, is probably in the same time the happiest ending (unless they had lived in their paradise for an extra few years and enjoying it a bit more before dying).
***END SPOILERS AND STORY REVIEW***
So all in all, this is in one go the most beautiful, as well as a sad, story of two children who grow together and fall in love in paradise. Not that I dislike my current life, but if I were given a choice, perhaps in a next life, to choose my own destiny, it would be the one the main characters in this movie had, without a doubt. To grow up away from society and all of it's negativism, to live a life so pure and beautiful and undisturbed by anything or anyone, with the greatest, strongest, most natural, purest love that can be found anywhere in an absolute paradise setting. Ah, to dream!
Also, don't let the nudity discourage you. This is a fantastic movie. Only the prudes really look down on the nudity in this movie. From beginning to end, many emotions go through you along with the characters, excellently complimented by a gorgeous soundtrack. I highly recommend "The Blue Lagoon" to everyone, especially to those who like to dream. WARNING, however, it can be depressing to watch too, just because you wish so much that it could have been your life.
One more thing, to those who say the acting is bad, I think it's fine. Keep in mind that they are supposed to be playing young teens with the minds of 8 year old children, because that's about how old they were when they first landed on that island. So they still played and talked a lot like children, while also eventually growing up and maturing in their own way. I think it was excellent. This is by far my new favorite movie. A thousand and one stars, if I could give it so many! Enjoy!
Summary of The Blue Lagoon (Special Edition)
The lush beauty and splendor of a South Pacific paradise is vividly captured in this version of Henry DeVere Stacpoole's 1903 novel. Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon, however, the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline (Brooke Shields) and Richard (Christopher Atkins) make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. They learn to cope with the bewildering variety of physical changes that come with adolescence. And as they begin to mature, their childhood affections lead to a sensitive and more profound love and the birth of a child. But will they ever see civilization again?The cinematography by Néstor Almendros garnered him an Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, the performance by then child star Brooke Shields garnered her a nomination, too--for a Razzie Award. She won, he didn't.
This 1980 remake of a much classier, 1949 British version features Shields and Christopher Atkins as children shipwrecked on a lush tropical island. They grow to maturity and fall in love, with the script paying special attention to their burgeoning sexuality. Should you desire more trite dialogue, there is an even less satisfying sequel, 1991's Return to the Blue Lagoon. --Rochelle O'Gorman
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