The Pearl

Compare to the all big blockbuster movies, this movie has inner beauty about it. It's pleasant to watch and heart warming. The emotions of the story portrayed very well. It's a really good movie in my opinion.

The movie was interesting as far as the story goes. Unfortunately, the acting and some of the plot devices which attempted to pull the movie together and to give the viewer some relationship with the characters were so pathetic and contrived that it literally made me laugh. This is the type of movie which would have made a great episode of Mystery Science 2000. Some of the action scenes were embarrassing, the idea that a man and his wife with a newborn child could go trudging through the desert with no provisions. Please, if you watch this, enjoy it as a comedy. Otherwise, you will have to turn it off about 20 or 30 minutes in. I am sure that no one will ever read this review because this movie is so poor I doubt anyone would waste their time like I have.

The Pearl, released in 2001, and probably the worst movie of that year. I watched this movie out of curiosity since I had just finished the book, and that was where my dislike began. Where the writers and director changed the story, which they did very frugally. With that aside, I will concentrate on the movie and how it was made.

The actors of any movie are a good place to start, so that is what I will do. Lukas Haas was cast as the lead, Kino, who is described in the book as a large and strong man who has physically worked for everything in his life; I would be surprised if Lukas Haas weighs more than 150 pounds. Physicality can be overcome if the actor believes in his part and is committed, however this is not the case as Lukas Haas would just stand there watching the other actors go, even though they were not even half-decent, trying desperately to remember his lines. Richard Harris, playing the villain of the movie (not of the book), was a slight saving grace, and was able to do the best with the lines he was given. Nevertheless, I still do not understand why this two-time Oscar nominee chose to do this movie.

Even without the actors help, the director can still make a movie a success. Once again, though, this was not the case. Each scene of the movie was extremely poorly crafted, and even laughable to watch. With random characters thrown in to state obvious facts, my favorite being the man with the beard proudly announcing that "they have not yet said a price" during the appraisal scene. The director also had a poor eye for detail with little mistakes throughout, such as Kino's black spandex that he was wearing underneath his loin cloth, which can be scene plainly during the diving scene. And of course the director couldn't resist throwing in a love scene that lies nowhere in the book.

The Pearl was an overall terrible movie, and I found myself laughing aloud at the poor filmmaking and acting. In my immediate memory, I cannot think of a movie which was worse than this. The Pearl has obviously received zero award success.

I give The Pearl a very worthy 2.1/10.

I love this honest story about the battle over good and evil. What a great movie for your family.

I think Richard Harris always adds a little something special.

I love Jorge Rivera. He is so cool. I am always happy to see him in a movie.

Actually filming this movie in Mexico is good because it really sets a proper tone for the story. The underwater photography was great.

This film is great to teach people to always follow their heart and to do the right thing.If you read the book you will appreciate the movie.

I understand what the filmmaker is saying by keeping the film mellow and romantic. It is all about family,love and the pursuit of everything that is good.

I recently saw this movie in my English class after my reading of the pearl. The novella the Pearl was the influence of this movie. However the movie lacked many of the important symbols and events from the book. Juana's shall was one important symbol in the book. The movie never portrayed this. Also in the movie the doctor was made a major character. In the original story, the doctor was a much smaller character. Hardly any of Stienbeck's imagery was showed either. This destroyed the entire point of the movie and the plot was not preserved. It was a horrible attempt at a recreation of the pearl. I'm sure that if John Steinbeck were alive to see this horrible movie today, He would be ashamed that his work inspired this terrible movie. I do not recommend this movie for any one, especially those who read the book. If you have read this book and seen this movie you probably know the horrible job it did making the book come alive. If you need to read the book for any kind of class this isn't the movie to take the easy way out with. This movie gives the book a bad name.