Les Naufragés du lagon bleu

Okay, I am a little bit embarrassed to be reviewing this film, but I read some other reviews, and I wanted to point out some elements I noticed.

I caught this movie by accident one morning when I happened to have a day off. I was just flipping channels when it came on. When I saw what it was, I decided to leave it on while I did other things.

What surprised me about the film was the arc for Indiana Evans' character, Emma. While much of the movie was silly, the dialog between the two leads seemed honest in the context of the story and the characters. They actually talked to and got to know one another. Also, unusual for a Lifetime movie, Emma actually takes joy and pleasure in her own sexuality. That the character (not the actor) is a teenager makes for a slightly subversive moment in an otherwise formulaic film.

Emma is also the one who misunderstands Dean when they return home, which is nice, as often men are portrayed as misinterpreting signals, and instead Emma misunderstands Dean. Emma and her sister also have a great moment that passes the Bechtel test, in that they do not talk about the men in their lives, but each other.

The movie has problems, but the acting is not one of them. I think the two leads are quite good with the material, and they make their characters work despite some obvious holes in the plot. The movie's island scenes were also beautifully filmed. The eponymous lagoon is particularly lovely.

Not a spectacular film, but it had a few surprises.

I actually really enjoyed this movie and have watched it again several times.

Although it's quite predictable, it's quite a different take on the "stranded on a tropical island" romantic angle. There were quite a few dramatic moments and the lead actors really stepped up. They showed personal strength and courage which is a credit to the writers and it really helped us, as an audience, start to root for the characters.

The movie also benefited from a strong supporting cast as well which really lifted the caliber of this TV movie.

Would definitely recommend to any romance/drama/adventure movie buffs.

Emma Robinson (Indiana Evans) is a popular sweet girl. Her partying friend Lizzie tries to push her to date the hot quarterback. Dean McMullen (Brenton Thwaites) is the angry school outcast. The class goes to Trinidad to do humanitarian work or more like a privileged Caribbean vacation. They go on a party yacht. The police breaks up the party. Emma falls off the boat. Dean jumps in after her. Dean cuts the line not wanting to get in trouble with the cops. They are lost in the ocean and lands on a desolate island.

Dean is a real jerk and a true idiot. He is a horrible character. He could be an interesting quiet introspective outcast. Instead, he is really annoying and fully deserves his outcast position. It doesn't help that he's the reason that they're stranded. He caused the whole thing. The movie needs him to save her to start their adventure. On the positive side, it's two beautiful people on a desert island. The time back home is actually more interesting and a bit more compelling. The last act has some good melodrama. Neither of the actors are terribly good although I can't blame anything on their performance. They did what the movie needs but nothing more.

How can this movie have only 0.3 less than the original Blue Lagoon!? Blue Lagoon (The Original) is criminally underrated. If anybody is seeing this I would hope they would give the Original a fair rating as this Film, which is basically Garbage, has a 5.5 and the Original Blue Lagoon currently has a 5.8. This movie is at least a 4 when compared to the Original which deserves at least a 6.5 minimum. The Acting and script in the Original is incredible.

I like castaway stories. I like BL: TA, although it is not as good as The Blue Lagoon (1980), and definitely not a masterpiece like Cast Away (2000, with Tom Hanks). In my view, the BL: TA has the following shortcomings: 1) The scenes with the parents searching their kids are too long. 2) What do they eat in the island? We see a bit but not enough. 3) The castaways should have lost weight, burned by the sun, get long hair / beards, etc. – as in Cast Away (2000). Or we should see a scene in which the castaways find one or more boxes with useful artifacts like matches, scissors, cutlery, solar cream etc. (in the 1980 version they get stranded with various things – no solar cream of course, since that story is placed around 1900). 4) The film should have some nude scenes as in the 1980 version. 5) They become castaways in a very unrealistic way. There is no island like this near Trinidad, and if there were one, castaways would probably be rescued within a few days (Moreover, such a small island cannot have a black panther or a waterfall). If someone had asked me to rewrite the script, I would have advised to start the film at an airport, where the two star-actors enter a plane as passengers. They don't know each other but the girl notices the boy as a "snob". The plane crashes in the Pacific (as in Cast Away). On their island, the teenagers tell each other about themselves and their relatives, with scenes as in the film, but shown in retrospect. The castaways find out that they are very different, so that they do not fall in love at once. Nonetheless, BL: TA has various enjoyable scenes. I like to see how the teenagers slowly fall in love during their exile. The scenes after homecoming are interesting as well. In Cast Away those scenes are very different – in that film the main personality cannot re-discover his destiny – but I like the scenes in BL: TA as well. The girl seems to be no longer in love with the boy – quite understandable.