Milla Jovovich In Return To The Blue Lagoon.

I remember seeing the ad in the newspaper many many many many years ago and thinking I should check this film out since I love the first Blue Lagoon. It just goes to show you how much of a man of action I am 'cause here I am just seeing it for the first time tonight on some ratty old VHS tape I rented where the sound was so horrible I could barely hear it half the time.

Oh well, I got through the film with bad sound and all and it wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be. Of course Blue Lagoon being the classic old film that it was, made it so much more difficult to like the new characters from the onset. No, it wasn't until civilization (or what our main characters deemed it to be) returns to the Blue Lagoon that I really started to care about these lost children.

The film starts out with the ending of the original, only our loving couple is pronounced dead and they are buried at sea. Their son however survives only to be stranded yet again at the Blue Lagoon, this time with gorgeous babe Milla Jovovich (well, she turns into one many years later I suppose).

The story is an almost exact clone of the original film for basically the next hour. The two children grow up, check out the bad side of the island, their guardian dies, and they eventually figure out sex and marry themselves. Ho hum, nothing new here. Yeah, Milla Jovovich is a hottie and is just fine but Brian Krause who plays the Richard (the male lead) is so forgettable I'm surprised I even mentioned him here. Who would of thought I'd be longing for Christopher Atkins. Then the saving of the film commences...

A ship pulls in and with it a bunch of dirty old sailors and a beautiful woman. The beautiful woman instantly craves Richard and tries every move possible to fool around with him while poor Lilli (Jovovich) watches and experiences jealousy for the first time ever. Meanwhile, did I mention dirty old sailors? It figures that at least one of these leering old men would try something on little innocent Lilli. Well, try one of them does and poor Lilli is about to get raped when out comes Richard to the rescue... only the sailor has a gun, Richard and Lilli have no idea what that is... finally running into civilization again isn't what Richard and Lilli thought it would be. Evil and corruption has already shown it's ugly face and they haven't even left the island yet!

Just like the first film we wonder just how in the heck will these poor children in adult bodies survive in the real world. While the story may have been a poor rehash for over half of the film, once the loving couple receive their visitors it's all new ground and actually becomes quite interesting and enjoyable.

Milla is a good replacement for the Brooke Shields-ish character. She has those amazing looks (this film is pre-her Hollywood freak look days), and can act at least as well as Brooke could at that age.

Brian Krause is just an average forgettable male lead. He tries, oh so hard, to be funny like ahem, Chris Atkins was in the original film, only to fail miserably. The problem was the cuteness factor was all used up in the first Blue Lagoon. The filmmakers just couldn't figure out a way to squeeze anymore cuteness or silly childish jokes out of this subject matter that hadn't already been done. That is why this movie fails, at least until they start to break new ground with the sailor's visit ashore.

Return to the Blue Lagoon was a fun film to watch after an hour or so had past but getting through that first hour was quite trying. It must be tough to follow up a classic like the original.