Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The studios should be applauded when they take on a movie that involves an all new setting and topic, and encouraged to do so more often. We have plenty of stupid eye candy car chase movies and murder mystery flicks for those who enjoy that stuff. Rapa Nui goes somewhere else entirely. The road less travelled as it were.Set on Easter Island, isolated as it is literally thousands of nautical miles from its nearest neighbour, the movie fleshes out the most pivital time in that islands history, as we understand it from the archeological evidence available. The residents had every reason to believe they represented the only life in the universe. Those of the population with vision must have been appalled to watch their religeous zealots engineering the destruction of the only habitat in the world. The protagonist seems to be one of those who sees the folly and wants to prevent it. ** spoiler coming?**I am not the first to note that this film weakens its message by allowing, even fostering unintended humour at places where it is not appropriate. The head engineer of statue construction falling to the ground and flailing in a tantrum when the chief glibly states the statue, carved and transported with many months of tremendous labour is dismissed and ordered broken up as being "too small", and that chief, when he complains to his obviously self serving and manipulative with doctor/adviser,"I've been coughing up and vomiting blood lately. Do you think that means anything?" "No, replies the adviser, it's nothing". It seems as though the screenwriter thinks the viewer must have some levity to break up the serious subject matter. The humour takes away much more than it adds to the story however and hearing a couple of audience members guffawing from time to time when we should be sympathising with the frustration of the main character has the effect of pulling the rug out from under the mood. Even the 'last cutting' scene is overblown and rendered campy when this scene, of which perhaps the most empathy might have been drawn of any in the entire film, is played out almost as satire. **End of spoiler**So much for the 'It could have been better' part, the movie does deserve kudos for tackling new ground. The cinematography is beautiful, the love story plausable and the main characters earn our support. Bravo for being daring enough to make this flick. I just wish it had been distributed.

The only good thing about this film is the scenery. It's preposterously overblown, sincere and pompous, at least 90% of the cast can't act to a degree necessary for a motion picture, and the whole thing is so dull, noble and lifeless that it just sucks all energy and intelligence from you as you watch, leaving you admiring the nice pictures of forests and tropical lagoons. Even worse than 'Legends of the Fall'. 4/10 (and that's being generous)

I have never seen so much nudity or near-nudity in a film where it isn't sexualized. It's quite refreshing. We just get to enjoy seeing the beautiful (and also ordinary) bodies of the characters going about their business, like you might see in an old National Geographic magazine. Okay, there is one love scene, but it's tame by Hollywood standards and it happens early in the film. The violence is mild compared to a lot of PG movies. This could be a good movie for young people to watch with an adult, if only to see people treating each other normally when their skin is showing.The plot is a bit comic-bookish, but it makes for an easy-to-follow story and good entertainment. You even get to learn a little bit of true stuff about Easter Island.

Primitive societies often despoil their natural environments. They have no deeper respect for nature than more advanced civilizations. This film shows one classic historical example, the deforestation of Easter Island. Anthropology can cite many others. Pakeha or Polynesian, it's all the same. Communities with more rudimentary technology usually lack the means, not the motivation, to irreparably damage an ecology.There seems to be some controversy over the accents in this film. It happens that the ones I hear are predominantly Kiwi -- Maoris make up a large part of the cast -- plus American, and of course Canadian, from our putative star who unfortunately spends too much of her time sealed up in a cave.