It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A Brilliant Conflict

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

In the second film though the main theme remains the same, there is more beauty to discover. Few movies are as relaxing as this one. The music of Basil Poledouris adds to the effect - it is one of the best ever written for the cinema. There are some clichés here and there but cannot mar the result. I honestly believe there must be something wrong with anyone that is not touched by the beauty in these movies.

Return of blue lagoon tries to act like a sequel, but is nothing more then an ill attempt at a remake with a misleading title.Richard and Em are finally found by his uncle but not in time to save them from heat stroke? Hunger? Thirst? A reason isn't given and pushes aside the fact they were mentioned only to be asleep at the end of the first film.Soon after the ship is hit with a plague that forces a caretaker to leave with Party (Richard renamed) and Lily to end up back to where we started.Now grown the kids lose their caretaker, learn to survive and discover sexuality.What makes this sequel finally different from the original is when the teenagers actually find their way back to what seems a civilized world yet first impressions can be deceiving.They are nothing but pirates who want to ransack the ship and take advance of our favorite couple.It raises questions on who is more civilized? Who has the better life and where would you rather hold up knowing what's out there?Brian Krause and Mila Joviche are no comparison to the original caste. Its not their faults it was just the lacking script.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* Call it morbid curiosity but I couldn't resist watching this sequel/remake/cash-in.The Bad 1. The Plot; (see the Good) A basic rehash of the BL as our Paddy gets rescued from the small craft the original BL couple Richard Snr and Emmeline were cast adrift in. Renamed Richard, his rescuing ship is now rife with cholera and his adoptive mother and her daughter, Lilli, find their way back to the original island. Plot devices repeated from the first film as his new guardian teaches the young children the facts of life and conveniently expires so that the young couple can go through adolescence, the discovery of love, sex etc etc much like the BL, except this time they are more knowing than the original couple. The wide-eyed innocence and charm of the first film is completely lost so the coming of age story had NO resonance. There were no important themes about life and death, parenthood, and familial love. Even the same scenes are repeated; the water-slide; swimming blissfully in the sea, love beneath a waterfall. I can't even comment on how Richard Jnr can outswim a shark (!) and his father couldn't but I'll let that one slide...2. Acting; Of all the criticisms against the BL about the poor acting from Shields and Atkins, this one is not any better. At least the first couple from the original movie had the excuse of having the mentality of eight year olds and their sparse, childish banter reflected this. This couple (Krause and Jovovich) say cringe-worthy pretentious things like "There's a baby growing inside of me... a woman knows these kinds of things".3. The Characterization; I never understood the motivations of these two except that they liked frolicking in the surf. At least in the first film one had the contrast between Richard Snr wanting to go back to civilisation and Emmeline who didn't, and the break-up in their friendship following Emmeline's failure to light the signal fire. The pivotal emotional point in the BL was when Richard Snr realised he had everything he wanted on the island and didn't hail down his father's ship when it did arrive.4. The Romance; Nope. Didn't feel it or root for the couple, especially when Richard Jnr starts making eyes at the new girl, pushing poor Lilli so far as to daub herself with clownish make-up and put some clothes on (!). In the first movie, Richard Snr rejected civilisation for his life with his new-found family.5. Cinematography; Bland. The first BL was much better and the underwater scenes felt magical.6. Music; Didn't really lift the scenes and barely noticeable except in the action sequences.The Good 1. The Plot; The last 25 minutes were interesting. A "What If" if "civilized" people came ashore. Well, they're not much better, being conniving strumpets, thieves and potential rapists. It also worked better as an action-adventure film than the first film.2. Social commentary for young ladies; make-up is bad, clothes are BAD, anorexia is even WORSE. Seriously, though, I felt sorry for Lilli when she tried to copy her rival for Richard Jnr's affections, going so far to put on make-up and clothes and refusing to eat. I didn't see the anorexia part coming...Overall, this film is barely adequate if you've never seen the first one. And if you liked the BL, you won't like its sequel. For those of you who enjoyed "Return to the BL", I urge you to check out the far superior original.

It goes without saying that the plot device used to get Lilli and Richard to the Island is both preposterous and highly unbelievable. But what transpires once everything is in place makes this flaw forgivable. While Brooke Shields portrayed her character "Emmeline" as truly naive and innocent, Mila Jovovich amps up the sexuality of her character "lilli," playing her coy, teasing, and as someone who is aware of her own seductive qualities. Chris Atkins likewise played on 'Richard's' innocent, almost infantile qualities, which gave the original film a more innocent and sweet feeling. Brian Krause seemed slightly arrogant in comparison. It seems like the world was a bit more naive in 1980 than it was in 1991, i suppose.. Anyway the island is as lush as ever, and Jovovich and Krause rival Shields and Atkins in their physical beauty, so in this sense, "return..." is a highly enjoyable film, especially to someone who is not familiar with the original. But in this sequel, civilization is put "on trial" when a group of civilized travelers invade Lilli and Richard's private paradise. In the end, these two innocents come across as more civil than the visitors, who treat their hosts like pieces of meat, to be ogled, toyed with, even raped and killed! This gorgeous film echoes the same message as the notorious film "Cannibal Holocaust," in raising the question, "Who are the real savages?' Of course this one is much easier on the eye, and the stomach than that notorious cannibal film. "Return to the Blue Lagoon" is pure escapist cinema, that is in some ways, more sexually aggressive and graphic than the original, and does contain a bit more violence as well. For fans of Mila, this is an absolute must-see, as she is absolutely stunning in this, and is not as shy with nudity as Brooke Shields, who insisted on a body double. Sadly the DVD in North America is the horrible "pan & scan" format, which chops out some beautiful scenery, but for fans of this, the Euro DVD is in widescreen format. Not a great film, but certainly a pretty one.