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Return to the Blue Lagoon

July 14th, 2008

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Return to the Blue Lagoon

DVD cover for Return to the Blue Lagoon

Directed by
William A. Graham

Produced by
Randal Kleiser (executive)
William A. Graham

Written by
Leslie Stevens (screenplay)
Based on the novel The Garden of God by Henry De Vere Stacpoole

Starring
Milla Jovovich
Brian Krause
Lisa Pelikan
Nana Coburn
Brian Blain

Music by
Basil Poledouris

Cinematography
Robert Steadman

Editing by
Ronald J. Fagan

Distributed by
Columbia Pictures

Release date(s)
August 2, 1991

Running time
101 min.

Country
United States

Language
English

Budget
$11,000,000 (estimated)

Gross revenue
$2,808,000 (USA)

Preceded by
The Blue Lagoon

Allmovie profile

IMDb profile

Return to the Blue Lagoon is a 1991 English language romance and adventure film starring Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause, produced and directed by William A. Graham. The screenplay by Leslie Stevens was based on the novel The Garden of God by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris. The film’s closing theme song “A World of Our Own” is performed by Surface featuring Bernard Jackson. The music was written by Barry Mann, and the lyrics were written by Cynthia Weil. The film was marketed with the tagline “Return to the Romance, Return to the Adventure…“

The film tells the story of two young children marooned on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. Their life together is blissful, but not without physical and emotional changes, as they grow to maturity and fall in love. The film has major thematic similarities to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve.

Contents

1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Background and production
4 Nominations
5 DVD details
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

Plot summary

In the Victorian period, Mrs. Sarah Hargrave, a beautiful widow, and two young children are cast off from the ship they are travelling on. After days afloat, a sailor who has been sent with them tries to kill the children. But Sarah kills him, using an oar, and dumps his body overboard, as she feels suitable to preserve the children. The mother and children later arrive at and are stranded on a beautiful tropical island in the South Pacific. Sarah tries to raise them to be civilized, but soon gives up, as the orphaned boy Richard was born and raised by young lovers on this same island, and he influences the widow’s daughter Lilli. They grow up, and Sarah educates them from the Bible, as well as from her own knowledge, including the facts of life. She cautiously demands the children never to go to the forbidden side of the island.

When Richard and Lilli are about eight, she dies from pneumonia, leaving them to finish raising themselves. Sarah is buried on a scenic promontory overlooking the tidal reef area. Together, they survive solely on their resourcefulness, and the bounty of their remote paradise. Years later, both Richard Lestrange and Lilli Hargrave grow into tall, strong, and beautiful young adults. They live in a house on the beach and spend their days together fishing, swimming, and exploring the island. Both their bodies mature and develop, and they are physically attracted to each other. Richard loses the child’s game Easter egg hunt and dives to find Lilli an adult’s pearl as her reward. His penchant for racing a lagoon shark sparks a quarrel; Lilli thinks he is foolhardy, but the liveliness makes Richard feel virile.

Lilli awakens in the morning with her first menstrual period, just as Sarah described the threshold of womanhood. Richard awakens in the morning with an erection. One night, he goes off to the forbidden side of the island, and discovers its origins there. A group of natives from another island use the shrine of an impressive, Kon-Tiki-like idol to sacrifice conquered enemies every full moon. Richard camouflages himself with mud and hides in the muck. Meanwhile, Lilli worries about his disappearance. Richard escapes unscathed, though not unseen, by a lone native who may think he is a god. Ultimately, after making up after a fight, Richard and Lilli discover natural love and passion, which deepens their bond. They fall in love, and exchange formal wedding vows and rings in the middle of the jungle. From then on, they consummate their newfound feelings for each other quite often for several months.

Soon after, a ship arrives at the island, carrying unruly sailors, a stuffy captain, and his beautiful daughter Sylvia Hilliard. They offer to bring them back to civilization, after many years in isolation. Sylvia tries to steal Richard from Lilli and seduce him, but as tempted as he is by her strange ways, he realizes that Lilli is his heart and soul, upsetting Sylvia. Richard leaves Sylvia behind in the middle of the fish pond, in plain view of the landing party, allowing her to get caught. Meanwhile, a sailor ogles Lilli in her bath, drags her back to the house, and tries to rape her and steal her pearl, before Richard comes to her rescue.

Richard is forced to lure the sailor to his death from a shark in the tidal reef area, or be killed by him. He apologizes to Lilli for hurting her, and she reveals that she is pregnant. They decide to stay and raise their child on the island, as they feel their blissful life would not compare to civilization. But things come to no good for Sylvia; she is being taken back to the ship, captured and arrested for sexual impropriety. The ship departs and the two young lovers prefer to stay on the island, and have their baby girl they named Sarah.

Cast

Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause starring in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991).

Actor
Role

Milla Jovovich
Lilli Hargrave

Brian Krause
Richard Lestrange

Lisa Pelikan
Mrs. Sarah Hargrave

Courtney Barilla
Young Lilli

Garette Ratliff Henson
Young Richard

Emma James
Infant Lilli

Jackson Barton
Infant Richard

Nana Coburn
Sylvia Hilliard

Brian Blain
Captain Jacob Hilliard

Peter Hehir
Quinlan

Alexander Peterson
Giddens

John Mann
First Captain

Wayne Pygram
Kearney

John Dicks
Penfield

Gus Mercurio
First Mate

John Turnbill
Dawes

Todd Rippon
Gullion

John Keightley
Lestrange

Pita Degei
Chief

Mikaele Nasau
Lone Cannibal

Annabel E. Graham
Infant Sarah

Background and production

The film was shot on location in Australia and Taveuni, Fiji and is a sequel to the 1980 remake The Blue Lagoon, starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. Return to the Blue Lagoon bears a strong similarity to the original film, which was produced and directed by Randal Kleiser, but picks up from where the original film left off. It is almost nothing like The Garden of God, Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s sequel to his novel The Blue Lagoon. However, in the second sequel novel, The Gates of Morning, a pair of sailors attack the people of a nearby island because they know its waters are rich with pearls, and it is possible the filmmakers used this. Richard is the child of Richard and Emmeline Lestrange of the original film, who both are revealed to be dead at the beginning and are buried at sea. The new shipwreck occurred mere days after they were found where the crew is struck with cholera.

Although many of the film’s elements were derived from the 1980 Blue Lagoon film, and there was some nudity, the film was much more sanitized in content than its predecessor, and was able to garner a PG-13 rating in the United States. Despite the adult content of this film, including partial nudity (controversially, from a fifteen-year-old Milla Jovovich) and sexual themes, when Return to the Blue Lagoon was released to home video, it was promoted in North America as a family film suitable for all ages. The DVD version of this film is reframed to cut out Milla Jovovich’s breasts in the scene where she’s looking at herself in the mirror. The older VHS version showed her nipples at the very bottom of the screen.

Nominations

1991 Golden Raspberry Awards

Nominee: Worst Director - William A. Graham
Nominee: Worst New Star - Milla Jovovich
Nominee: Worst New Star - Brian Krause
Nominee: Worst Picture - William A. Graham
Nominee: Worst Screenplay - Leslie Stevens

Young Artist Awards

Nominee: Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture - Milla Jovovich

DVD details

Release date: November 5, 2002
Digitally mastered audio and video
Region 1
Full screen presentation
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Available audio tracks: English, Portuguese
Available subtitles:

English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese

Theatrical trailers:

Return to the Blue Lagoon, Mr. Deeds

Running time: 101 minutes

References

^ Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991)
^ Return to the Blue Lagoon (DVD) Released 11/5/02
^ Return to the Blue Lagoon (VHS) Released 12/7/92
^ 1990-1991 Young Artist Awards

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