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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Return to Paradise in Books

Jan 6, 2021  
Return to Paradise
Return to Paradise
Simone Elkeles | 2010 | Romance, Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Meh...I guess I was expecting more romance and a grovelling Caleb after the way he left her in the last one and we didn't really get that. No it was all arguments and then apologies and then more arguments.

If I'm honest I was going to give it two stars up until the epilogue, and then one bit bumped it up half a star or so because Caleb from [b:Leaving Paradise|17558140|Leaving Paradise (Leaving Paradise, #1)|Simone Elkeles|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363610968s/17558140.jpg|531712] appeared and made good on something he said in the first.

As for some of the other characters. They really grew on me, Lenny definitely had by the end after some of the stupid things he'd said and done in the first part of the book. Julio wasn't such a bad guy. Kendra...huh. <spoiler>Leah did the right thing. Lou and Maggie's mum getting together was nice.</spoiler>

I wasn't all together impressed with this but there were some quite sweet bits and some rather hot bits that made it worthwhile if you want to read how Maggie and Caleb's story ends.
  
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Fantasy Island (2020) in Movies

May 5, 2020  
Fantasy Island (2020)
Fantasy Island (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
3
5.7 (19 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Michael Peña and Maggie Q in a film... I'm in. This was high up my watchlist even though Blumhouse and I don't always see eye to eye.

A group of strangers arrive on an island, this experience will give them their deepest desires. Wish for it and you can live it, all you have to do is see it through to the end on Fantasy Island.

Evidently, Nic Cage turned down the role of Mr Roarke... I didn't know that he turned down any roles so that (if true) should have been a massive warning sign.

I do have to wonder how some of these stories come about. This is based on the 70's TV show of the same name which was entirely not scary as far as I know. Is there a giant bingo cage full of ping pong balls inscribed with names of old shows and films? Do they just let studios try their luck to spin whatever they get to their niche?

Twisting this tale is a pretty good idea, though I'm not really sure why an island would want to do that to people, but what do I know about malevolent black goop spirits? I was generally on board with the storyline and I thought it wove them together quite well but that ending... are you kidding me? There was some speculation thrown out about what was going on and that thread was believable. The one they gave us was laughable, the absolute worst choice. Had they done a small reshuffle they could have given a much less ridiculous conclusion.

There are a lot of different threads and each one has its moments, as daft as they might be they come together quite well even when the filler is poor.

Maggie Q's performance as Gwen felt like the most believable out of the whole ensemble, but that's not really a surprise from her. Gwen is basically the only decent person in the group and throughout her stay she is the one that's grounded and tries to deal with her situation. That should give us something good to work off... but she's kind of bland on screen compared to everything else.

Michael Peña is always a pull to a movie for me, but Roarke's story wasn't all the effective. Had he been a construct of the island then there might have been something in it, but as it was you didn't get any real struggle with his actions, I couldn't see how a character that wasn't portrayed as actively evil could go along with any of it even given his background.

While the rest of the cast is filled with faces you'd know there isn't really a great performance to be seen. From unlikeable characters to a script that's not amusing when it tries to be, what's left of the film is plain in a glossy kind of way, and by that I mean it's got the makings of something good but misses anything that could have made an impact. The effects are fine for the most part and the sets are fine when you take into consideration they're supposed to be a fantasy and don't need to fit together perfectly. The exception is Roarke's door that Maggie Q interacts with, I liked that move and I don't know whether the rest of the film might have benefitted from something similar.

Bits of the film are quite good and could have made for an exciting watch, but that ending was so frustrating that any enjoyment went straight out the window and any thrill from what I'd already seen was gone. Also, considering it is classified as horror there wasn't really enough, or anything of quality, too make that a reality. Untapped potential in abundance here.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/05/fantasy-island-movie-review.html