Milla Jovovich's First Major Role Was In A Sequel To This Controversial '80s Movie
by Witney Seibold · /FilmRandal Kleiser's 1980 film "The Blue Lagoon," based on the 1908 novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, follows the adventures of the nine-year-old Richard and the seven-year-old Emmaline after they are shipwrecked on a remote tropical island sometime in the Victorian era. They are given some rudimentary survival instructions by a sickly galley worker before he dies, and the two children spend many years on the island, making a home, growing up, forming a rudimentary religion, and, most notoriously, facing puberty together. Years pass, the two characters figure out their sexuality, and have a child before being rescued. For the bulk of the film, Richard is played by an 18-year-old Christopher Atkins, and Emmaline by a 14-year-old Brooke Shields.
"The Blue Lagoon" was openly loathed upon its release. Ginger Varney's review in the L.A. Weekly objected to the film's weirdly regressive attitudes about sex and shame, and Gary Arnold's Washington Post write-up argued that the film was too picturesque and bland to truly explore its own themes. "As the amorous teenagers [Atkins and Shields] evoke modeling sessions and beach-party movies," he wrote. "It's as if Gidget and Moondoggie had been teleported from Malibu to the South Seas." Brooke Shields won a Razzie for Worst Actress, although cinematographer Néstor Almendros was nominated for an Oscar.
But "The Blue Lagoon" was a huge hit, making $58.8 million on its $4.5 million budget. The film was just titillating enough to entice audiences. Not being able to leave well enough alone, a sequel was put into production over a decade later. "Return to the Blue Lagoon" (1991) followed a new pair of adolescents as they grew up on the same damn tropical island. Milla Jovovich starred as Lilli.
"Return" was even less well-received, and bombed horribly at the box office.
Everyone agrees: Return to the Blue Lagoon sucks
"Return to the Blue Lagoon," directed by William A. Graham, picks up in 1897, right where the first film ended. The first film's climactic rescue is retconned, however, as the Shields and Atkins characters are dead, and their two-year-old son, Richard, Jr., is the only survivor. There is a lot more plot this time around. Richard is taken on board a ship, but the ship is infected with cholera. Richard is taken with a girl named Lilli onto an escape boat where his adopted mother, Sarah (Lisa Pelikan), beats a drunken shipmate to death. Richard and Lilli return to the same island where Richard was born, Sarah dies, and the narrative from the first film repeats itself. This time, however, there is a lot more interaction with the natives of the island (!), and with a randy sailor (Peter Hehir) who attempts to assault Lilli.
Teenage Lilli is played, as mentioned by Milla Jovovich, and Richard, Jr. is played by Brian Krause. They survive, fall in love, have a wedding, and discover coitus. The "Blue Lagoon" movies might present themselves as essays on sexual shame, and how it doesn't exist if not given to teens by shameful adults, but they instead read as base, prurient fantasies for unsavory audiences.
"Return to the Blue Lagoon" has achieved that rarest of achievements: a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Miranda Sawyer, writing for Empire Magazine, wrote that "Krause's enthusiasm and Jovovich's pouting irritate after five minutes, so you're left with the sun, sea, and sand; very nice, but highly annoying if you're stuck in Dear Old Blighty. One for pervs and frustrated holiday-makers only."
Return to the Blue Lagoon tanked
Kevin Thomas, writing for the Los Angeles Times, also hated the film, but he paused to note that the young leads were at least possessed of a vital, movie star, "It" quality. He said "they should survive this shipwreck." He was right. Krause enjoyed a very prolific film and TV career, most notably appearing on 145 episodes of "Charmed."
Milla Jovovich, of course, went on to star in films like "Chaplin," "Dazed and Confused," and exploded in fame in 1997 with her performance in "The Fifth Element." She married the director. After that, she was a legit movie star. Jovovich starred, and did a lot of her own stunts, in most of the extant "Resident Evil" movies. She married the director of those, too. She was also a professional model for many years, and put out a pop record in 1994. I only bring that up so I can share the very strange music video for her song "Gentleman Who Fell."
"Return to the Blue Lagoon," meanwhile, would likely be entirely forgotten if its stars didn't grow up to be as big as they were. It was a giant bomb, making only $2.8 million on a budget of $11 million. Perhaps the world had grown up, too, in the past 11 years, and saw how unsavory this franchise was.
Or perhaps not. In 2012, there was a Lifetime Original Movie adaptation of the original novel called "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening" which starred India Evans and Brenton Thwaites. That film, however, was set in the modern day, and saw the lead character crash-landing on their island after they were already teens. Also, they're rescued after only 100 days, and the film ends at a prom.