Rob_Taylor
I don't know where to start. It's like they saw Blue Lagoon and someone said "Let's make a comedy version of this!" The dialogue is, at times, inane to the point of making you guffaw with laughter and the acting - Aames in particular - is painful to endure.Add in the comedy chimps (I only wish I were joking, sadly) and the terrible music (which varies from plinky-plonky comedy piano tunes to over-the-top "Danger Will Robinson!" theme.That said, this is mostly about naked bodies and there's plenty of that. There's even full frontal Chimpanzee nudity! There's little to recommend this film. Poor acting, and a poor script, along with the plethora of stupid on display, make this seem like it was intended to be light-hearted and aimed at kids. The nudity, however, is definitely not family friendly and aimed squarely at adults.And about the stupid...Things I learned from this movie, contrary to common sense: 1. When lost in the desert, don't despair! There are circus-trained chimps everywhere, and they will help you! 2. Seeing a chimp masturbate on screen is perfectly acceptable and funny. It's not at all disturbing, no, no, no! 3. Said chimps can mate and produce a monkey baby! 4. In the blink of an edit, having arrived at an oasis the scene before, you can build a house and a love swing covered with goat furs.5. In the blink of a following edit, having built a house and, apparently hunted goats successfully, our hero is seen unable to fire an arrow from his bow.6. After having shown you a chimp masturbating, it was apparently considered improper for the chimps to be naked, so they are dressed in tiny loincloths after that.SUMMARY: Sub-standard Blue Lagoon clone which irritates more than tittilates. Bad everything, really. Not worth the effort.
warwickbennett_591
This movie is NOT a rip-off of The Blue Lagoon as most of the reviewers seem to think. The setting is entirely different, as is the plot. The Blue Lagoon is about a couple of very young kids who get stranded on a Pacific island and not found until many years later when they are "grown up", with a child of their own. In Paradise, the time span is much shorter; the young couple start the movie as teenagers in North Africa, and get lost in the desert after their caravan is attacked by Arabs. It is not long before the rescuers arrive. Paradise is way better than The Blue Lagoon, and the nudity is honestly portrayed -- if you watch The Blue Lagoon, you will notice that you never see Brooke Shields' face andbody in the same shot -- she used a body double for the rare nude scenes in that movie. I'm not sure what's up with the reviewer who had the Korean copy with only Willie Aames full frontals censored -- I bought what was meant to be an uncut DVD of Paradise through Amazon marketplace and ended up with a Korean rip-off in which ALL the full frontal scenes were censored -- I'd gladly do a swap -- as it is, I'm hanging onto my VHS copy until I can get a DVD containing Phoebe Cates' wonderful nude scenes in their entirety. After all it is Phoebe's beauty which makes this movie worth 10/10 for me!
dwpollar
1st watched 12/4/2007, 2 out of 10(Dir-Stuart Gillard): Silly, titillating story of two young people alone in the desert being chased by a slave trader who wants the female, played by Phoebe Cates, to be his concubine. They run into oasis's as their being chased that become their temporary paradises as they play out the teenage horny version of "adam and eve." The movie starts in a city in the middle east and they are both accompanied by adult companions but as they are in route to get back to their own countries, the slave trader kills their entire group except Phoebe's companion and Willie Aames, who plays the male young character in the story. Phoebe's companion soon dies off and they are left alone to fend for themselves. This is the when the titillation begins as we get to see Phoebe nude bathing and all of a sudden Willie's characters only interest is getting into Phoebe's pants and then turns into a spoiled adolescent who isn't getting his way. Willie Aames is absolutely horrible in this film acting debut(which is probably why he didn't do much else in the movies) and Phoebe's OK when she's given a decent line. But most of the time the script calls for her to giggle at Willie's antics and de-robe whenever possible. I can't say I dislike the disrobed Phoebe, but a complete movie it doesn't make and it seems like the makers run out of ways for this to happen so they end the movie. Well, I guess I am exaggerating a little, because their was a storyline but ultimately it becomes secondary to the subplot of adolescent sexual discovery in the desert. Good movie to have around for an early 80's sample of the attempt by Hollywood to make kiddie-porn but as a movie it doesn't hold up.
Shari
I liked this movie when I first saw it. It seems like a Blue Lagoon offspring, but it had it's own elements. I like the element of adventure when the Jackal is chasing them. I'm a sucker for movies about people falling in love without society's interference. The movie was more upfront about a teen's growing interest in sex. Sarah is intrigued by the pictures of naked men, which young chicks do as well for those who don't think so. It wasn't trying to be innocent like The Blue Lagoon. It was more upfront and real to me. This movie seriously kept it real, but it realized that alone would be lacking. The chases and the kidnapping were needed to push the movie along. I found the monkey absolutely adorable. Animals are often used in movies like these to almost guide the two people into the expected. Blue Lagoon had many animals having sex while the two kids were. It's a necessary element in a "paradise" or "adam and eve" type movie. They have no one else to teach them necessarily, so they take a look around. Other than that, Paradise was great and the ending was agreeable. Phoebe Cates was a really adorable girl and Willie Aames was an odd choice, but acted like you would expect any young actor in the 80's would...badly. They couldn't help it. The time called for it. All in all, it was a good film.
AD
