I was very interested a month or two ago when I saw the trailer for Fantasy Island- the movie. I was a teenager when the television series came on and the concept of making it a horror flick intrigued me. I wanted to see this movie. I wanted to like it.
And for the first thirty or forty minutes I did. They had taken the television concept and moved it to the dark side. This was going to be interesting.
Then, suddenly, it shifted into something that was unexpected. It was five stories wrapped into one and you didn’t really know just whose fantasy this was. It was not well explained and when they did explain it at the end, the explanation was as weak as the story became.
The idea was good. Michael Pena did his usual outstanding job as he played the Ricardo Montalban character, Mr. Roarke. The acting in the movie was acceptable overall, but the writing left the actors little to work with.
A good concept was tanked by less than inspired writing and a convoluted plot that did not need to be that way.
I still enjoyed it, would likely watch it when it makes it to television and had a great night out with friends at Premiere Theaters at the Oaks.
My disappointment comes in with a great concept that could have been so much more than it was. The idea had merit, but like so many times when Hollywood grabs classic TV for the big screen, they lose the idea and end up with a project they should have left alone.
Lost in Space. Starsky and Hutch. The Wild Wild West. Dragnet. The Lone Ranger. They’re all on the pile of good shows taken to big screen without their just due. Add Fantasy Island to the pile and hope and pray The Love Boat stays in the file of fond 70’s and 80’s TV lore.
CONGRATULATIONS Rob Humphries.
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