Blue Lagoon: The Awakening

2012 television film directed by Mikael Salomon

Blue Lagoon: The Awakening

DVD cover

Genre|

* Romance
* Teen

Based on| The Blue Lagoon
by H. Devere Stacpoole
Teleplay by|

* Matt Heller
* Heather Rutman

Directed by|

* Mikael Salomon
* Jake Newsome

Starring|

* Indiana Evans
* Brenton Thwaites
* Denise Richards
* Patrick St. Esprit
* Frank John Hughes
* Alix Elizabeth Gitter
* Carrie Wampler
* Hayley Kiyoko
* Aimee Carrero
* Annie Tedesco
* Christopher Atkins

Music by| Tree Adams
Country of origin| United States
Original language| English
Production
Executive producers|

* Craig Zadan
* Neil Meron
* Judith Verno

Producers|

* Kyle Clark
* Nellie Nugiel

Cinematography|

* Denis Lenoir
* Roy Wagner

Editor| Josh Beal
Running time| 89 minutes
Production companies|

* PeaceOut Productions
* Silver Screen Pictures
* Sony Pictures Television
* Storyline Entertainment

Original release
Network| Lifetime
Release| June 16, 2012 (2012-06-16)

Blue Lagoon: The Awakening is a 2012 American romantic drama television film that premiered on Lifetime on June 16, 2012.[1] Indiana Evans and Brenton Thwaites star in the film, which is based on the 1908 novel The Blue Lagoon and its previous film adaptations.

It was a major departure from previous Blue Lagoon films in several respects. The setting is contemporary, whereas the previous films were all set in the Victorian era; the lead characters were raised in normal society and are marooned as teenagers, rather than growing up on the island; the island the main characters are stranded on is in the Caribbean, whereas the previous films took place in the Pacific Ocean; and roughly equal time is devoted to the uncivilized world of the island and the human society the characters were born into. Christopher Atkins, the male lead in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon, also appears in the film.[2]

The film was co-produced by Sony Pictures Television, whose sister company Columbia Pictures financed the 1980 film adaptation and its 1991 sequel, but not the 1949 film version, whose rights are controlled by ITV Studios (successor-in-interest to the Rank Organisation's General Film Distributors, the company that released that version).

## Plot[edit]

Two high school students, Emma and Dean, are on a class trip to Trinidad to help build a school for less fortunate children. Emma, a popular star pupil, has her life plans set out. The high school quarterback flirts with Emma, though she is instead interested in Dean, a loner who routinely gets into trouble and seldom socializes since his mother's death. After Dean's knife is confiscated, his father pulls strings to get his son back on the trip.

On their second night in Trinidad, Dean and Emma separately attend a boat party. During the party, Emma falls overboard when police arrive in a surprise raid. Dean jumps into the water and helps her into a dinghy. Wanting to avoid getting into trouble, he severs the line attaching the dinghy to the boat, only to discover there is no motor.

The pair drift to an island, avoiding dangerous rocks, with the dinghy's sole paddle. After discovering the island is deserted, they find the outgoing tide has washed away the dinghy. Unsure if they will be rescued, Emma and Dean must rely on each other for survival. Together, they learn to build a fire, fish, and find food.

At first they are friends, but eventually their bond evolves into a romantic relationship. Dean's father, Jack, and Emma's mother, Barbara arrive in Trinidad. Emma reveals that her parents have predetermined her future without her ever questioning it. After an extensive search, the Trinidad government officially ends the effort. Jack and Barbara both keep searching, and he hires a private rescue attempt.

When Dean and Emma find a human skeleton, he calms the upset Emma by kissing her. They give in to their growing feelings by having sex. The morning after their sexual encounter, Emma finds Dean digging a grave for the skeleton. When questioned, he becomes irritable, but eventually admits he was hoping for closure over his mother's death, suffering guilt for inadvertently causing her fatal accident.

With no trace of Emma or Dean being found, Jack and Barbara can no longer neglect their individual responsibilities and both return home. As Emma and Dean's sexual relations continue, they share further intimate details, including a mutual desire to have children, but the difficulty of life on the island and concern about her family increasingly strain Emma.

After being stranded over 100 days, Emma and Dean are rescued by a tourist helicopter. They are met by family, friends, and the media. Emma is thrust into a more popular position at school while Dean, still a semi-outcast, avoids approaching her in public. Readjusting to everyday life, their relationship becomes strained and distant.

Emma attends the prom, while Dean only goes because his father encouraged him. She spots him outside watching her through the window. Emma's friend, Lizzie, encourages her to go to him. Emma and Dean kiss passionately and then dance together.

## Cast[edit]

* Indiana Evans as Emmaline "Emma" Robinson
* Brenton Thwaites as Dean McMullen
* Denise Richards as Barbara Robinson, Emma's mother
* Patrick St. Esprit as Jack McMullen, Dean's widowed father
* Frank John Hughes as Phil Robinson, Emma's father
* Alix Elizabeth Gitter as Lizzie, one of Emma's friends
* Carrie Wampler as Stacey Robinson, Emma's younger sister
* Hayley Kiyoko as Helen, one of Emma's friends
* Aimee Carrero as Jude, one of Emma's friends
* Annie Tedesco as Ms. Collier, a teacher on the trip
* Christopher Atkins as Mr. Christiansen, a teacher on the trip

## Production[edit]

The film has been in development since 2004, with Heather Rutman and Matt Heller as writers. The film went into production in 2011 with plans to film in Puerto Rico in February.[3][4]

Male lead Brenton Thwaites recounted that he had never heard of the Blue Lagoon films before, and upon being cast he watched the previous two films for research, though he admitted that he could not bring himself to watch Return to the Blue Lagoon in its entirety.[5]

During filming of the scenes in the lagoon, Thwaites and co-star Indiana Evans were so cold that they could not talk properly, necessitating that automated dialogue replacement be applied to these scenes.[5]

Production began in California and later moved to the island of Maui in Hawaii.[6]

## Reception[edit]

Blue Lagoon: The Awakening received more mixed reviews than the previous two films in the franchise, and was often compared favorably to the critically reviled 1980 film. On Metacritic the film has an approval rating of 51 out of 100 based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7]

Linda Stasi commented in the New York Post, "Unlike the original where nudie scenes were followed by fornicating turtles (kill me!), here their 'awakening' is tastefully done with nothing much showing except their emotions." She assessed the film overall as silly but enjoyable.[8] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cited the lack of physical explicitness in the sex scenes as a major weak point of the film, and said the ending was "particularly weak and nonsensical".[9] Mike Hale of The New York Times thought the film was a guilty pleasure, and commented that "the new film lacks the glowing cinematography of Néstor Almendros, who was nominated for an Oscar for The Blue Lagoon. But under the direction of Mikael Salomon and Jake Newsome, The Awakening offers occasional honest moments of humor and adolescent angst: Ms. Evans and Mr. Thwaites are in their early 20s and better actors than Ms. Shields and Mr. Atkins were in their teens."[10] Will Harris of The A.V. Club was highly critical of the film, saying it failed to meet even his low expectations, "When a film manages to fail to live up to the low bar set for Blue Lagoon movies and Lifetime movies, you know you've got something really, really awful on your hands.[1][11]

## See also[edit]

* Return to the Blue Lagoon
* The Blue Lagoon (1923 film)
* The Blue Lagoon (1949 film)
* The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Harris, Will (June 16, 2012). "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening". The A.V. Club.
2. ^ "Lifetime Original Movie "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening," Starring Denise Richards, Brenton Thwaites and Indiana Evans, to Premiere June 16". The Futon Critic (Press release).
3. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 9, 2011). "Lifetime Greenlights 'Blue Lagoon' Remake". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved Jan 1, 2021.
4. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 6, 2012). "Lifetime's 'Blue Lagoon' Reboot Casts Leads". Deadline Hollywood.
5. ^ a b Ng, Philiana (June 15, 2012). "Back to 'Blue Lagoon': Rising Heartthrob Brenton Thwaites on Remaking an Erotic Camp Classic (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
6. ^ "Blue Lagoon Remake Shot on Maui Airs June 16". Maui Now. June 5, 2012.
7. ^ "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening". Metacritic. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
8. ^ Stasi, Linda (June 14, 2012). "Different Shade of 'Blue'". New York Post. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
9. ^ Owen, Rob (June 15, 2012). "Tuned In: 'Let It Shine' puts new sheen on two old familiar tales". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
10. ^ Hale, Mike (June 15, 2012). "Smile! It's Time for a Guilty Plunge Into Summer TV". The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
11. ^ Patterson, Troy (June 16, 2012). "Two Teens, an Island, a Sephora: Blue Lagoon Returns!". Slate Magazine.

## External links[edit]

* Official website
* Blue Lagoon: The Awakening at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole

Novels|

* The Blue Lagoon (1908)
* The Garden of God (1923)
* The Gates of Morning (1925)

Films|

* The Blue Lagoon (1923)
* The Blue Lagoon (1949)
* The Blue Lagoon (1980)
* Pengantin Pantai Biru (1983)
* Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991)
* Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)

* v
* t
* e

Works directed by Mikael Salomon

Films|

* A Far Off Place (1993)
* Hard Rain (1998)
* Sole Survivor (2000)
* A Glimpse of Hell (2001)
* Young Arthur (2002)
* Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor (2003)
* Flirting with Forty (2008)
* Natalee Holloway (2009)
* Who Is Clark Rockefeller? (2010)
* The Lost Future (2010)
* Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)
* Freezer (2014)
* Big Driver (2014)

Miniseries|

* Aftershock: Earthquake in New York (1999)
* Salem's Lot (2004)
* The Grid (2004)
* The Company (2007)
* The Andromeda Strain (2008)
* Coma (2012)

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