The Blue Lagoon is closer to Robinson Crusoe Goes Club Med than to its original source. It's a fantasy island conceived at poolside in Beverly Hills and executed by tourists to the Fiji Islands. Shallow water, indeed.

There have come to be certain conventions of the genre, and it's an annoyance that The Blue Lagoon keeps violating them.

"The Blue Lagoon" is a plump sitting duck, waiting to be roasted by sarcastic spectators.

The Blue Lagoon is a lovely story, but even more, it's a story about love.