Review of Lord of the Flies (1990) by Jeffrey L — 14 Mar 2008

I've never read the book or seen the original movie from the 1960's, so I can't compare this to them. What I can do though, is view this as it's own movie.

I thought it was so-so. Not great, but not bad either. The acting was better then expected from all-kid actors, although a couple times it faltered a bit. The music was top notch, and I'd love to get my hands on that score. It took a bit long to get things going once they got on the island, but once the kids split off into two separate tribes, it starts picking up. Also, I'd like to have seen the boat accident. When the movie opens up, the accident has already happened and everyone is already in the water. I say they should have added an extra 15-20 minutes into the movie, to show them on the boat and the accident happening, but that's just me.

The scenery was great, and if anyone is a fan of Jurassic Park or Lost, you should recognize many of the locations in this flick.

Any movie with crazy kids killing people as the plot is enough to freak me out, and this movie did just that at times, although I can't help but feel a lot of the savagery was probably cut out from this adaptation as everyone is always talking about how savage the kids are and all that, yet this movie just barely touches that surface.

Still, while it could have been better, I still enjoyed it and will be adding it to my collection. This is one of the few movies I feel could heavily benefit from a modern remake.