Backpackers find paradise on drug island, and will do anything to preserve their way of life.

Rating: 5/10 (20 March 2006)

HERE BE SPOILERS The Silver Screen adaptation of the popular dystopian backpacker's novel, 'The Beach' is perhaps not the most accurate adaptation of the cult book, which has become required reading for a whole generation of travellers. Parts of the original book are hardly mentioned in the film, while whole sections are completely skipped, such as pseudo soldier Jed, whose massive role in the book is written out of the screenplay completely. Just as plot parts are removed, others are added in their place. Richard's unrequited love of Francoise is replaced by a rapid relationship, ending with an all too strange sex scene on between Sal and Richard. Good natured Sal who only wants to preserve village life, becomes a sexual predator, approaching the level of Sharon Stone, as she entraps Richard in her Black Widow clutches. Etienne takes a minor role upon reaching the beach, swiftly giving up Francoise, and becoming a hermit in the forest with the injured Swede. Many of the more powerful (or more controversial) scenes from the book are cut from the movie, giving the feel that the director was reined in by his funders. References to Vietnam are abbreviated to a single shot of a fan, while Richard's re-accuring dreams about Daffy are replaced by a brief sequence toward the end. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the books surprise ending, truly dystopian in it's screaming climax, is replaced by the rather weaker idea of the inhabitants of the beach sailing away on a homemade raft, and joining modern society for Cyber Cafes and coffee. Perhaps if this film can be seen as a separate entity altogether from it's written counterpart, then it would be a pretty good film. Certainly the CGI beach looks pretty good, the acting is of decent quality and the film is not without it's charms. However if even the director Danny Boyle (of 'Trainspotting' legend) is disappointed with what he made, then perhaps this one is best given a miss, and relying on the book to do the talking.