AFTER HAVING SEEN THE BEAUTY OF the resort town on display in the movies, I was going to see it with my own eyes. In the movies, the grandeur of its most popular hotel fascinated me because of its rich history. Built in the late 19^th century, the hotel had a prominent porch where guests could sit out and relax before exploring the grounds. There is something about a front porch that has always been attractive to me. I love the idea of sitting inside a screened in porch, curled up on a couch, relaxing while watching the world go by.  Some of the prominent guests who stayed at the hotel were past US presidents, Thomas Edison and Mark Twain. The well-manicured lawns looked like green velvet as they sloped down towards the shoreline. The town, as far as I could tell from the movies, had sections where cars were not allowed. For some individuals, their main source of transportation was a horse drawn buggy. I just wanted to be there and experience all of this for myself. Also, since the movie had a love story taking place, I thought going there would add an extra boost to my relatively new relationship. We had everything packed into the car and made it onto the highway just as the sun was waking up at the horizon.      IT WAS HARD TO CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT as we drove through the hotel’s front gates and made our way up the winding road. As we reached a curve in the road, the hotel came into view; it sat at the top of a hill, glowing in the sunlight. I could not wait to park and get inside, to see for myself all the things that stood out for me when I saw them in the movie. As we came through the front doors we were greeted by a wall of heat. When we got to the front desk I inquired and was told the air conditioning was not working. I understood things happen; so, I chose not to let that bother me. After getting our room key we made our way to the elevators. I noticed there were a couple of places on the walls where the paint was chipped. Okay, this was not part of my expectations/fantasy; however, it was a well-traveled corridor, with a lot of foot traffic. We found the elevators and walked into one. The amount of noise it made as it took us up to our room was freaking me out. It sounded like metal rubbing against metal. When we made it to our room the final arrow burst my bubble of dreams; the room was so small there was hardly room to walk around the bed and everything looked tired and used. This is not what I expected which might be the same reaction the resort guests had in this action, adventure fantasy.      FOR THE SMALL GROUP OF GUESTS arriving at Fantasy Island, it was like walking into a beautiful dream. Sadly, the dream was going to turn into a nightmare. With Michael Pena (End of Watch, 12 Strong) as Mr. Roarke, Maggie Q (Divergent franchise, Young Justice-TV) as Gwen Olsen, Lucy Hale (Truth or Dare, Pretty Little Liars-TV) as Melanie Cole, Austin Stowell (Whiplash, Bridge of Spies) as Patrick Sullivan and Jimmy O. Yang (Patriots Day, Crazy Rich Asians) as Brax Weaver; the impetus for this movie was the television series from the 1970’s. The setting for this story was beautiful to see but that was the only highlight I found from sitting through this misguided story. The script was poorly done; as the story unfolded it became more ridiculous to the point of boredom. It was almost like coming up to a train wreck; my curiosity kept me seated and hoping there would be something good coming out of the wreckage. However, that was not the case with this picture. All I can say is I am so glad I did not pay to see this film at the theaters. It be best if I simply watch the TV show and try to forget having seen this disaster.

1 ½ stars