Great Films To See Before You Come to Sanibel

We don't know about you, but we like to stretch out our holiday time.


We do that after a vacation by looking over our photos, talking about them to others, buying special books about the Island and taking them home to read and share, and even writing reviews.


Before visiting, it's fun and vacation enhancing to read about your destination, do a little research of the area and plan your vacation accordingly.


But we like conceptual preparations, as well as specific ones.


And seeing movies that put you in a Sanibel mood is definitely a good way to pave and extend your vacation time. Movies about islands, about the tropics, about wild life are among those that help shape, if not your destiny, then your destination.


Here are some movies we think are great preparatory films for a week or more on our Island. We would love to hear from you if you have more to suggest. While none of these movies are about Sanibel or filmed on Sanibel; they are sure to put you in the mood for an Island vacation and stir up some nostalgia as well!


Flipper is a stunner and for all ages. In this 1995 flick, Sandy Ricks is sent by his mom to Coral Key, a rustic island in the Florida keys, to spend the summer with his uncle Porter Ricks. Sandy dislikes everything about his new environment until a new friend comes into his life, a dolphin named Flipper, that brings uncle and nephew together and leads Sandy on the summer adventure of a lifetime. We can't promise that you will have the personal relationship that Sandy has with Flipper , but we can almost guarantee you will see some dolphins and that you will be duly touched and entertained.


The Blue Lagoon, is also an oldie but goodie. Made in 1980, the film is cast in the Victorian period when two young children, Richard and Emmeline Lestrange are passengers on a sailing ship in the South Pacific with Richard's father. (Emmeline's parents are dead, and she calls Richard's father "uncle".) A fire breaks out, destroying the ship. Galley cook Paddy Button gets the children into a lifeboat with him, but they are separated from the other survivors and drift out to sea. After days afloat, they come upon a lush tropical island. We won't reveal the rest in the event you have not seen the movie, but it is a delicious dish of eye candy from start to finish.


And thinking of getting stranded on a desert island, we can't help but recall all the Robinson Crusoe movies, the first being filmed in 1932 and the last one (to date) in 1997. All the plots and details are different for each movie, though the last several follow the same theme. Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their differences in culture and religion.


Obviously, the appeal of being stranded on a small tropical island is pretty strong, as movies with that theme are still being made. Castaway with Tom Hanks was only made in 2000, but several other films have copied the name and the story line since, though not nearly with as much success. And if these movies seem a trifle superficial in plot, some of them not only leave us with some good lessons but with "characters" we will never forget. Is there anyone who saw Castaway who does not remember "Wilson"?


Fortunately for guests on Sanibel, while the adventure, beauty, nature and romance is all here, you will never be lost, threatened or abandoned on our friendly and comfortable tropical isle!